Policy Briefs

Read the full brief from The Sentry. Over the past month, there have been calls for the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union to ease sanctions around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, calls for blanket rollbacks miss crucial differences in the types of sanctions tools being implemented and their intended purposes. Comprehensive sanctions programs in countries like North Korea and Iran significantly differ from targeted network sanctions in countries like South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Comprehensive sanctions are designed to constrain entire economies as a way to pressure ...

Download the brief. A new day has dawned in Sudan, thanks to an unrelenting citizen protest movement whose objective is the complete transformation of the state. Now that a major benchmark in that effort has been achieved – the formation of a civilian administration – The Sentry and the Enough Project believe that the United States could utilize an expanded policy toolbox to support further positive change in Sudan. U.S. policy should aim to strengthen the hand of reformers in the civilian government while limiting the influence of the spoilers of reform and peace, principally those associated with the military ...

⭳ Download the full report. | Téléchargez en français  In the wake of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (hereafter Congo) flawed December 2018 elections, it is important for the international community to focus on key areas that can have a lasting impact in the country, in particular on addressing high-level corruption. Corruption is at the core of a particular type of systemic corruption in Congo – a form of state capture – that incentivizes certain elites inside and outside the country to derive personal profit via illicit financial activity while undermining government institutions and the rule of law in the deeply impoverished country ...

This brief provides an overview of relevant existing frameworks that businesses can use as guideposts to responsible economic engagement in Sudan ...

 Download the brief. Cobalt has rapidly emerged as one of the world’s most in-demand minerals, given it is an essential component in the lithium-ion batteries that power booming industries with products such as electric vehicles, cell phones, and laptops. While Congo is home to a wealth of natural resource reserves, its command over the global supply of cobalt is unparalleled: an estimated 58 percent of global cobalt production originated in Congo in 2017. But a wide spectrum of corruption in the cobalt trade combined with abuses at and around cobalt mine sites and links to state-sanctioned violence and grand corruption ...

Download the brief | Résumé analytique By Brad Brooks-Rubin and Jonathan Benton Executive Summary For the past several years, South Sudan has spiralled out of control. The nation’s still young history is marred by brutal conflict and failed peace agreements, creating one of the most extreme humanitarian crises in the world. As another Cessation of Hostilities agreement falters and hopes dim for regional leadership during a time of upheaval in Ethiopia, it is time for the European Union to more clearly and consistently assert leadership and develop much-needed financial leverage that could support a truly reinvigorated peace process. The European Union ...

Spoilers on the battlefield and in the negotiations process have completely undermined the search for peace in South Sudan ...

As a July decision approaches on whether to permanently remove most sanctions on Sudan, the Trump administration should properly evaluate progress, or lack thereof, on each of the five tracks on which progress is required, and the administration should not privilege any single track over others ...

In this new brief, the Enough Project lays out a detailed plan for how the Trump administration can develop and implement a new track of engagement focused on peace and respect for human rights – the absence of which help perpetuate Sudan's system of violent kleptocracy ...

This policy brief lays out four sets of tools that can form a playbook to deal with violent kleptocracies in East and Central Africa ...