Category: Reports

While significant progress has been made towards creating a conflict-free minerals trade in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, gold continues to fund armed commanders. Thanks to on the ground initiatives in Congo, international activist and industry pressure, and federal legislation in the United States, 70 percent of the 3T mines (tin, tantalum, and tungsten) are now free of armed groups and Congo’s army, according to the International Peace Information Service. However, only 35 percent of gold mines in eastern Congo are conflict-free, with abusive Congolese army commanders and armed groups still profiting from the trade ...

A trade in illegally mined and smuggled “conflict gold” is fueling both high-level military corruption and violent rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a new report by the Enough Project. “Congo’s Conflict Gold Rush: Bringing gold into the legal trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” by the Enough Project’s Fidel Bafilemba and Sasha Lezhnev, offers an in-depth portrait of the conflict gold supply chain, from muddy artisanal mines where gold is dug out with shovels and pick-axes, through illicit transport routes in Uganda, Burundi, and Dubai. Based on seven months of field research ...

In an open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Ambassador Susan Rice, and Ambassador Samantha Power, Enough Project Founding Director John Prendergast supports the U.S. Government's ongoing efforts and proposes specific steps for enhancing engagement toward the current South Sudan peace process ...

Testimony of John Prendergast, Founding Director of the Enough Project, before the United States Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on “Human Rights Violations in Sudan,” given on March 4, 2015 ...

Gold coming from Sudan is conflict-affected, high-risk, and helping to destabilize the country’s main conflict-zones of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan, according to this new Enough Project report. "Fool's Gold: The Case for Scrutinizing Sudan's Conflict Gold Trade" details how civilians living in communities near these Sudanese gold mining sites have suffered killings, mass rape, and the torching of their homes and fields at the hands of armed groups, including the Sudanese army and government-backed tribal militias. The report also calls for urgent action by the United States, the United Nations, and the international gold industry to red-flag and ...

Gold coming from Sudan is conflict-affected, high-risk, and helping to destabilize the country’s main conflict-zones of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. This brief, which stems from our new report Fool's Gold: The Case for Scrutinizing Sudan's Conflict Gold Trade, provides an overview of conflict-affected gold in Sudan and offers policy recommendations ...

Today, 22 organizations and individuals who both work in and advocate for stability, peace, and prosperity in the DRC and the entire Great Lakes Region of Africa signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to appoint a new, high-level Special Envoy to continue the great work of Senator Feingold and seize advantage of the momentum that has been generated through U.S. engagement in this region of the world ...

Poachers are killing the elephants of Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at an unprecedentedly rapid pace. Since mid-April of 2014, park rangers have found the carcasses of 131 elephants, slaughtered for their tusks. Unlike in the past, when criminal gangs carried out most of the poaching, the main actors appear to be heavily armed groups using professional techniques. Some of the poachers have been involved in Central Africa’s many conflicts and have carried out multiple atrocities against civilians, creating much misery and suffering over the past decade ...

Poachers are killing the elephants of Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at an unprecedentedly rapid pace. Since mid-April of 2014, park rangers have found the carcasses of 131 elephants, slaughtered for their tusks. Unlike in the past, when criminal gangs carried out most of the poaching, the main actors appear to be heavily armed groups using professional techniques. Some of the poachers have been involved in Central Africa’s many conflicts and have carried out multiple atrocities against civilians, creating much misery and suffering over the past decade ...

From the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to Al-Shabaab, many of the world’s most infamous and destabilizing armed actors today finance their activities in part through the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. Theft in the context of armed conflict constitutes the war crime of pillage, which is punishable in most domestic jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Depuis l'État islamique d'Irak et du Levant (ISIL : Islamic State of Irak and the Levant) de l’Armée de Résistance du Seigneur (LRA : Lord’s Resistance Army) jusqu'à Al-Shabaab, de ...