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Invasor
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Posted: Wed, 22nd Jul 2015 13:23 Post subject: The Sentry (AKA what's wrong with africa)

Quote:

Dismantling the Financing of Africa’s Deadliest Conflicts.

Over the past two decades, the area stretching from northeast to central Africa has been the deadliest war zone in the world. Tens of millions of people have perished or been displaced as a result of a lethal nexus of extreme violence, grand corruption, and competition over vast natural resources.

Countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are often referred to as failed states, but in reality, they should be considered hijacked states. Political, military, and commercial elites in these countries – often collaborating with neighbors – control and run the state and its institutions, use their power to transfer a large fraction of society’s resources to enrich themselves, and use brute force to remain in power. In these states, high-level corruption linked to violence is not anomalous; it constitutes the actual system of governance.

Responsibility for the violence and mass atrocities in this region of Africa is not limited to the individuals perpetrating the crimes. Networks of facilitators extend from the conflict zones into global economic centers and use legitimate systems of international finance, trade, and transportation to fund and equip conflict actors, as well as launder the spoils of war. The points of convergence, where illicit schemes rely on legitimate global financial and transport infrastructure, at times represent the most profitable links in the conflict value chain, and also those most vulnerable to disruption. Direct perpetrators of mass atrocities may be relatively insulated from international pressure, but their facilitators are certainly not.

A collaborative effort between financial investigators, regional analysts, and policy advocates, The Sentry seeks to dismantle the networks of perpetrators, facilitators, and enablers who fund and profit from Africa’s deadliest conflicts. Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is an initiative of the Enough Project, with its supporting partners C4ADS and Not On Our Watch (NOOW).

Following the money that funds atrocities and crimes against humanity.

In order to track and analyze how conflict is financed, sustained, and monetized, The Sentry uses open source data collection, field research, and state-of-the-art network data analysis technology, and works in partnership with local and international civil society organizations, journalists, and governments.

The Sentry’s investigations produce analytical reporting that engages civil society and media, supports regulatory action and prosecutions, and provides policymakers with the information they require to take effective action.

The Sentry examines the techniques used to finance and profit from conflict, including:

--Convergence of licit and illicit systems—illicit actors conceal their operations and launder their profits through globalized systems of finance, trade, and transportation.
--Regulatory and sanctions evasion—illicit actors find ways to adapt to and avoid international laws, sanctions, and regulations.
--Disguised beneficial ownership—illicit actors employ increasingly sophisticated methods to disguise their true identities to avoid detection and exposure.
--Extractive industries and natural resource trafficking—illicit actors extract, tax, and sell natural resources to fund and sustain their operations.
--Corruption and illicit financial flows—illicit actors compete violently to capture state resources and divert funds for their own personal enrichment and to finance their armed campaigns.
--Security sector fraud and abuse—illicit actors manage state and military expenditures to fund off-budget activities with little-to-no transparency or accountability.
--Elite financing and offshored assets—illicit actorsabuse their power and position to accumulate significant wealth that is then laundered through offshore jurisdictions to evade detection.

The Sentry’s ultimate objective is to alter the incentives for funding or profiting from violence and mass atrocities. This will lend greater support to broader accountability measures as well as provide leverage to peace efforts aimed at ending Africa’s deadliest conflicts

https://thesentry.org/

Pretty interesting project in my opinion...

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