Dear Supporter,

In recent months, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has received extensive attention from the Biden Administration. Multiple senior officials have visited the country, with the goal of opening up the DRC’s abundant reserves of cobalt and other critical minerals to investment from companies concerned with conducting business in a responsible manner. Despite the US government’s focus, corporate uptake has been minimal thus far. Partially to blame is the lack of clear and consistent rules for companies to follow in order to understand, navigate, and report to the public on the myriad risks in the DRC—a common theme in challenging business environments around the world.

To address this regulatory gap, The Sentry’s Senior Advisor Brad Brooks-Rubin lays out the case for resurrecting a particular policy approach in his briefing “Getting Responsible: Rules of Engagement in the Proxy War for Economic Access.” He argues that combining the model of the defunct Burma Responsible Investment Reporting Requirements with public due diligence and business advisories issued by the US government could encourage an honest, public conversation about the approaches taken by companies to address a range of risks, potentially changing the dynamics in the DRC and beyond.

For more on these topics, please explore:

• Brooks-Rubins’ op-ed “China, Russia, and a Proxy War for Strategic Minerals.”
• An augmented reality app from our friends at Seven Grams that exposes the human cost of producing smartphones through showing the app’s users the abuses and exploitation linked to mineral extraction in the DRC.

In other DRC-related news, last week the European Union sanctioned two North Korean individuals and one entity with operations in the DRC in its latest round of sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The Sentry’s publication “Artful Dodgers” was the first to alert the international community to these North Korean actors’ efforts to evade international sanctions through commercial activities in the DRC. This action highlights the broader impact that The Sentry’s investigations have on transnational illicit actors and those willing to exploit weak institutional controls and jurisdictions with high levels of corruption.

Sincerely,

Justyna Gudzowska
Director of Illicit Finance Policy