Most civil wars are in oil- or mineral-rich countries.

So are most authoritarian regimes.

And most highly corrupt governments.

Most of the world’s refugees come from these countries.

The countries with the most hunger are rich with oil or minerals.

And most extreme poverty will soon be in resource-rich countries.

WHY?

THE NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE

Our Own Rules Make Us Fund Oppression, Violence, and Corruption...

Our own laws make it legal to buy the natural resources of other countries from corrupt elites and armed groups. So we fund those corrupt elites and armed groups when we shop or invest. They then spend our money on themselves–and on more repression and conflict. Which also means more hunger, more poverty, and more refugees.

Clean Trade works to change the rules that put us into business with oppressive, violent, and corrupt actors in resource-rich countries. We can change the rules by respecting the human rights of the people. By doing business with officials who are accountable to their citizens, we can ensure that our shopping and our investments support peace, good governance, and sustainable growth.

By going deeper, we can can make the world deeply better. We can end the resource curse.

Change our rules. Change our world.