Go deeper.
Most authoritarian regimes are in oil- or mineral-rich countries.
So are most highly corrupt governments.
And most civil wars.
Most of the world’s refugees flee 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 Force Us to Fund Oppression, Violence, and Corruption...
Our 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 corruption–and on more repression and conflict. Which means more hunger, more poverty, and more refugees.
Clean Trade works to change the 17th-century rules that put us into business with oppressive, violent, and corrupt actors in resource-rich countries. We can upgrade the rules by doing business with governments that respect the human rights of their people–our shopping and investments can support peace, good governance, and sustainable growth every day.
By going deeper, we can can make the world deeply better. We can end the resource curse.
Change our rules. Change our world.
