Financiers, gun runners, and logisticians: Enablers of Terrorism and Mass Atrocities | Human Rights First

Financiers, gun runners, and logisticians: Enablers of Terrorism and Mass Atrocities | Human Rights First

In their new book Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda, New York Times reporters Eric Schmitt and Thomas Shanker outline various U.S. military and civilian agency responses to terrorism since September 11. Schmitt and Shanker note that among the many lessons learned by U.S. counterterrorism officials during the last 10 years is the realization that effectively fighting violent extremists “mean[s] targeting specific nodes of that network that support and enable militants who strap on suicide vests. This strategy focuses on neutralizing enablers such as financiers, gun runners, and logisticians.”

We could not agree more. Human Rights First has and continues to call on policy makers to apply to atrocities prevention the same focus on enablers that is currently integrated in counterterrorism efforts. Like terrorism, genocide and other mass atrocities are organized crimes, requiring money, materiel, organization, and political support. Those who commit genocide and crimes against humanity depend on third parties for the goods and services that sustain large-scale violence against civilians. The U.S. counterterrorism policies detailed by Schmitt and Shanker are further evidence that identifying and pressuring third-party enablers – whether they are individuals, commercial entities, or countries – and supply chains behind atrocities could provide a much-needed and important tool toward preventing and halting the worst crimes of our time.

Click here for more information about Human Rights First’s work to stop enablers of genocide and crimes against humanity.