Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

172 winer and rouleby governments and rebel groups, as each type of group takes advantageof common mechanisms to secure and harness the revenuesextracted from the resources.Existing InitiativesInternational efforts to respond to abuses of commodities linked toconflict have run along a number of separate tracks, only some of whichdeal with financial aspects. Most of the initiatives fall into one or moreof the following categories, each of which is reviewed briefly to assessthe degree to which it has addressed financial flows and mechanismsassociated with resource exploitation:• Embargoes, in which the United Nations has agreed on measuresto limit transborder transactions during the conflict• Certification programs, in which goods are permitted to moveacross borders only if they meet certain documentation requirements• Disclosure regimes, in which public or private participants intransactions involving a commodity linked to conflict must disclosecertain information about any transaction for it to be lawful• Anticorruption and transparency standards and norms, whichmay indirectly criminalize the activities of officials and private personsinvolved in various forms of commodity exploitation• Antiterrorist standards and norms, which may lead to the regulationof financial mechanisms used by terrorists and by groups involvedin the exploitation of illicit commodities.• Anti–money laundering standards and norms, which may sanctioncountries that facilitate various forms of commodity exploitation• Drug or crime control standards or norms, which establish broadinternational obligations to combat drug trafficking or organizedcrime by criminalizing certain forms of conduct, authorizing proceduresfor enforcement, requiring certain regulations, and mandatingforms of international cooperation, including criminalizing and regulatingthe laundering of the proceeds of illicit transactions involvingnarcotics• Private sector “seal” initiatives that establish minimum standardsto which a business must agree to adhere in order to be certifiedas a member in good standing of the seal organization• Name-and-shame exercises, both governmental and nongovernmental.Each of these categories has areas of effectiveness and limits, and these,together with examples of each type of initiative, are discussed below. 12