Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.

The latest installation of the bi-weekly podcast series Voices on Genocide Prevention is informative and worth a listen. Host Bridget Conley-Zilkic spoke with Joel Charny of Refugees International, who discusses, among other things, his concern about the “general erosion” of countries’ commitment to refugee rights.

In a recent post on his own blog, Sudan expert Eric Reeves weighs in on the ongoing and loudening discussion over next year’s national elections in Sudan. His post also serves as a useful repository of links to the various reports that have come out in recent months about the election – “all provide extremely gloomy outlooks,” Reeves cautions the potentially optimistic reader.

Keeping up with its recent solid reporting on Somalia, the Economist print edition this week offered this profile of the militant Shabaab group.  The report takes a look at one group – Sufis from the town of Dusamareb – with ambitions to challenge Shabaab. Amid the typical reports these days that pit Shabaab against the flagging Somali government, it is interesting to read about some of the other power dynamics at play in the anarchic country.

Michael Wilkerson of FP Passport provided a useful synopsis of the controversy swirling this week as the International Criminal Court came under attack at the African Union summit, hosted by one of the Court’s most vocal critics -- Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi. As Michael notes, a couple of prominent op-eds came out in support of the Court this week to provide a counter argument to Gaddafi’s din. The fact is, the Court does face some very real challenges, but that is all the more reason for member states to rally behind it.  As former U.N. chief Kofi Annan aptly asked in his op-ed:

One must begin by asking why African leaders shouldn’t celebrate this focus on African victims. Do these leaders really want to side with the alleged perpetrators of mass atrocities rather than their victims? Is the court’s failure to date to answer the calls of victims outside of Africa really a reason to leave the calls of African victims unheeded?

Finally, (though technically from last week,) a moving photo essay from Foreign Policy that illustrates and provides detailed captions about the countries that topped this year’s Failed States Index.  

It’s going to be a bit quieter from us this weekend, but we wanted to leave you with some good reads over the U.S. holiday. And a happy belated Independence Day to Congo, Rwanda, and Canada!

The Enough Team contributed to this post.

A powerful statement out today from Human Rights Watch shines the spotlight on deplorable crimes perpetrated against civilians by armed groups throughout the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Notably, the statement describes in detail the “significant” uptick in violence in the wake of largely unsuccessful military operations against the rebel groups the LRA and FDLR and features an important quote from HRW Executive Director Ken Roth, who takes the United Nations to task for their support of the Congolese army, known as the FARDC:

UN peacekeepers should not support Congolese armed forces that are committing war crimes and failing to protect civilians and refugees, (…) By continuing to back such military operations, the peacekeepers risk becoming complicit in abuses.

No doubt in anticipation of the Human Right Watch report, Alan Doss, the head of MONUC, the U.N. mission in eastern Congo, wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Washington Post. Doss discusses the necessity of addressing mounting FDLR atrocities and implicitly defends MONUC’s support of the Congolese army while simultaneously calling for international efforts to professionalize the force:

The reprisal raids by the Hutu rebels of the FDLR have understandably created a lot of concern. But doing nothing is not a recipe for lasting peace either. Time and again the FDLR and other armed groups in eastern Congo have unleashed violence in the country and provoked conflict with neighboring states. Women and children have been the principal victims…We shall assess and adjust our support for joint operations with the Congo's military forces to ensure that such operations are conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Doss takes pains to discuss atrocities committed against civilians, but his argument belies the realities of FARDC atrocities. Currently, the United Nations is supplying logistical support to the army for a three-month operation to rout out the FDLR in the Kivus region of eastern Congo. However, government soldiers meant to protect civilians from predatory groups are among the worst perpetrators of violence. War criminals, such as former rebel commander and ICC indictee Bosco Ntaganda, sit in positions of power within the army. Unpaid soldiers wreak violent havoc on communities. Furthermore, many soldiers have a history of working with the FDLR rebels they are attempting to combat, and benefit themselves from the illicit minerals trade that fuels the conflict.

While Doss is right that removing the FDLR from eastern Congo is critical, the international community and the United Nations specifically have to do better at ensuring that civilians are protected as those efforts are undertaken. That means ensuring soldier pay and training, and working to develop a better strategy to combat the FDLR that emphasizes the encouragement of FDLR defections. As my colleagues Colin Thomas-Jensen and Rebecca Feeley recently noted on the Huffington Post, in its current form, the operation will lead to “more atrocities against Congolese civilians, create greater numbers of displaced and desperate people, and, because of the U.N.'s involvement, do lasting damage to the efficacy of U.N. peacekeeping.”

Victoria Bosselman contributed to this post.