George Clooney donates one million dollars to tackle war crimes

The Hollywood star’s Clooney Foundation For Justice made a one million dollar donation to the Making War Criminals Pay fundraising campaign from his pressure group The Sentry, a team of policy analysts and financial forensic investigators aiming to track down war profiteering networks in the region.

The Sentry, which Clooney founded with human rights activist John Prendergast, will use the money to produce dossiers focused on war criminals and their financial networks.

The dossiers will be given to banks and governments to lay the foundation for regulatory and legal action with the aim of prosecuting or seizing the assets of those who finance and benefit from genocide or other war crimes.

The organisation has also received donations from actor Don Cheadle, jazz drummer Carl Allen and businessman Ruben Vardanyan and other contributors, totalling $3.45 million (£2.6 million) including Clooney’s contribution.

The Sentry will seek to raise an additional $2.55 million (£1.9 million) to reach a $6 million (£4.5 million) fundraising goal.

Announcing his gift, Clooney said: “Our focus is to make sure that war crimes don’t pay.

“We want to make it more difficult for those willing to kill en masse to secure their political and economic objectives.

“When we’re able to go after the warlords’ wallets and bankrupt those who choose the bullet over the ballot, suddenly the incentives are for peace, not war; transparency, not corruption.”

Mr Prendergast added: “The Sentry is pursuing a new strategy to counter mass atrocities that would utilise the tools of financial pressure normally reserved for countering terrorism, organised crime and nuclear proliferation.

“We aim to undermine the pillars of the war economy and disrupt the financial flows that fuel conflict. Unless the links between conflict and corruption are confronted, peace will remain a distant dream.”