I found this article very interesting! John Prendergast and Brad Brooks-Rubin published an op-ed in Foreign Affairs, “How Anti-Money Laundering Measures Could Counter Genocide.” They consider how de-incentivizing crime could cause a drop in atrocities.

Read it here: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-africa/2016-12-15/new-tool-fight-genocide

From the article: “what is missing from [traditional policy responses] is a tool that actually alters the cost-benefit analysis of those committing atrocities….When Salva Kiir in South Sudan or Joseph Kabila in Congo steal from their people, they store their assets in U.S. dollars that flow through the U.S. financial system to do so.” Prendergast and Brooks-Rubin explain that pressuring these assets is possible because “the anti-money laundering tools already exist and are being used very effectively in counterterrorism, nuclear proliferation, and organized crime.”