Press Release / / 04.14.21

Dutch Postcode Lottery Announces Grant to The Sentry

€900,000 Annually For Three Years Renews Support for Investigative and Policy Work Tracking the Money of War Criminals

April 14, 2021 (Amsterdam) – Today, the Dutch Postcode Lottery announced the renewal of its partnership in support of The Sentry, with a grant of €900,000 annually for three years. The funding will support The Sentry’s investigative and policy work tracking the dirty money connected to African war criminals and international war profiteers.

The Dutch Postcode Lottery has been a leading partner of The Sentry since its launch in 2016, and in 2020 awarded The Sentry one of the Postcode’s Extra Projects, a multi-million dollar grant to support a significant expansion of its work in Africa. George Clooney, The Sentry’s Co-Founder, and longtime supporter of The Sentry Robin Wright are both International Ambassadors for the Dutch Postcode Lottery.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said: “Thanks to the remarkable support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, The Sentry has succeeded in creating real financial consequences for many of the officials and commercial actors responsible for perpetuating and profiting from massive human rights crimes. As a result, major wars have ended in South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a return to full-scale civil war has been prevented. The Sentry remains focused on the kleptocratic networks that have captured these states—and those in the surrounding region—and we will work to cut off the illicit financial flows that drive violence, atrocity, and war. While this is still a long journey, the opportunities for real change are now clear, in great part thanks to the Lottery’s unwavering commitment.”

Thanks to the generous support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, The Sentry has played a critical role countering the greed-fueled drivers of mass atrocities, armed conflict, and human rights abuse and creating new leverage in support of local movements and international efforts toward sustainable peace. In just the past year:

The Sentry has helped create real financial consequences for many of the officials and commercial actors responsible for perpetuating and profiting from massive human rights crimes. As a result, a return to full-scale war has been prevented in South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Sentry’s investigations have documented evidence of corruption and fraud associated with the COVID-19 response. The Sentry is drawing attention to these problems and advocating for targeted action in response to avoid the misuse or diversion of funds moving forward.
The Sentry worked closely with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for more than a year to help design the UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions (GHRS) program, launched in July. The GHRS offers a powerful new tool to deny access to the UK international financial systems to serious human rights abusers around the world.

Rawan Shaif, Investigator at The Sentry, said: “Exposing the networks that facilitate illicit financial flows, political corruption, and war-profiteering is at the core of the Sentry’s mandate. This grant is a vital investment in cultivating an environment where accountability for these crimes is not just a concept, but rather a tangible reality. This tremendous opportunity will amplify our work with partners and allies to hold account warlords, politicians, and profiteers that continue to exploit local and international financial systems to benefit from violence and corruption.”

For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, +1 310 717 0606, [email protected]

ABOUT THE SENTRY

The Sentry is an investigative and policy team that follows the dirty money connected to African war criminals and transnational war profiteers and seeks to shut those benefiting from violence out of the international financial system. By disrupting the cost-benefit calculations of those who hijack governments for self-enrichment, we seek to counter the main drivers of conflict and create new leverage for peace, human rights, and good governance. The Sentry is composed of financial investigators, international human rights lawyers, and regional experts, as well as former law enforcement agents, intelligence officers, policymakers, investigative journalists, and banking professionals. Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is a strategic partner of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Learn more at www.TheSentry.org.

ABOUT THE DUTCH POSTCODE LOTTERY

The Dutch Postcode Lottery was founded in 1989 to support charities that work to create a more just and greener world. The lottery raises funds for its charity partners and draws attention to the work they are doing.

In the Postcode Lottery, your postcode is your lottery number, so that neighbors win together. More than 3 million Dutch households play the Postcode Lottery every month, giving them the chance to win hundreds of thousands of prizes. Every year, at least 40% of the Postcode Lottery’s proceeds are donated to 100+ charities around the world. Since its creation, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has donated over 6.2 billion euro to organizations dedicated to ‘people’ and ‘planet,’ including the Clinton Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam Netherlands, the World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International and Greenpeace.

The Postcode Lottery format is also used in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany and Norway. Together, the Postcode Lotteries are the second biggest private charity donor in the world.