It’s quite common for celebrities to use their spotlight to bring attention to global issues. Angelia Jolie’s work with UNICEF and George Clooney’s focus on Darfur come most readily to mind when it comes to famous faces working to make the world a better place. But this week another Hollywood powerhouse is coming to Washington to teach Congress a thing or two.
On Wednesday Ben Affleck will be appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to discuss how to curb violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This isn’t the actor, director, and screenwriter’s first time on Capitol Hill. He spoke on a House Foreign Relations panel on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights in 2011 and again in front of the House Armed Services Committee in 2012 to discuss security in the DRC.
The title of Wednesday’s panel is “Prospects for Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Great Lakes Region,” with a goal of giving the Senate an update on the difficult ongoing situation in the DRC. The large African nation’s eastern provinces have been enveloped in ongoing violence since 1996. Since then, it has been estimated that 45,000 Congolese are dying due to war every month, with a total death toll ranging from 900,000 to 5,400,000 in 2009.
The DRC’s internal conflict has gained attention from Western leaders due to widespread human rights violations, including mass killings of civilians, destruction of private property, and a propensity toward sexual violence. Recent reports claim that over 400,000 women are raped in the DRC every year.
This isn’t just a pet project for Affleck. In 2010 he founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit focused on using community based, public-private partnerships for economic and social development in the DRC. Affleck founded the organization after taking a series of humanitarian trips to the DRC, and noticing that there weren’t any American organizations with access to the necessary resources to directly address the problems in Eastern Congo. Specifically the Eastern Congo Initiative now focuses on supporting survivors of sexual survivors, reintegrating child soldiers, improving local health and education, and running peace and reconciliation programs.
“I’m thrilled to be working with him, number one, and I’ve learned a great deal with him because he’s a guy that gets the issues,” Cindy McCain, a partner with Eastern Congo Initiative, has said about Affleck’s expertise. “I enjoy being around him. We don’t talk politics. We talk about African politics.”
