Congo Reform Association

Congo Reform Association
Formation1904–1913
TypeNon-Governmental Organization
FocusHumanitarianism, Free trade, Colonialism
Location

The Congo Reform Association (CRA) was a political and humanitarian activist group that sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, a private territory in Central Africa under the absolute sovereignty of King Leopold II.[1] Active from 1904 to 1913, the association formed in opposition to the institutionalised practices of Congo Free State's 'rubber policy', which encouraged the need to minimise expenditure and maximise profit with no political constraints – fostering a system of coercion and terror unparalleled in contemporary colonial Africa.[2] The group carried out a global publicity campaign across the Western world, using a range of strategies including displays of atrocity photographs; public seminars; mass rallies; celebrity endorsements; and extensive press coverage to lobby the Great Powers into pressuring reform in the Congo.[3] The association partially achieved its aims in 1908 with the Belgian government's annexation of the Congo Free State and continued to promote reform until disbanding in 1913.[4]

  1. ^ Bourne, Henry F. (1904). "The Congo Question". Fortnightly Review, May 1865-June 1934. 75: 49–51.
  2. ^ Ascherson, Neal. (1999). The king incorporated : Leopold the Second and the Congo. Granta Books. p. 202. ISBN 1-86207-290-6. OCLC 962970255.
  3. ^ Alexander, Nathan G. (September 2016). "E.D. Morel (1873–1924), the Congo Reform Association, and the History of Human Rights". Britain and the World. 9 (2): 214. doi:10.3366/brw.2016.0238. ISSN 2043-8567.
  4. ^ Ascherson, Neal. (1999). The king incorporated : Leopold the Second and the Congo. Granta Books. pp. 279–281. ISBN 1-86207-290-6. OCLC 962970255.