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New UW-Madison Student Group Pushes for Conflict-Free Campus

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New UW-Madison Student Group Pushes for Conflict-Free Campus

Posted by Enough Team on September 18, 2012

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: JD Stier, Raise Hope for Congo campaign manager, (202)250-4057, [email protected]

Madison, WI– On Friday, September 21, the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative, or CFCI, at UW-Madison will host a kickoff event introducing how students can get involved with promoting conflict-free technology on campus in order to stop the trade of conflict minerals funding armed groups in eastern Congo. The Conflict-Free Campus Initiative is a movement that has spread to more than 100 campuses across the nation, and has led 12 schools so far to pass resolutions giving preference to conflict-free electronics products.

The event will feature unique campus and national speakers including Raise Hope for Congo campaign manager and UW-Madison alum, JD Stier. Filmmaker Paul Freedman (Sand and Sorrow, Halfway Home) will film the event and document the journey of the student leaders as they launch the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative on Madison's campus, which will become a core story line for a comprehensive film about the conflict in Congo.

Who: Conflict-Free Campus Initiative at UW-Madison, a new student-led group advocating for the university administration to pass a conflict-free resolution

What: Conflict-Free Campus Initiative Kickoff

Where: Beefeaters Room in the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., Madison, WI, 53706

When: Friday, September 21, 2012 from 6:30PM – 7:30 PM, CST

Why: Armed groups in eastern Congo earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year from the sale of conflict minerals—gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten.  In order to control the mines, these armed groups use systematic violence and rape as a way to intimidate local communities.  The ongoing conflict in eastern Congo has claimed more than five million lives, and still continues today.

As purchasers of electronics products, U.S. consumers have a powerful role to play in helping to prevent this deadly trade. Collectively, students can work together to create a demand for responsible sourcing of minerals from Congo. With more than 40,000 students enrolled, UW-Madison has significant purchasing power that can be used to pressure electronics companies into creating conflict-free products and responsibly sourcing minerals from the Congo.

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The Conflict-Free Campus Initiative draws on the power of student leadership and activism to bring about peace in Congo. It is a project of the Enough Project 's Raise Hope for Congo campaign and STAND.

Raise Hope for Congo aims to build a permanent and diverse constituency of activists who will advocate for the human rights of all Congolese citizens and work towards ending the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo. For additional information on the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative, and Raise Hope for Congo, please visit: http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/conflict-free-campus-initiative