From high schools and college campuses to cities and states, the “Conflict-Free” movement continued to expand this year.
Spurred by the activism of a high school student, the latest resolution by a Wisconsin school district adds another victory in an international campaign working to ensure that laptops, cell phones, and other popular consumer products are not connected to killing, child abductions, or sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Most recently, Ellen Bresnick, a high school junior, led efforts spurring her Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District to unanimously adopt a resolution calling on electronics and other industries to take the necessary due diligence measures to ensure that the minerals in their products contribute to peace and sustainable livelihoods in the DRC.
Earlier this year, activists and policymakers celebrated the Portland City Council’s vote to enact a conflict-free policy for the city. Portland’s new policy affects cellular devices and other key communication equipment purchased by the city.
Including the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District, 20 school institutions have passed resolutions that call on companies to source conflict-free minerals from the DRC for their products. The public school district based in Dane County, Wisconsin, represents six elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and one alternative senior high school.
More details:
- By encouraging university officials and stakeholders, both of whom are large purchasers of electronics and powerful spokespersons, to commit to measures that pressure electronics companies to responsibly invest in Congo's minerals sector, students from the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI) are voicing the demand for conflict-free products from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
- Students from 175 schools in the U.S. and internationally have participated in CFCI
- Five U.S. cities and one U.K. city have passed conflict-free procurement resolutions
- Two U.S. states (CA & MD) have passed conflict-free procurement resolutions
- One State Bar Association (Minnesota) has passed a conflict-free procurement resolution
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About THE ENOUGH PROJECT
The Enough Project, an atrocity prevention policy group, seeks to build leverage for peace and justice in Africa by helping to create real consequences for the perpetrators and facilitators of genocide and other mass atrocities. Enough aims to counter rights-abusing armed groups and violent kleptocratic regimes that are fueled by grand corruption, transnational crime and terror, and the pillaging and trafficking of minerals, ivory, diamonds, and other natural resources. Enough conducts field research in conflict zones, develops and advocates for policy recommendations, supports social movements in affected countries, and mobilizes public campaigns. Learn more – and join us – at www.EnoughProject.org
About THE CONFLICT-FREE CITIES and CONFLICT-FREE CAMPUS INITIATIVE
Initiatives of the Enough Project’s “Raise Hope for Congo” campaign, the Conflict-Free Cities and Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI) draw on the power of student leadership and activism to help support peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By encouraging university officials, local governments, and other stakeholders – large purchasers of electronics and powerful spokespersons – to commit to measures that pressure electronics companies to responsibly invest in the minerals sector, consumers are voicing the demand for conflict-free products from Congo. Comprehensive reform is needed in Congo for sustainable peace – now is the time is for activists to lead the conflict-free movement. Join us: www.conflictfreecampus.org