Stanford STAND has made strides in urging its university administration to address the presence of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in electronics products. The chapter has recently released a statement encouraging the university’s Board of Trustees to approve guidelines that will encourage companies to clarify the origins of minerals used in electronics products:

While STAND began as a Darfur group, recent years have seen our mission expand to concern all areas of genocide and mass atrocities world-wide. Fulfilling such an expansive mission is no easy task. As strong of an organization as STAND is, it is unrealistic to think that we could educate and advocate on any and every spot in the world where civilians are targeted for systematic violence. To be most effective, we must prioritize and focus on a few, most urgent, crises around the world. How do we decide?

Last week’s trivia and discussion concerned the possible MONUC withdrawal from Congo and consequences as a result.

Trivia: possible repercussions of MONUC leaving Congo

An invite from a STAND Alum:

NOI New Media BootCamp for recent graduates
July 1-8, 2010, Washington, DC
All-expenses-paid new media training
Apply Here by April 30th
Know someone who should apply? Recommend someone here.

 Iraqi refugee, Ihab Basri, is a freshman at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. His life story is a powerful one—a story of war, of family, of survival, and of hope that peace is coming to Iraq once again.

Trivia: Give two repercussions of the UN’s impending withdrawal from Eastern DRC.

Why is the UN considering pulling out of DRC?

What are the likely immediate effects of their withdrawal on the civilian population?

Will the UN’s withdrawal necessarily point DRC in a direction to peace?