RESPONSIBLE ENDOWMENTS COALITION www.endowmentethics.org

According to a report by the Financial Times Tuesday, "Businesses resist conflict minerals law" corporations are "mounting a lobbying campaign over a provision slipped into the financial reform legislation requiring companies to declare products containing minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo." As discussed in an earlier blog post, Stanford University students (Victory at Stanford, July, 2) recently worked with the University to create a proxy voting guideline on conflict minerals, minerals mined from countries with poor human rights records where proceeds often benefit paramilitary groups.

This law opens up information on the issue and makes it easier to encourage companies to change their practices. For the fight against conflict minerals to be successful, it is essential that it remain strong.