Subject: ACTION: Valentine's Day Alert


ADNA Action:  012501
Message from:  Amnesty International, USA
For contact information see also:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
A Day Without Diamonds

Join AI groups Nationwide in a Valentine's Day call to action on
Conflict Diamonds.

On February 14, student groups will be sending a powerful message
to their peers, the diamond industry, and Congress about the
importance of effective legislation that will ban the importation of
Conflict Diamonds into the United States.

Some of the world's most beautiful gems are helping fund violent and
brutal rebel insurgencies across Africa, most notably in Sierra
Leone where the Revolutionary United Front pays for their weapons
by selling illicit diamonds onto the world market. They are best
known for their trademark crime; cutting off the limbs and body parts
of innocent men, women, children and babies. The rebel group has
ravaged Sierra Leone and its people for too long.

Until an international certification system is functional and is backed-
up by the support of critical countries like the United States, the
diamonds used to fund the Revolutionary United Front will continue
to find their way into jewelry stores across the United States. No
jeweler can guarantee that the symbol of love you are buying is not
a Blood Diamond.

Here in the U.S. we expect legislation banning Conflict Diamonds to
be introduced early in the 107th Congress (February 2001) and we
want this bill passed by July 4, 2001. We will need to mobilize
people and make sure Congress acts quickly to ban Conflict
Diamonds.

The time to act is now! Plan an event with your student group, big or
small. Here are some ideas:

¨    Hold education leafletting events in front of Tiffany, Cartier, Wal-
Mart and Zales stores urging consumers to get your member of
Congress to support the Conflict Diamond legislation.

¨ Send materials and information to your local newspapers urging
them to cover the issue of conflict diamonds and the legislation.

¨    Getting your Mayor or City Council to pass a resolution or
declare a Day without Diamonds in solidarity with the women,
children and men of Sierra Leone who have lost their lives or their
limbs or have been tortured because of Conflict Diamonds.

¨    Post and distribute flyers explaining the issue of Conflict
Diamonds.

¨    Set-up writing areas in computer labs and ask other students to
send an e-mail or letter to your representatives in Congress.

¨    Commit people to sending an e-mail animation to ten of their
friends. This e-mail animation will be ready to circulate a week
before Valentine's Day and we will send it to you.

¨    Organize a call-in to local Congressmen and other influential
members of the community.

¨   Any other ideas that you come up with and think would be
successful.

If your group wants to participate, please contact Amanda Blair at
[log in to unmask] , 202-544-0200 for more information, supplies and
SUPPORT!

***

This message from Amnesty International,USA is distributed through
the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA).


Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa
Communications Facilitator
c/o Africa Policy Information Center
110 Maryland Ave, NE  #509
Washington, DC 20002
Ph:  202-546-7961
Fax: 202-546-1545
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.africapolicy.org/adna

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:

        http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html

AAM Website:  http://www.danenet.wicip.org/aam
----------------------------------------------------------------------------