Speakers tour and petition Procure IT Fair

Sustainable procurement of IT hardware is one of the tools to improve working conditions, human rights and environmental protection in the global electronics supply chain. Because public institutions, such as universities and technical colleges, can make a difference, the European campaign Procure IT Fair started a petition which targets these institutions and their procurement. They also invited Pathma Krishnan from the Malaysian NGO Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization to travel throughout Germany, Spain and the Netherlands from 10 to 22 October 2010 and share her practical experience.

In various workshops and lectures, Pathma Krishnan, from the Malaysian NGO Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization, will address the pressing sustainability issues in the IT industry. Krishnan will focus specifically on her research in the Malaysian IT industry and the role of migrant workers in this sector, which reveals massive problems with regard to their working conditions.

Online petition

Public Institutions, such as universities, can make a difference. Because of their huge usage of computers and therefore strong buying power they are able to make demands in the area of social criteria. By including social criteria in the procurement process they can greatly contribute to reducing poverty and improving working conditions in the producing countries.
Sign the petition urging European universities and technical colleges to include social criteria in their procurement processes and to adopt a resolution at their universities ensuring social responsibility in the procurement of computers.

Debby Chan – project officer for SACOM(opens in new window) , a nonprofit organization based in Hong Kong – is supporting the petition: “Universities are committed to improving society. SACOM urges universities to adhere to this commitment with respect to the workers who produce their IT hardware by demanding decent working conditions in their procurement.”

Sign the petition at www.procureitfair.org(opens in new window) and please forward this petition to family and friends. Every signature counts. At the end of November, all the signatures collected will be handed over to public institutions in Europe (where Procure IT Fair is active), to call for the inclusion of social criteria by the central Procurement Institutions in the procurement process.

Programme for Speakers tour

Pathma Krishnan’s tour will start in Germany. In Stuttgart she will give among other things a workshop at DEAB (Dachverband Entwicklungspolitik Baden-Württemberg). After that she will be visiting Spain from 14 – 19 October, where she will give a workshop in the town of Manresa. Her speaking tour will conclude in the Netherlands (19 – 22 October) with a lecture at the Dutch United Nations Student Association. The programme is available at www.procureitfair.org(opens in new window) .