A mock refugee camp will be taking place on campus this week to raise awareness of the many displaced persons around the world who have had to leave their homes because of violent conflicts.

Members of Time for Peace and the ISU chapter of Amnesty International will be hosting the event, “Refugees by the Gun,” from 9 a.m. Tuesday through 9 a.m. Thursday on Central Campus in front of the Sloss House.

According to the United Nations Higher Commission on Refugees Web site, more than 19 million people in 116 countries are refugees because of war and violence.

The refugee camp will highlight how war and other violent conflicts create refugees, which most people don’t often think about, said Basil Mahayni, graduate student in political science and member of Time for Peace.

“Once [refugees] have moved, they’re forgotten,” he said.

A refugee is defined as a person who is forced to flee his or her home because of a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” or as part of a group of persons fleeing because of a collective danger such as “insecurity or war,” according to the Doctors Without Borders Web site.

“Imagine if a war breaks out or there is violence and it’s not safe for you to stay in your home. You’re forced out into a refugee camp, away from your house, without your job, who knows where your family and friends are. That’s the consequence of war people don’t think about,” said Thomas Kula, adviser for Time for Peace and systems support specialist for Academic Information Technologies.

The camp will focus mainly on refugees from Sudan and Rwanda, said Asiya Baig, senior in nutritional science and steering committee member and treasurer of Time for Peace.

The activities will be focused on Sudanese refugees, Kula said.

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army have been fighting a civil war for more than 30 years, according to the Doctors Without Borders Web site.

Wednesday’s activities will be focused on the refugees from the Rwandan genocide of 1994 with a lecture by Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager from Rwanda who was the inspiration for the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” Kula said.

There will be up to 20 people at the campsite each day, Mahayni said.

“We are trying to have people out at the campsite 24 hours a day, start to finish,” Kula said. “People will be spending the night in the camps.”

Information will also be passed out regarding the plight of the refugees, highlighting the fact that refugees are forced to leave everything behind when they leave.

“Quite a few refugee camps around the world lack food and security in the campsites – there are illnesses and diseases,” he said.

According to the DWB Web site, Sudanese refugee camps have had outbreaks of measles, meningitis, malaria and other infectious diseases. In many of the Rwandan refugee camps, people were raped during the genocide and contracted HIV and AIDS.

Baig said the camp may also include information about the refugees created by the war in Iraq.

Ramsey Tesdell, senior in technical communication, steering committee member of Time for Peace and columnist for the Daily, said camp participants will also be writing letters to “people in power to let them know their constituents know about refugees.”

Donations for the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders will also be collected.