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Amnesty International
The Amnesty International group meets at 10.55 on Tuesday (Week 1) in E6. Our aim is to raise awareness of Amnesty’s work across the school, and to fundraise and campaign for the protection and promotion of human rights. The latter involves writing letters and emails to lobby politicians (both nationally and internationally) to use their influence to relieve suffering.
When combined with the work of other youth groups, the letters and emails have a cumulative effect, with some improvement, such as the prevention of torture, access to doctors and lawyers, commuted death sentences and the release of unfairly held prisoners, being seen in more than a third of the ‘urgent action’ cases.
Campaigns usually focus on individuals whose human rights have been abused, including those who are imprisoned for their ideas. Recently, BMS has written to the Iranian authorities for the release of two women’s rights campaigners: Mahboubeh Karami and journalist Hengameh Shahidi, who are currently at risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
To raise awareness, members of the Amnesty International youth group also organise assemblies for the younger Years and update news boards around the school. As well as writing to individuals, We have concentrated on wider Amnesty International campaigns, such as ‘Demand Dignity’, which aims to highlight the link between poverty and the abuse of human rights, ‘Stop Violence Against Women’, ‘Control the Arms Trade’ and ‘End Human Rights Abuses in the War on Terror’.
Please visit the Amnesty Website for more information.
