Write for Rights

By Gemma Regina Cunanan, Director of Amnesty Philippines 5 March

On 16 February, Jerryme Corre celebrated his birthday, joined by his wife and Amnesty Philippines staff at Angeles City Jail. Jerryme has spent the last three years imprisoned there after police allegedly tortured him into a confession. Gemma Regina Cunanan, Director of Amnesty Philippines, describes the day.

  "I can never give enough thanks. These [letters] give me strength. It also gives courage to my wife. We are not alone in this fight. Many people also seek justice for us."   Jerryme Corre

When Jerryme walked out to meet us on Monday at Angeles City Jail, his smile was wide.  Our team from Manila had brought thousands of letters from all over the world – and a cake. 

The release of peaceful activist Dr Tun Aung, jailed simply for trying to prevent communal violence, is a positive step, but authorities in Myanmar should also free the dozens of other prisoners of conscience still behind bars, Amnesty International said.

Dr Tun Aung, a Muslim community leader and medical doctor, was released from prison yesterday. He was first jailed in 2012 after trying to calm the crowd during a riot involving Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, and was sentenced to up to 17 years’ imprisonment under various trumped-up charges.

“This is a very welcome move by the authorities and we are delighted that Dr Tun Aung is finally free and will be reunited with his family. His release will come as encouragement for all of those inside and outside the country who campaigned for his freedom,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

“But he should never have been imprisoned in the first place – the charges against him were baseless and the trials he faced farcical.”

Amnesty International supporters and human rights activists from more than 100 countries around the globe are taking part in the world’s largest annual human rights event around International Human Rights Day December 10 with a two week campaign.

Called Write for Rights, the event mobilizes supporters to put pen to paper or send electronic messages on behalf of individuals and communities suffering from brutal human rights violations including arbitrary detention and torture.

Supporters in Canada are signing petitions, writing letters, participating in events and posting tweets calling for justice, freedom and protection from human rights violations. Some of the cases, amongst others, include:

 

Supporters "Dance for Rights" to raise awareness for Amnesty's global letter-writing event Write for Rights

This past Saturday on December 6th, supporters of Amnesty International took to the streets in Montreal to be a part of the largest grassroots human rights campaign in the world, Write for Rights! The new flagship event, dubbed “Dance for Rights” brought community members out to dance in solidarity with people fighting injustices all over the world, and to promote and protect human rights. With our music devices in our pockets and headphones in our ears we became a SILENT DISCO, using a flash mob style of street activism to garner attention!

Millions of Amnesty International supporters from around the globe are set to take part in the world’s largest annual human rights campaign launching today 3 December.

Write for Rights, a two-week-long campaign, is calling on activists to take action on behalf of 10 activists and two communities suffering brutal human rights abuses including arbitrary detention and torture.

Activist from all corners of the world will be signing petitions, writing letters, organizing events and posting tweets calling for, amongst others:

•        The release of Chelsea Manning, the US whistler-blower who is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified government material to the website Wikileaks.

•        Proper compensation and medical assistance for the victims of Bhopal who still await justice after the 1984 gas leak disaster which killed more than 22,000 and left half a million injured.

When we meet Shahzadi Bi in September, she is busy chaining herself to a fence. It’s not just any fence, but the one that surrounds the Chief Minister’s residence in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where Bhopal is the capital. She is among a group of protesters demanding that the minister keep his promise of providing each survivor of the 1984 gas leak – the more than 570,000 who were exposed – 500,000 Indian rupees (US$8,170) as compensation.

Shahzadi, aged 60, lives in Blue Moon Colony, one of the 22 slums that surround the old pesticide factory formerly owned by Union Carbide India Limited. This area is blighted by water contamination, caused by chemicals from the abandoned factory site.

The disaster overturned her and her family’s lives. “Everyone has dreams,” she says. “I too had those. My dream was not about becoming a teacher or doctor… I wished that we would provide a good education to our children… but the gas leak shattered all these dreams.”