Good news: Odaini going home from Guantanamo Bay

Mohammed al-Odaini is to be released from Guantanamo back to his home country of Yemen. He has been held without charge by the US government for over 8 years, since the age of 18. He was cleared for release in 2005.  For years, Amnesty International members have taken action for Mohammed–writing countless letters and emails, holding vigils and demonstrations, organizing film screenings, meeting with elected officials and gathering petition signatures. Thank you to letter-writers around the world who wrote on his behalf on Human Rights Day! Read more.

Monsignor Clair School wins Barrie School Challenge

Mrs. Carla Collier’s grade 6 class at Monsignor Clair School wrote 168 letters as part of Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign, winning Barrie’s Write-a-thon School Challenge.  Their hard work won them a plaque from the Amnesty International  Barrie Action Circle.  Writing these letters was a  perfect opportunity to link  grade 6 curriculum for Social Studies  with classroom discussion on human rights  to  real action in the form of letter writing.   As well the letter writing fit well with the book the class was reading … The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis … a story of an eleven-year-old girl growing up in war-torn Afghanistan during Taliban control .  Many Simcoe County schools participated in this world-wide project, writing 1252 letters encouraging world leaders to protect those whose human rights have been denied.  The winner of the School Challenge at the the Secondary Level was Eastview School, with 585 letters. Thanks to teacher, Tom Fontaine!

Greece promises action on Konstantina Kouneva

One of our letter-writers received the following message from Greek authorities in response to her letter-writing appeal on behalf of Konstantina Kouneva: “Thank you for your letter. We are literally shocked by this abusive assault against a working immigrant mother at the time she returned from her work. This was an extreme form of violence, a clear violation of democracy. From the very first moment we undertook our duties, we pledged to reexamine this case from the beginning, so as new adequate evidence been discovered and the culprits to be led to justice. Already a monetary award of 1,000,000 euros has been proclaimed, to be given to any citizen who will contribute in the discovery, locating and apprehension of the unidentified culprits who took part in this murderous attempt against Konstantina Kouneva. We would like to assure you that this case will not close until the culprits are apprehended and brought before justice”. - Minister of Citizen Protection of the Hellenic Republic. We remain hopeful, but urge further action and letters of solidarity to Konstantina

1,000 letters on maternal mortality … and success in Burkina!

During Write for Rights members across Canada and around the world wrote almost 1,000 letters calling for improved access to maternal health care for women in Sierra Leone.  This action, part of Amnesty’s current Dignity Campaign, aims to reduce the instance of maternal mortality globally.  In a related effort, last week, Amnesty was part of a research and campaigning initiative in Burkina Faso that culminated in a meeting with the President during which he committed to Amnesty’s key recommendations on maternal mortality. Amnesty’s report on maternal mortalitiy in Burkina Faso  | Burkina president commits to lift financial barriers to maternal health

717,000 letters worldwide!

Letter-writers from around the world are reporting back on their results. Here are some of the totals we’ve heard so far: Poland – 108,026 letters; 82,168 signatures and 550 solidarity messages in France; 500 signatures in Slovakia; 4452 letters in Portugal; and 58,475 in the United States. Worldwide, our total number of letters written, as reported by writers from 42 countries is … 717,000!

Success!! Hamdi al-Ta’mari freed – read his words of thanks …

Hamdi al-Ta’mari was released just days after the writeathon and is now home with his family after a year in detention. He had been arrested as a 15-year-old, without charge.  He passed on this message to Amnesty supporters: “I received one letter from Amnesty International members, at the beginning, that was the first one. Later the guards refused to pass on the letters to me, they just asked, ‘Where are you getting all these letters from? That way I knew I had many letters and that people knew about me, which made the guards pay attention. I wish I could receive those letters now.” Read about his release

Hundreds of messages of solidarity in french language

Hundreds of messages of solidarity have been written on Amnesty France’s “eBook”. This french-language website allows Amnesty supporters to write messages directly to human rights defenders at risk. View messages and “temoigner votre soutiens en ligne”. See personnes en danger 2009.

Peace Community in Colombia says “Thank you!”

Members from the Peace Community in Colombia wrote to say how much “joy” it gives them to hear that kids in schools across Canada have been learning about them and writing letters on their behalf. They say “this inspires us to carry on despite how hard it is … Thank you so much; the caring attitude of so many people in Canada is very moving for us.”  Send a message in solidarity | Learn about Amnesty’s work in Colombia

Photos arriving from events – keep them coming …

Send photos to us at writeathon@amnesty.ca. See pics from Write for Rights events around the world: Poland, Slovenia, … View photos from events around Canada on our Flickr page.

Thanks for making Write for Rights an enormous success! Report back

Thank you everyone who participated in more than 2,500 Write for Rights events across Canada on Human Rights Day. And good to luck to all those whose events are yet to take place throughout the coming weekend. Remember, once you’ve finished your letter-writing to send photos to writeathon@amnesty.ca and to add your  results to our tally. Click here to report on your event.

Large donations doubled – small donations tweeted

A generous Amnesty donor has pledged to match gifts of $500 or more dollar for dollar up to $50,000 to ensure we have the funds necessary to help those caught in human rights crises in 2010. Five people have already responded – their gift to human rights will go twice as far and help twice as many people!  Have your gift matched. Or, want to make a small donation that’s highly visible? Check out our new “Buy a Stamp” twitter action.

Keep them coming … lots of good comments posted

Once you’ve written your letter, consider sharing your thoughts on the action you’ve just taken. See some of the thoughtful comments posted by those who wrote on the Bhopal action: “As an Indian it is very heartening to see peoples of the world come together, voice their disdain and opposition to corporate greed and government negligence.When a child in a developing nation matters as much as a child in a developed nation we will have come fullcircle on alot of issues”. Watch video and post your comments on Bhopal.