Member blog

If there is one thing that COVID-19 has taught us, it is the power of ingenuity in the face of adversity, and the current work Amnesty International activists are doing is nothing short of powerful!

First online letter writing meeting for Winnipeg's Group 19

Our volunteers have had to think outside the box to continue the essential work of human rights activism from their homes rather than in the usual community-based events and as excellently put by Nazila Nik, AI Canada Iran Country Coordinator, it is the nature of the work that must keep us inspired. She writes:

B-r-e-a-t-h-e.  That was difficult for the residents of Lahore, Pakistan on 21 November 2019. The Air Quality Index hit 598, twice the ‘hazardous’ level which begins at 300. Within hours, Amnesty International issued its first Urgent Action focusing directly on climate change. The UA argued that the government’s failure to adequately protect people from exposure to the toxic air puts their human rights at risk, including their rights to health and life.

The Urgent Action generated worldwide media – and success! On 30 November, Prime Minister Imran Khan convened a press conference to announce what steps the government would take to curb emissions. The Minister for Climate Change then sent a letter to Amnesty International: “I want to assure you that our Ministry is committed to play its role for shifting the landscape in Pakistan towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable future and particularly targeting the growing challenge of air pollution and climate change.”

Learn more about the Urgent Action Network here! 

Film director Oleg Sentsov, who was released on the 7th of September as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, has thanked activists from Amnesty International for writing letters of support during his time in the remand centre and the penal colony.  Sentsov, who was arrested in 2014 and whose release was achieved through the many efforts of Amnesty International and other human rights organisations, gave a press conference alongside Alexander Kolchenko in Kiev.

“Of course, I received many letters from Amnesty International. Thank you very much”, said Sentsov. According to him, the activists from Amnesty have contributed greatly to the international campaign for his release.

Alejandra Barrera, a transgender Salvadorian activist who had been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention since November 2017, was released September 6, 2019, as a result of international advocacy efforts, spearheaded by Amnesty International, the Translatin@ Coalition, National Immigrant Justice Center, and dozens of members of the United States Congress.

As a tribute to Julián Carrillo, an environmental rights defender killed in October 2018, we launched Caught between bullets and neglect, a digest on Mexico’s failure to protect environmental human rights defenders. Just a few hours after the launch, two suspects in Julián’s murder were arrested, showing the immediate impact Amnesty can have on justice.

In 2010, Google, the largest search engine in the world, made a promise not to support China’s censorship of the internet. But in 2018 it was revealed that Google was preparing to break its promise.

Google started working on a secretive program to re-launch its search engine in China code-named “Google Dragonfly”. People using Google in China would be blocked from accessing banned websites like Wikipedia and Facebook. Content from search terms like ‘human rights’ would be banned. The Chinese government would also be able to spy on Google’s users – and this is a government that routinely sends people to prison for simply sharing their views online.

To raise attention about the issue, Amnesty produced a couple of spoof videos that were widely circulated online. To increase pressure on Google to “drop Dragonfly”, we launched a global petition and Amnesty volunteers held demonstrations outside of Google’s offices around the world - including in Toronto.

Even many of Google’s employees were appalled by the Google Dragonfly project and spoke out against it.

Regina member Nathan Bauche descibes how he became involved in Amnesty International through letter-writing. 

On June 24th, 2003 I sat down to write my first Amnesty International appeal letter. It was addressed to the Canadian government about the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. I received a reply to this letter from the Minister for International Cooperation at the time.

I had been acquainted with the movement earlier that spring in an education class. Our professor had invited the community AI group to speak to us. Through skits and discussion they explained Amnesty’s mission and role. During the presentation, I realized how easy it was to make a difference simply by writing a letter.

Afterwards I became heavy involved with AI. I joined the university’s Amnesty chapter, volunteered at many events, attended the Human Rights College in 2005, served on Amnesty Group 91’s board, and participated in twelve annual Write For Rights events.