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Amnesty International’s annual global letter-writing campaign will see hundreds of thousands of people around the world call on Canadian lawmakers to stop the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders with the Wet’suwet’en Nation and their allies.

The Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders is one of nine cases selected for this year’s Write for Rights campaign. Each year on and around December 10 (International Human Rights Day), Amnesty International supporters write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts, and postcards in support of people who are unjustly persecuted. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.

‘It means so much to have hundreds of thousands of people from around the world expressing their solidarity with us through the Write for Rights campaign and putting pressure on the governments of so-called Canada and British Columbia.’

Sleydo’, a Wing Chief (Cas Yikh house) of the Wet’suwet’en Nation

“It means so much to have hundreds of thousands of people from around the world expressing their solidarity with us through the Write for Rights campaign and putting pressure on the governments of so-called Canada and British Columbia,” said Sleydo’ (also known as Molly Wickham), a Wing Chief (Cas Yikh house) of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and one of the defenders who has been criminalized by Canada. “The governments continue to make decisions that violate our rights, including planning to build two compressor stations on our territory without our free, prior, and informed consent. They need to know that the world is watching.” 

Since 2019, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have conducted four violent police raids on Indigenous land defenders and their allies protecting Wet’suwet’en territory against the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) liquefied natural gas pipeline. Construction on the pipeline has proceeded without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. These actions violate the Nation’s rights under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international human rights instruments.

VIDEO: Sleydo’ calls for people around the world to push Canada to stop criminalizing land defenders protection the territory and rights of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

In 2022, the British Columbia Prosecution Service (BCPS) decided to charge 20 land defenders with criminal contempt for allegedly disobeying an injunction order to stay away from pipeline construction sites. Some of the land defenders had their charges dropped or were found not guilty. Others pleaded guilty in response to restrictive bail conditions and the stress the judicial process imposed on them and their families.

In January 2024, Sleydo’, Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet’suwet’en family connections and Corey “Jayohcee” Jocko, who is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, were found guilty of criminal contempt. However, the three land defenders have filed abuse-of-process applications arguing that their human rights were violated by the RCMP during their arrests and detention. The abuse-of-process claims are still before the court. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has renewed its call for the governments of B.C. and Canada to halt the prosecution of Wet’suwet’en land defenders without delay.

This is only the second time that Amnesty’s global Write for Rights campaign has featured a Canada-focused case. In 2019, Amnesty supporters around the world rallied in solidarity with youth activists from Grassy Narrows First Nations.

More than 100 Write for Rights events planned in Canada

“By pushing back against a new fossil-fuel pipeline on their territory, Wet’suwet’en land defenders are protecting everyone’s right to a stable climate and a healthy environment,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Now is our opportunity as a movement to share our gratitude and solidarity. With every letter written and petition signed, we will send a resounding message to Canadian lawmakers: it’s time to put people’s rights before fossil-fuel profits.”

VIDEO: Learn more about Write for Rights in Canada.

In Canada, more than one hundred Write for Rights events are planned for this year, with more to be confirmed. Most will take place in December in celebration of International Human Rights Day. Amnesty supporters will gather in schools, libraries, offices, places of worship, homes, and community centres nationwide.

Last year, more than 200 Write-A-Thons took place across Canada. Participants took more than 125,000 actions – an Amnesty International Canada record – by writing letters, signing petitions, and sharing messages of solidarity online.

Global order hands in the balance

This year’s Write for Right campaign is ramping up at a time when the global order hangs in the balance. As war rages in the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine and anti-abortion narratives and policies continue, activists from around the world are putting their lives on the line to speak out against oppression and injustice. Many are being threatened, jailed or even killed.

“People have been jailed, shot, tortured, forcibly disappeared, and murdered, simply for speaking out to defend human rights, for protesting or voicing their anxieties about the state of the world. This is intolerable. Amid persistent conflicts, shrinking civic space, and an intensifying climate emergency, we need to hear their voices more than ever,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s global Secretary General.

“By writing letters, signing petitions, and sharing stories, you can support activists whose lives are in danger and demand that governments stop clamping down on rights and freedoms. You can demand justice and hold governments to account. Those responsible for human rights violations thrive in the midst of silence and indifference. They shrink when we come together, speak loud, organise, and unite across the divisions they create. So join us. Take a stand for human rights.” 

This year, Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Campaign will be supporting nine individuals and groups who are defending human rights. Individually and collectively, they stand for the world we want, not the world we live in. They include:

Giving people hope

Over the past few years, Amnesty supporters have made a real difference to people’s lives, providing hope during the darkest of times.

From Brazil to Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan to Zimbabwe, more than 100 activists have been freed, and justice has been served – as in the case of Rita Karasartova, a human rights defender and expert in civic governance from Kyrgyzstan.

Rita Karasartova
Rita Karasartova, a human rights defender from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is a Write for Rights success story.

For more than a decade Rita dedicated her life to providing independent legal advice to people whose rights were being violated by a corrupt and unreliable legal system. Alongside 26 others, Rita was arrested in October 2022 for opposing a new border agreement that gave control of a freshwater reservoir to Uzbekistan. She was charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government.” Rita was part of Amnesty’s Write for Rights campaign last year, and following calls from people around the world, Rita and at least 21 other defendants were acquitted on June 14, 2024.

“Your timely actions – these petitions, signatures and the huge number of letters that went to the court and the prosecutor’s office were all very powerful,” said Rita. “It was empowering to us all. The acquittal was totally unexpected. We had been playing with all sorts of scenarios and different outcomes in our heads, but we didn’t think we would all be acquitted! Thank you all.”