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Report from our November meeting

18 Nov

 

imagesWrite for Rights Campaign 2014: Amnesty’s greetings card campaign for Christmas is under way!

‘It only takes a few minutes to write a card or letter. But this simple act brings hope and comfort to people suffering human rights abuses.’ Amnesty received this message from Serkalem Fasil, whose husband is serving 18 years in jail in Ethiopia. The family received thousands of messages last year:

‘I want to convey Eskinder’s gratitude and my own to everyone who has taken part, taken action or sent us letters. For him, it’s a huge source of encouragement and moral strength. The regime will be forced to release him and other prisoners of conscience. That kind of pressure, they can’t resist for ever.’

Look out for Taunton Amnesty’s Write for Rights Campaign Tree at the United Reformed Church’s Christmas Tree Festival 12th-14th December.

For the November Monthly Action we called on the USA to ratify the 25 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite having signed the Convention in 1995, the USA has still not ratified it – the only country, besides Sudan, to fail.

We meet at 8pm on the second Tuesday of the month at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton. Join us in December to send off Write for Rights Cards and eat mince pies!

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Report from our October meeting

23 Oct

 

egyptwomenNeil Guild, prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate for Taunton, was our speaker this month (Rebecca Pow, Conservative Parliamentary candidate, spoke in May).   In a very interesting talk he sketched in his life so far: University, Army, service in Iraq, Civil Service, and then moved on to how these experiences had shaped his current concerns, with particular reference to those issues that concern Amnesty.

This month’s Action is a call for Asylum Support rates to be increased; currently asylum seekers (who are not allowed to work) receive 50% of Income Support – about £7 a day for all living expenses outside accommodation. This is not enough to live on, and those left thus stranded may resort to illegal work, prostitution and begging.

Asylum seekers get a terrible press in the UK. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not entitled to council housing. An increase in support rates in other countries has not led to an increase in applicants there. The UK is only fourth in popularity among asylum seekers – Germany, France and Sweden all receive higher numbers of applicants.

We were asked to write to our MPs on the issue.

We now have prisoners of conscience in Egypt: 3 Egyptian women from Mansoor University, imprisoned for peaceful protest. We signed letters to President el-Sisi on their behalf, as we did for a number on Death Row in the US and other countries.

There is no further news about Dr Tun Aung, our prisoner of conscience in Burma; 3000 prisoners were released in Burma last week (in advance of the ASEAN conference), but only 3 of them were political prisoners.

We meet on the second Tuesday of the month in the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton. Do join us there, and follow us on our website: amnestytaunton.wordpress.com

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Read all about our September 2014 meeting here…

28 Sep

Torture is out of control in Mexico – there’s been a 600% rise in cases of torture and ill-treatment over the last 10 years. Think of Claudia Medina Tamariz, dragged from her home by marines in the middle of the night, tortured with electric shocks, sexually assaulted and left tied to a chair in the scorching afternoon heat.

Over 2 years later, no investigation of Claudia’s complaint has been made. Since last year Amnesty International has been in frequent contact with the authorities in Mexico, and its recommendations verbally welcomed – but action has yet to be taken.

We signed letters on behalf of those imprisoned or persecuted in Libya, Morocco, Yemen, and Egypt, including human rights activist Yara Sallam.

With regret we said goodbye to Laura, who’s returning to the Midlands. As well as campaigning for those imprisoned or persecuted in the Middle East and North Africa, Laura has set up this WordPress blog for us.

We’re most grateful to local musician Damian Clarke who, in support of Amnesty International, gave a very entertaining lunchtime fundraiser concert to a sizeable audience in St John’s Church on September 12. 

At our October meeting Neil Guild, the prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate for Taunton, will be coming to talk to us about his stance on human rights issues. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at 8pm in the Silver Street Baptist Church – all are most welcome.

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Report from the July meeting of Amnesty Taunton Group

15 Jul

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 Where is Syrian human rights lawyer Khalil Ma’touq?

A human rights lawyer for many years, he’s defended hundreds of political prisoners. He disappeared on his way to work in October 2012 and has not been seen since.   At July’s meeting of Taunton Amnesty International Group, we remembered Khalil Ma’touq and joined many others in pressing for news of what has happened to him. 

Susan Mew of the Minehead Group came to talk to us on the Human Rights in the UK. The European Convention on Human Rights was mainly drafted by British lawyers and civil servants and was fully supported by the Conservative government of the time. It expresses core British values and beliefs and diminishing UK rights will affect our ability to argue for them elsewhere.

Over the past month, group members have continued campaigning for prisoners of conscience in the Middle East and North Africa, for Dr Tun Aung of Burma, for those condemned to death in the US, China and Iran, and for the plight of protesters in Brazil.

Our next meeting, on Tuesday 12th August at 8pm, will be an informal meeting held at the Racehorse Inn, East Reach, TA1 3HT.

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Next Amnesty Taunton group meeting Tuesday 8th July @ Silver Street Baptist Church

1 Jul
Our next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 8th July at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH.  8pm start.
All are most welcome to join us for campaign updates, news and actions and to find out more about human rights and the work of Amnesty International.
This month’s meeting includes a workshop on Human Rights in the U.K.

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Report: Amnesty Taunton group meeting June 2014

24 Jun

Amnesty has become increasingly concerned about the policing of large scale demonstrations in Brazil.  We wrote letters on behalf of Edison Silva dos Santos and Douglas Rafael Pereira da Silva, two unarmed young men who were shot dead during demonstrations.  No one has been held accountable for their deaths, and Amnesty International continues to receive reports of excessive and unnecessary violence by the police.

Read more here and call on the Brazilian authorities to defend human rights at the World Cup.

We discussed Amnesty’s Stop Torture campaign and our work to end the Death Penalty.  We learned of the success of ex-MEP Sir Graham Watson in getting a response from Baroness Ashton about EU actions for prisoners of conscience in Burma, with particular reference to our prisoner Dr Tun Aung.

Watch (and listen!) out for our group in Taunton Town Centre, supported by the Blackdown Samba Band, on Saturday 28th June.

Our next meeting is at 8pm on Tuesday 8th June at the Silver Street Baptist Church and will include a workshop on the Human Rights Act in the UK. All are most welcome.

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Read all about our May 2014 local group meeting

20 May

This month we invited Rebecca Pow, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane, to discuss her position on the human rights issues that concern Amnesty.   Although Human Rights issues were not a familiar topic to Rebecca, she did express interest in Amnesty’s work on Women’s Human Rights and was able to tell us about the Conservative party’s position on issues such as repealing the Human Rights Act and reducing the influence of the European Court of Human Rights. 

Mahdi Abu Dheeb

Mahdi Abu Dheeb

Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President of the Bahrain National Teachers’ Association, is the subject of this month’s appeal. For normal Union activities he was arrested, thrown from a second floor window, beaten up and held incommunicado for days. He’s now in prison serving a 5 year sentence. His plight links to one of Amnesty’s main campaigns this year, “Stop Torture”.  As well as writing on his behalf, we sent appeal cards  to the governments of other victims: a sudden tidal wave of cards and letters undoubtedly has, at the least, an unsettling effect on such regimes.

We meet at 8pm on the second Tuesday of the month in the Silver Street Baptist Church.  All are very welcome.

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Amnesty Taunton group meeting Tuesday 13th May @ Silver Street Baptist Church

6 May

Our next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 13th May at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH.  8pm start.

All are most welcome to join us for campaign updates, news and actions and to find out more about human rights and the work of Amnesty International. 

This month we will also be hearing from Rebecca Pow, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane, about her views on human rights.

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Here’s what happened at the April 2014 Taunton Amnesty meeting…

11 Apr
Hakamada leaves prison after 46 years on death row © JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images

Hakamada leaves prison after 46 years on death row © Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

A piece of welcome good news! Japanese death row prisoner Hakamodo Iwao has at last been released. He was sentenced to death in 1968 after a trial of dubious validity, and has been under sentence of death for an unbelievable 44 years.  However, the prosecution has appealed against this release.  The Tokyo High Court could take up to two years to rule, adding to the psychological distress already endured by this elderly gentleman.

The Group debated what campaigns and countries to focus on particularly this year. We will be working for the Stop Torture and Crisis and Tactical Campaigns. We will continue to work for Dr Tun Aung of Burma; two members will focus on North Africa, and another on China, besides continuing work on such issues as the Death Penalty.

April’s monthly action highlighted the dreadful plight of persecuted civilians in the Central African Republic, where society has broken down in a series of sectarian and inter-ethnic conflicts. Amnesty is appealing to the Americans to support an immediate intervention by international peacekeeping forces. Click here to sign the petition.

Our May meeting will be addressed by Rebecca Pow, prospective Conservative candidate for Taunton, on human rights issues. All are most welcome to come and hear her at 8pm on the Tuesday 13th May 2014 at Silver Street Baptist Church. 

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Correction: Amnesty Taunton group meeting Tuesday 8th April @ Silver Street Baptist Church

6 Apr


Sorry for the incorrect date on the title of our earlier post! To confirm:

Our next monthly meeting is next week, on Tuesday 8th April, at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH.  8pm start.

All are most welcome to join us for campaign updates, news and actions and to find out more about human rights and the work of Amnesty International.

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