Ordinary people, extraordinary achievements: Susan Mew of the Minehead Group came to talk to us about Amnesty’s BRAVE campaign. Launched last year, this aims to strengthen the recognition and protection of human rights defenders around the world. Who are they? A Human Rights Defender is a person who individually or with others acts to defend and promote human rights at local, national or international levels, using non-violent means.
People like lawyer Azza Soliman who defends victims of torture, arbitrary detention, domestic abuse and rape in Egypt, and is now facing three trumped up charges, carrying a possible sentence of 25 years.
People like Tep Vanny of Cambodia, a housing rights activist, jailed in 2016 for supporting people at risk of forced eviction.
Or people like Sakris Kupila, a medical student in Finland who is a transgender activist, denied legal recognition. “I dream of the day when I can truly feel that this world is for people like me, too. I’ll stop when this fight is over.”
We heard reports from Poland about how women’s rights are being affected by increasingly restrictive abortion laws; from Myanmar (Burma) on the continuing dire straights of the Rohingya people, and about action on behalf of Ali Arras and photo journalist Shawkam of Egypt.
Amnesty’s “I Welcome” Photo Exhibition is to be displayed at Richard Huish College in the near future, and a Great Get Together picnic, with a Seventies theme, is planned for 23 June at 5pm in Long Run Meadow, Taunton. Save the date!
Our next meeeting is on Tuesday 8th May at 7.30pm in the Friends Meeting House, Bath Place, Taunton – all are welcome.
For 50 years Israel has occupied Palestinian land, forcing Palestinians from their homes and illegally using that land to house Israeli settlers and to produce millions of pounds worth of products that are sold around the world, including in UK markets. We petitioned the Foreign Secretary to ban the sale of Israeli settlement products in the UK, and to stop UK companies operating in settlements or trading in settlement goods.
The meeting began with the Taunton Group’s AGM; we decided which of Amnesty’s campaigns we should focus on this year. These include Stop Torture and the Death Penalty, and a focus on country campaigns: a new Burmese prisoner of conscience now that Dr Tun Aung has been released, a new interest in China, and a continuation of our work for the Mansoura Three in Egypt (pictured). We signed letters to the Egyptian authorities on behalf of these three women who were caught up in protests in 2014 and face years behind bars.
Our next monthly meeting is on Tuesday 10th February at the Silver Street Baptist Church, Taunton, TA1 3DH. 8pm start.
Neil 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.
Amnesty International Taunton Local Group 