Amnesty International - Glasgow South Group

General/Campaigns

We are currently involved in the following ongoing campaigns:

• The Death Penalty: Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as an inhuman and degrading treatment. There is no indication that the threat of capital punishment lowers the rate of capital offences, in fact, the opposite seems to be true. Countries with capital punishment are more often than not characterized by a higher crime rate, especially in those offences carrying the death penalty. The death penalty seems to increase violence in a society instead of reducing it. Also, the death penalty denies the fundamental right of life. Often, the death penalty is biassed against minority groups in a country. For instance, in the USA, most of the death row candidates are poor and/or ethnic minorities. Our campaign for the abolition of the death penalty and the conversion of death sentences into prison sentences includes letter writing to governments and prison authorities where executions are imminent, calling for the general abolition of the death penalty and acting where the death pena lty i s considered to be or in fact is adopted
• Children's Rights: Children's rights are abused in many countries around the world. Abuses include child labour, violence against street children, child soldier, children in armed conflicts and female genital mutilation.
• Stop Violence Against Women Campaign With one in three women experiencing some form of gender based violence in her lifetime, it is high time to focus on the often private and domestic human rights abuses suffered by so many women. This is a worldwide issue, about half of all female homocide victims in the U.K. are murdered by their current or previous partner. It's time to change attitudes and the silence that surrounds violence against women far too often. Imagine a world without violence against women and girls ...
• Control Arms Campaign We are campaigning to enforce strict and effective controls of the transfer of small arms. Each year, 500,000 people are killed by small arms which have been trafficked illegally.
• Refugee Campaign We are campaigning for a fair asylum legislation, protection of refugees and appropriate provisions for asylum seekers and have a particularly strong interest in this due to Glasgow being home to refugees and asylum seekers under the Home Office's dispersal programme
• Guantanamo Bay / USA / "War on Terror " Campaign: We campaign for detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be either charged with a criminal offence and to be tried, or to be released. Many detainees have been held indeterminately for up to four years, without an end to their detention in sight. Many forms of human rights abuses which amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment have been committed against detainees. The proposed military trials do not comply with international standars. Furthermore, detainees have been abducted and kidnapped, and brough to Guantanamo and other similar locations by rendition, which too is against international law. We also campaign against the introduction of "War on Terror" related legislation in the UK which contravenes international standards of the treatment of detainees.
• Furthermore, group members are constituency lobbyists and one of our group members is the China co-ordinator for AIUK