Amnesty International
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide voluntary activist movement working for human rights. It is independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.
Internet:
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/uk/glasgow-south/
Egroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ai_glasgowsouth/
Email: ai_glasgowsouth@yahoo.co.uk
The Glasgow South Group meets once a month on the second Monday of each month at 8 p.m. at various venues. Please enquiry by email for venue of the next meeting. New members are always welcome!
Pat
Carberry: Secretary
Michael
Barratt: Treasurer
Steffi
Bach: Press and Publicity
Officer
Patrick
Campbell: Minutes Secretary
Lara
Tunnicliff: Children’s Rights
Campaign Secretary, SCAN
Rachel
Kennedy: Death Penalty Secretary
Michael
Barrett: Guatemala Campaign
Secretary
Frances
McCartney: Tough Arms Control Campaign
Secretary, Chair
Gian-Lucca
Oppo: PIRAN and Stop Torture Campaign
Secretary
Irene
Bell: Refugee Campaign
Secretary
There are around 639 million
small arms and light weapons in the world today. Eight million more are
produced every year. Without strict control, such weapons will continue
to fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime, and domestic abuse. Unless
governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost, more human
rights violations will take place, and more people will be denied the chance to
escape poverty.
For many
years, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and IANSA have witnessed the human cost of
arms abuses and campaigned for tougher arms controls. But now the situation is
critical. Urgent measures
are needed immediately. Governments need to take action at every level, from
communities to the international arena, to stop this suffering.
Our own main action was a digital photo shoot at the
People’s Palace and upcoming similar photoshoots. http://www.controlarms.com/
Amnesty International
opposes the death penalty because it is a violation of two fundamental human
rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the right to life and the
right not to be tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman or degrading
punishment. An execution, like physical
forms of torture, involves a deliberate assault on a prisoner. The only
difference is that the assault is continued until a person is killed. The death
penalty is not an effective deterrent. Because all judicial systems make
mistakes and because of its irrevocable nature, the death penalty kills
innocent individuals who are wrongly convicted. The death penalty brutalises society
and breeds contempt for human life.
We wrote numerous letters
and took part in urgent actions throughout the year.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/action/camp/dp/index.shtml
3. Refugee Campaign:
Amnesty International's goal is to bring about a fair
and humane asylum system. At the moment, the main focus for our campaigning
activity is the Secure Borders, Safe Haven White Paper, which sets out
the Government's proposals for a 'radical overhaul' of the UK’s asylum system.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the general thrust of the White
Paper, in particular the absence of any measures to address the severe
short-comings in the asylum determination system. At the moment, the main
emphasis of our campaign is for Amnesty International activists and supporters
to promote our concerns with their local MP, and with sympathetic local
parties.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/action/camp/refugees/index.shtml
on the Scottish Refugee Campaign:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/scotland/campaigns/refugees/
We wrote numerous
letters on behalf of various cases around the world.
Once a year Amnesty International UK asks friends and supporters to send cards to victims of human rights violations: prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders under threat because of their work,people under sentence of death, and others. These cards are a great source of hope and encouragement to the recipients. And the impression their international mail makes on police, prison staff or political authorities can help to keep them safe. We will have a public event to send greeting cards soon. To write now, you can view the cases and addresses here: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/gcc/2003/general/
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/gcc/2003/faith/
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/gcc/2003/student/
Our main fundraising event is our annual ceilidh which takes place in March. With the music of the fabulous Hallanshankers, raffle and the energy of the punters it was a huge success.
2. Authors’ Evening
The best of Scottish writing
talent joined forces to support Amnesty at our author’s evening on the 8th
October. Chris Dolan hosted a fabulous evening with literature and Bernard
McLaverty, Jack Withers, David Kinloch, Gerry Loose, Janet Paisley, Kirsten Gow
and Hamish Whyte.
3. Face Painting
We had various face painting events throughout the year:
26th April Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum,
The People’s Palace and at Pollok Family Day in August.
4. Table Quiz
The 9th of May so another successful table quiz at the Admiral - as always we managed to get the quizzers’ heads steaming over tricky questions.
5. Sponsored Events
Up front
was our energetic sponsored hill walk on Arran where members of the
group and their friends managed not only to get on the ferry (even though on
three different ones) and out of breath on the 13 hours trail, but also to
raise over £200 for the good cause.
We held
various stalls (At the digital Photo Shoot 26th Oct, the
Document Film Festival, UGC in September 03, at Pollok Family Day in August 03,
at the Sorrow and Solidarity Vigils every Sunday from 23rd March
until 6th April), sent out numerous press releases to
newspapers concerning current campaigns. This solicited considerable media
coverage in the local printed press as well as on local radio and local
television.
The
Glasgow Area Webportal aims to facilitate getting in touch with local
groups and to streamline the presence of Glasgow Groups on the web. Events
organised by Glasgow groups are publicised here and general information about
the various existing groups can be obtained at http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/uk/glasgow/
To ease
inter-group communication, an E-group exists in addition to this. Here,
members of Amnesty in Glasgow, whether they are members of a local group or
not, can keep in touch with what is going on. Events and other useful
information is distributed here: