Activism Newsletter April 2023
Amnesty International Ireland
We are a movement of over 10 million people, campaigning to stop human rights abuses worldwide.
Welcome to the second edition of the Activism newsletter! Here you you will find updates on our campaigns and human rights work, opportunities to take direct and immediate action, interesting resources, and much more.
Email [email protected] with any questions.
What's been happening
Delivery of 'Demolish Apartheid Not Palestinian Homes' Petition?Signatures to Benjamin Netanyahu
On the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March, we delivered over 5,000 signatures from Ireland to Benjamin Netanyahu to demand Israeli forces stop the demolition of Palestinian homes.
Thank you to St Andrews Community Centre for helping us deliver the signatures.
You can see some images from the day?here?
Launch of Amnesty Ireland Activism Strategy 2023 to 2026
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Activism Strategy 2023 - 2026.
This is our vision for our activism for the next three years, which will help us grow as a movement and have more impact both here in Ireland and across the world. We hope that this will, in the words of one activist,?‘give people the courage to fight injustice.’
You can read the Strategy?here?
In Solidarity with Iranian Women on International Women's Day
On International Women's Day 8 March, Amnesty staff and activists, together with activists from the?Irish Iranian?movement acted in solidarity with women and girls in Iran?"Woman, Life, Freedom."
You can see more images from the day?here?
Activism Opportunities
We’re excited to invite you to an?Activist Groups Day in person on Saturday 22nd April from 10am – 4pm! To be held in a Dublin city location.?
The aims of the session are to:
Please confirm you can attend by filling in this short form?and giving us feedback on what you hope from the day.?
Join our new voluntary activist group to Protect the Protest!?The right to protest is under attack globally and we want to come together with activists to defend and celebrate the right to peaceful protest. This group will be a great opportunity to meet new people and to work for human rights impact collectively. Activists will receive training and human rights education.?Sign up here.
There are two local activists in the?Mullingar area interested in setting up a local group.?If you're interested in getting involved, please [email protected]?for more information.
Act Now
Protect the Protest: Protect Children’s Rights in Thailand - Last Chance to Take Action!
Since 2020, an estimated 283 protesters under 18 have been charged with a range of offences for their peaceful protest.
Support child protestors by?signing the petition.
To be involved with our campaign, [email protected]
Do you want to host a local Picnic Against Apartheid?
We can do our part in Ireland by getting everyone to recognise Israeli Apartheid for what it is.?Picnics Against Apartheid?is about doing just that. Palestinians are being forced out of public spaces by Israeli authorities, often for something as simple as having a picnic. Take action this summer and host a picnic to show solidarity and raise awareness of Israel's Apartheid against Palestinians.
Register your interest?here?and reach out to?Talha at [email protected]?about all the ways we we can support you!
领英推荐
Urgent Action: Protect the Protest - Regulate the Trade in Policing
Across the world police and military forces are using tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and batons to crush peaceful protests. Thousands of protesters have suffered severe, life-changing injuries or even death.
Sign the petition?calling for the UN and all states to regulate the trade in policing equipment.
Your action has impact. Out of 24 recent Urgent Actions, at least 69% were considered successful, meaning individuals were either released from detention, had charges against them dropped, granted bail or similar.
Good News! Death Sentence Overturned Against Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani (Sareh)
On 18 March 2023, Iranian LGBTI rights defender Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani (Sareh) was released from Urumieh prison, West Azerbaijan province, on bail. Several days earlier, on 13 March, Elham Choubdar was also released from Urumieh prison on bail. Read more?here.
Campaign Updates
Hungarian anti-LGBT law
After receiving pressure from Amnesty and its partners, the Irish government has confirmed it will join Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark and Portugal in intervening to support the European Commission in a legal case against Hungary’s anti-LGBT law. This law would ban education and?advertising that is deemed to “popularize”, or even depict, consensual same-sex conduct or the affirming of one’s gender to children, Director of Amnesty International Hungary, David Vig said:
‘These proposals, which have dark echoes of Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda law”, will further stigmatize LGBTI people, exposing them to greater discrimination in what is already a hostile environment’.
End Israeli Apartheid
We marked Israeli Apartheid Week 2023 by calling on Hyundai Construction Equipment (Hyundai CE) to take immediate action to prevent its products’ involvement in demolitions in Masafer Yatta.
We have documented five instances where Israeli forces used excavators manufactured by Hyundai CE to raze Palestinian property in Masafer Yatta, an area of the occupied West Bank where some 1,150 Palestinians are at imminent risk of forcible transfer. The demolitions in question displaced at least 15 Palestinians, including six children, and constitute war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Activist Spotlight
Meet Sheenagh, our college activist and current chairperson of TCD’s Amnesty! Here's a snippet of what inspired Sheenagh to get involved with Amnesty as a youth activist:
"I first got involved with Amnesty Ireland as a transition year student on a work experience placement. I participated in the first Fridays For Future Climate Strike and the 2019 Pride Parade as a youth representative with Amnesty.
"I enjoy working with Amnesty because of the broad range of topics that they engage with. Personally, I’ve always felt most drawn to issues concerned with children’s rights such as the unequal access to quality education that exists globally, and women’s rights issues, such as the prevalence of period poverty.
Being active with Amnesty has opened my eyes up to a whole host of other topics and issues that I wouldn’t have engaged with otherwise. For example, the arrest of child protestors in Thailand and the correlation between human rights and climate justice. Involvement with Amnesty encourages you to consider all aspects of human rights activism, as you are confronted with all the facts, and not just those you choose to engage with.
"For me, I'd love to see increased cross-cultural dialogue as a means for change in our world. I believe that to create meaningful change that stops the persecution of human rights, there needs to be a transnational approach to creating that change."
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
Become an Amnesty activist, fundraise, or join a local group today. Visit:?www.amnesty.ie/get-involved/
WANT TO BE FEATURED?
If you would like to be featured here, let us know by [email protected]
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