Activism Newsletter, January 2024

Hi there!

Welcome to the latest edition of our activism newsletter, where we share updates on our campaigns and human rights work, opportunities to take direct and immediate action, interesting resources, and much more. We're glad to have you on board for the fight for human rights.

You can email [email protected] with any questions or if you want to get involved.

News

Human Rights Wins in 2023

2023 has been a particularly tough year for so many throughout the world. Confronted with?what can sometimes seem like an endless cycle of bad news in the media, it’s easy to feel despondent. But, amid the gloom, there were plenty of good news stories to celebrate this year. Your support made a difference last year.?Thank you for bringing a little more light into our world, and we hope 2024 will be a better one.

These are just some of our successes throughout the year. If you want to join us and help achieve even more in 2024, do consider becoming a member.

Thousands of you have supported our efforts to support those currently suffering in Gaza. Over 25,000 supporters here in Ireland alone have signed our petition demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The City Councils of Dublin and Limerick also joined Cork and Fingal in endorsing our report declaring Israel an apartheid state, adding to the pressure on the Irish Government to take action.

Our ongoing campaign to abolish the death penalty has also made strides this year. Malaysia has made significant steps in abolishing the death penalty, abolishing the punishment entirely for seven offences. Ghana’s parliament also voted to remove the death penalty from its laws, making the country abolitionist in practice. Both developments are a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history.

Here in Ireland, we have been pushing the Irish Government to take an inter-state case against the UK to challenge their Northern Ireland Troubles Act, which would deny justice to victims of the Troubles. After much campaigning, the Irish Government committed to taking this case to the European Court of Human Rights showing a commitment to stand up for the human rights of victims.

DEMAND A CEASEFIRE BY ALL PARTIES IN ISRAEL AND GAZA TO END CIVILIAN SUFFERING

Reacting to the United States (US) veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“By vetoing this resolution, the US has displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the occupied Gaza Strip.

“The US purports to champion a rules-based international order, however its brazen double standards and disregard for international law has repercussions that extend well beyond the horrific catastrophe in Gaza, weakening the already enfeebled international system for protecting civilians in conflict."

In December, we collaborated with our Amnesty USA colleagues and Irish actresses, Nicola Coughlan and Siobhán McSweeney, and Irish folk singer, Mary Black, to publicly urge President Biden to act with humanity and call for an immediate ceasefire.

Watch the video here.

Sign our petition to call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to end civilian bloodshed and ensure humanitarian aid access to Gaza.

Serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, by all parties to the conflict continue unabated. Amnesty International is continuing its investigations on the ground in order to determine the full range of crimes under international law in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Please consider joining Amnesty with a monthly gift today or give a once-off donation and help support our campaign to dismantle this campaign of violence along with our other vital human rights work.

Activism Opportunities

Write for Rights 2023 - There's Still Time to Take Part!

When we all act together, we are more powerful. That is the driving force behind Write for Rights, Amnesty’s annual global campaign to defend those whose human rights are under threat.

There is still time to come join the world's largest human rights event and?write a letter that could change someone's life.

This year the campaign features 11 people from around the world, all connected because their human rights have been violated. Some by their governments, others by the police and by big corporations.?

If you are a student or teacher and would like to request a digital letter-writing toolkit, please let us know by emailing?[email protected].

Urgent Action: Palestinian Journalists Forcibly Disappeared

Nidal al-Waheidi and Haitham Abdelwahed are journalists from the occupied Gaza Strip. Both were detained by Israeli forces on October 7 while they were reporting the Hamas-led attack and are held in conditions constituting enforced disappearance. Since then, Israeli authorities have refused to disclose their whereabouts or the legal grounds and reasons for their arrest.

Two and a half months since their disappearance, and no information has been shared about their fate or whereabouts. Unless charged with an internationally recognized criminal offence, they must be immediately released.

Take Urgent Action Now!

Join an Amnesty Local Group

Local Groups are at the heart of what we do. They offer powerful support to campaigns, raise vital funds and represent Amnesty in their local communities.

Whether you’re an old hand at grass roots campaigning, or you’ve never done anything like this at all, you’ll enjoy meeting like-minded people and?making a difference. Our local groups carry out a wide range of activities from campaigning on individual cases to raising money for human rights.

For more information on what Local Groups do, and to get in contact with a coordinator in your local area, please click here.

International Human Rights Day & 75th Anniversary of UDHR

On Sunday 10 December to celebrate International Human Rights Day and the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, we held an information and letter-writing stall on South William Street, Dublin.

Check out how the day went!

Write for Rights Webinar

On 12 December we held a fantastic webinar focusing on the courageous Sawyeddollah, one of our Write for Rights 2023 cases, who is taking META to court here in Ireland and is calling for reparations for its role in the atrocities in Myanmar.

The webinar, which looked at how Big Tech is a human rights risk, was hosted by Adrian Weckler, tech editor from the Irish and Sunday Independent.

Pat de Brún from Amnesty Tech team outlined the harm Big Tech’s surveillance business model causes and its associated human rights violations. Olga Cronin from the Irish Council of Civil Liberties spoke about Big Tech’s toxic algorithm and the impact in Ireland on the use of social platforms to spread hate.

The webinar also featured on The Big Tech Show and you can listen to the podcast here.?

Huge thank you to our host and guest speakers for an educational and inspiring discussion.

Global Day of Action to Call for a Ceasefire

We have all witnessed unfathomable death in the Gaza strip, the West Bank and Israel.

Only an enduring ceasefire will end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and stop further loss of life.

We came together on 18 December in Dublin with 8 organisations and NGOs on the Global Day of Action to call on leaders around the world to demand an immediate ceasefire now.

New Activism Instagram Account

META has unfairly and irreversibly disabled our original @actamnesty account?on Instagram. In its place, we have started a new activism-focused page run by our Activism team. Follow us at @activismamnestyireland

Activism Academy

Our first Block of the Activism Academy (Oct - December 2023) has come to an end, and it was a great success! The participants, who are a mix of TY and 5th year secondary schools took part in monthly workshops focusing on our flagship campaign, Protect the Protest, Write for Rights and Activism. To mark the end of the Block, we will hosting a protest outside of the Iranian Embassy in the coming weeks to pressure government officials to stop the unlawful use of firearms against protesters, stop torturing detainees, and release all individuals detained for peacefully exercising their human rights. We will be using the participants' own designs for placards they created during an artivism-based workshop.

We will be running the second Block from February - April 2024, with both groups meeting in May to work together to prepare for Amnesty Ireland’s presence during Dublin Pride Parade. If you're interested, sign up now.

Activist Spotlight

Meet Connie, one of our Activism Academy participants! Read how she got into activism:

“My interest in Amnesty and their work stems from a long interest in activism and justice. I’ve always wanted to help improve the lives of other people, and for a long time I struggled to find a way to do this outside of just being nice and helpful. When I heard about Amnesty’s Activism Academy, I jumped at the chance to learn more about activism so I applied. I’ve already learned so much from only two sessions so far.?

I would say that I care deeply about all kinds of activism and human rights issues, but I would say that one of the issues that is most important to me is ending all kinds of discrimination, be that against women, people of colour, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, the list goes on.?I would like to see the world become much more open to different opinions, as this would encourage people to be more empathetic and understanding of other people, which would in turn decrease the amount of discrimination in the world.?We need to advocate for an end to discrimination everywhere we can, be that in our schools, in our homes, in our parliaments and in the streets."

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 emailing [email protected]

Join us

To get the most up to date human rights news and connect with other activists, follow us on social media!?

Facebook:?@amnestyinternationalireland

Twitter:?@AmnestyIreland

Instagram: @activismamnestyireland & @amnestyireland

Tiktok: @AmnestyIreland

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Become a member and support our work.

Join our Pocket Protest group and take immediate action from your mobile!

In solidarity,

Alice Regis, Talha Alali & Rosina Conte

Activism Team

[email protected]