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UAIS Amnesty International:

December Newsletter

Hello Everyone! Welcome to

the December edition of UAIS
Amnesty Internationals
monthly newsletter! Amnesty
International is an organization
of people, like us, that campaign
for a world where human rights
are enjoyed by all. Currently a
topic we are covering in our
club is the current Refugee
crisis. Matthew Marroki gave a
presentation on this issue and
we also had our club memebers
participate in a simultation. We
also currently have letters to
our local representatives and
governor that anyone can sign!

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We hope that you will all

help us in our dream of
helping the world! If you
have any issue that you
would like to talk about
please do contact any of
our board members with
your ideas on how to
present it to the club I
would also like reiterate
that you do not have to
agree with Amnestys
stance on every issue, do
not feel like you are being
forced to believe
something as we do
respect that people have
different opinions.

Meet our Board!

Elina Arbo, President
Magda Wojtara,Vice President, Newsletter
Dina Qiryaqoz, Secretary, Meeting Minutes
Meghan Biernat ,Public Relations Rep. FOCUS: Urgent Actions
Lauren Pietryga,Public Relations Rep
.

Matthews Presentation and Refugee Simulation

The Refugee Crisis Junior Matthew Marroki (above) gave a presentation to our club at one of our

meetings. This was an informative presentation on what this campaign entails and
what we can expect to be doing as a club to help. In addition, Matthew opened the
floor for a discussion on what our members thought of this crisis and what the
members thought could be done to help solve it. Many different ideas and points
of view were expressed and represented by our member base. I would like to say
that it was great that we were all able to have a respectful discussion even if we
didnt agree with each other or with Amnestys stance on the issue. This further
proves our belief that nobody should feel forced to conform to other members
opinions or to Amnestys stances.
Following this meeting we wrote letters to the governor, media and local officials
on the handling of this crisis. Then, as a club we experienced and then watched a
simulation by Amnesty Poland called Look Beyond Borders. All it takes if 4
minutes of looking at another person to realize that they may not be as different as
you may think. The video of this is currently up on our twitter! Our twitter is:
@uais_amnesty. Here is the link to the original video on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7XhrXUoD6U

Recent Accomplishments
Internationally

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Student Freed: Bangladeshi student Dilip Roy has been granted bail after
spending more than two months in jail without charge in Rajshahi in
Bangladesh. He was arrested in August for two Facebook posts criticising
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Medical Care for Prisoner of Conscience: Venezuelan Prisoner of
Conscience Rosmit Mantilla was finally given the urgent medical attention
he needed.
Nigerian Families no Longer Fear Eviction: The court order restricting any
further demolitions in Zaria City until the court case challenging the
demolitions is concluded is still in place.
Prisoner Freed: Canadian-Irish-Iranian citizen Dr Homa Hoodfar, a
prominent professor of anthropology, was released on 26 September and
flown out of Iran to Oman
Domestically

Leonard Peltiers petition on the Amnesty website is now at 85,000 of the

100,000 goal.
Peaceful protesting at Standing Rock
We have written letters and petitions as a club for submission to Governor
Rick Snyder, local officials and the media as well.

Coming Soon!!!!
Amnestys Annual Write for Rights event! (tentatively planned for January 6th
instead of December) Here are the cases for this year:

Coming Soon

Egypt: Shawkan- Photojournalist jailed for doing his job

Malawi:Annie Alfred & others- Child with albinism hunted for her body parts
Peru: Mxima Acua- Attacked by Police for speaking out
Cameroon: Fomusoh Ivo- Facing 20 years in prison for a TEXT
Canada: Peace River community- Indigenous people are struggling to save their
ancestral lands
US: Leonard Peltier- jailed over 40 years after unfair legal process
Iran: Zeynab Jalalian- taking her eyesight away due to Torture after jailing her
Azerbajjan: Bayram and Giya- students tortured and jailed for graffiti
China: Illham Tohti- professor serving life sentence for fighting discrimination
US: Edward Snowden- pardon whistleblower and not traitor
Turkey: Eren Keskin-lawyer arrested over 100 times for speaking out for human
rights
Indonesia: Johan Teterissa- teacher tortured and jailed for waving a flag.
Our Schools very own Art 4 Amnesty Event!
As youve seen in previous newsletters Art for Amnesty is a creative way to
support Human Rights through many mediums! Whether it is through cartoons or
hands-on workshops, arts for amnesty aims at using various artistic forms to
promote human right causes and create an awareness for current issues! We are
very excited to be offering this opportunity at our school! We will let you know
when we know of the definitive date/dates we will be doing this! We also have
another surprise in store!

Amnesty is offering Courses!

Educational Courses
(this is not a paid advertisement and is no way an attempt to coerce anyone to
on Human Rights are believe anything).
being offered by
Amnesty on their Have you ever wanted to learn more about Human Rights and learn about how to
website! defend your rights in an effective an appropriate manner? Amnesty offers two
online courses each year for 3 weeks that aim to educate people on:

The knowledge of freedom of expression as a human right.

Ability to critically assess info regarded to Freedom of Expression.
Skills and confidence to take action to defend Freedom of Expression.
&
How to explain and defend the human rights of refugees.
The role of governments in preventing human rights violations against
refugees.
How to challenge misconceptions, prejudices and discriminatory attitudes and
behaviours towards refugees and asylum seekers.
How to take action to protect the rights of people in need of international
protection.

There are two separate courses one that focuses on Freedom of Expression
and another that focuses on Refugees. They are completely free to take and
can be done in the comfort of your own home! If you would like a verified
certificate, the cost is $49.
Overall this is a great way to further your knowledge of Human Rights and
issues as these are taught by people who are well versed in these topics! They
also have a French version (possible listening log opportunity!)
https://www.edx.org/school/amnesty-internationalx

Art 4 Amnesty

In downtown Los Angeles, (December7-11) Amnesty is holding

its second anuual Arts for Rights Event. Amnesty will be

Freedom of
expression is an
essential human
condition; it should be
valued, respected and
protected by all of us.
-Ai Weiwei

collaborating with the Incarcerated Youth Network to install a

mural and have conversation with the youth at the Central
Juvenile Hall.
On the 11th, artists will be marking a dozen murals in the well
known container yard.Amnesty will also be adding a piece
that pertains to the Global Refugee Crisis. Meanwhile there will
also be an art competition hosted by Secret Walls and judged by
Kevin Ma, founder of hypebeast.com.
Amnesty will also be collaborating with the Underground
Museum to host a panel discussion on the role of the art
community in addressing human rights internationally.

ADDITIONAL FACTS
Currently only 1% of the global refugee population is even
considered for candidacy for resettlement in the US.
At the end of 2014 a record breaking 38 million people were

Facts on the Current

Crisis

displaced from their countries forcibly (with violence).

Approx. 21 million are considered of Refugee status.
Over half of all those millions are children.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states
Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries
asylum from persecution
86% of Refugees are currently hosted by developing
countries.
The vetting process in the US takes roughly 2 years
In all of 2016 the US has only allowed 10,000 Syrian
Refugees in the US. (Considering that there are millions of
Syrian Refugees .)
The US refugee resettlement emphasizes self-sufficiency
through employment. (Not here to freeload).