Over the years, Amnesty International supporters have brought positive changes to the lives of over 44, 000 people.
Prisoners have been released, given needed medical attention, been granted access to lawyers and proper legal processes, and been able to have contact with family members. Death penalty sentences have been overturned. Individuals have been protected from torture and ill-treatment.
And people have been reunited with their families and loved ones, and have been able to reclaim their lives, jobs, homes and personal security. One in three of Amnesty’s letter writing campaigns ends in a positive outcome.
It is because so many people speak out for justice that Amnesty International is able to achieve remarkable things. Many Comox Valley residents write “Urgent Action” letters from their homes based on information from the Amnesty.ca website.
Recently the Comox Valley Amnesty Circle has begun holding “Amnesty In Acton” events where the public is invited to come to a local venue and join with others in writing Amnesty letters while sharing some pleasant social time with other Comox Valley residents who believe in and care about Amnesty’s human rights campaigns.
The next Comox Valley Amnesty Circle “Amnesty in Action” event will be held in the Wandering Moose Café at the historic old post office site in Cumberland. The Wandering Moose is spacious enough to start with, but if it is a nice day we can meet and write letters while enjoying the sun on the plaza out front.
The CV Amnesty Circle will provide everything needed: paper, envelopes, stamps and information on which to base two letters.
One Urgent Action will be a letter to President Obama calling on him to honour his commitments to end the indefinite detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.
Concerns for the health of the Guantánamo detainees — already acute given their years of indefinite detention, combined with torture and ill-treatment, and other human rights abuses — are heightened by a hunger strike to bring attention to their inhumane treatment.
The other Urgent Action letter centres on a call to ensure the safety and survival of the Kankuamo and Wayúu First Nations people in Columbia.
Kankuamo and Wayúu communities are under attack. So is the land they need for survival. The situation is so bad that the Kankuamo are in danger of being wiped out completely. Colombia is a country in which many people are not treated equally or fairly.
All are warmly invited to join Amnesty members in writing letters that could make a difference in human rights for these people and even save lives and indigenous culture.
Participants are welcome to come to The Wandering Moose any time between 2 and 4 and are welcome to stay for a snack and an extended conversation or spend as little as 10 minutes writing a letter in support of those unjustly oppressed.
For more information, phone 250-338-0155.
— Comox Valley Amnesty