Welcome to GU Amnesty.
We are the Glasgow University Amnesty International student group. We are part of Amnesty International UK, a global human rights group, and our aim is to raise awareness of human rights issues amongst students.
If you are interested in human rights, and want to get involved with our campaigns and/or fundraising events, or just want to find out more, email mail@guamnesty.org.uk or come along to our meetings, every Tuesday at 5pm in the QMU.
Current Committee
2014 – 2015
President – Rob Hallam
Vice President – Duncan McNab
Secretary – Domi Bacanskaite
Treasurer – Jana Sweeney
Campaigns Coordinator – Alex Pancheva
Fundraising Officer – Joe Clerke
Press Officer – Rebecca Corbett
Publicity Officer – Milia Hau
Website Manager – Siuan Poirteir
Ordinary Board Member – Sarah Bacom
Ordinary Board Member – Seb Hammani
Hi there,
I am interesting in getting involved, I’ve never done anything like this before but have a passion for human rights! Where abouts in the QMU are meetings held and could you give me some information what kind of activities and such your meetings and joining this group would include?
Thanks! Looking forward to hearing from you
Hi Charlotte, good to hear you have a passion for human rights- so do we! At the moment* we meet in Committee Room 1 on the third floor of the QMU; you can either get the lift up or take the stairs.
Our meetings usually involve a short presentation on the current campaign or issue we are working on and some info on upcoming events. We then work on the campaign or issue- this might involve for example making banners, doing a photo petition, or letter-writing.
There’s no formal membership process for joining the group- just drop in to our meetings or events! You can subscribe to our newsletter by using the form on the top right of the page or by going to the newsletter page. We’ve also go a facebook group and are on twitter.
* Note we may be changing venues in the future due to technical issues in the QMU, but we’ll make some big announcements if that is the case!
Hi,
I am going to study at the University of Glasgow during the first semester of the upcoming academic session. I am interested in defending human rights and I would like to get involved. Can you tell me please what you do exactly, yours actions and so on..
Thank you in advance
Hey Laure, my apologies for the delay in replying to you- we didn’t get an email notification about your comment which we would normally do.
That’s a very good question and a hard one to answer in a brief comment! We have our ongoing weekly meetings at Tuesday 5Pm during term time; and events / actions outwith that at any time.
We’ve had some discussion of what constitutes a ‘typical’ GU Amnesty meeting, and the consensus is that there is no such thing. But to give you an idea: we generally start off with announcements of upcoming events before moving on to a short informational presentation relating to a current campaign or issue or even individual at risk. This may include a brief video. After that we tend to do an action (eg writing a letter, taking a photo for a photo campaign, signing a petition) relating to that campaign; or we might have a second subject to look at. We may also have prep work to do for an upcoming event; eg banner-making for a demonstration. Quite regularly we will have guest speakers during a meeting too; again usually to do with a campaign we are, have or will be doing.
Our events are just as varied! Have a look at our campaigns and events page from last year for an example. We have ones relating to raising awareness like demonstrations and petitions, fundraising events (like Jamnesty or our Secret Policeman’s Ball comedy night), and like every other society we not-so-occasionally have a bake sale! We’ve also increased the amount of collaboration we do with other societies, so you’ll see joint events like workshops, panel discussions and even debates.
This may all seem a bit much! But we’re pretty laid back and try to have regular socials to make sure everyone knows everyone else and feels comfortable with what they’re doing. There’s no obligation to come to every meeting, event or action – just the ones you can and would like to.
We also occasionally do some online actions – particularly over the summer since most folks are home! – so keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
Lastly there’s an email newsletter signup page for a digest of the upcoming meetings and events which is active weekly during term time.
If you have any further questions please ask- I should get notified now as I have the relevant box ticked ๐