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Tuesday 18th March: Aberlour Guardianship Service and AI Consultation on Sex Work

Howdy folks,

It was great to see so many people attend the film screening on Tuesday of ‘Free China: The Courage to Believe’. We welcomed back Yuyu for the 6th year, and I have to say that I am equally inspired every time I hear her talk about something so horrific and yet so rarely exposed. We were also joined by a guest speaker who came to share her experiences of persecution, forced labour and torture as a Falun Gong practitioner.

Read about it and see the photos, here.

The film: http://freechina.ntdtv.org/

 

3 years on, #withSyria

Sadly, today marks the 3rd anniversary of the conflict in Syria.

Amnesty International has launched the #withSyria campaign alongside a coalition of NGOs and civil society organisations campaigning to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis and rally global support. Watch and share the latest campaign video featuring Banksy and Elbow - http://withsyria.com/. You can also sign the petition to stop the starvation of civilians.

There is an event on the 19th March by the Bulgarian Society to raise money for Syrian child refugees in Bulgaria. Check out the event.

 ‘Just because it isn’t happening here doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.’

We are #withSyria

 

Next Meeting: Tuesday 18th March, 5pm, QMU

Guest Speaker – The Guardianship Service

There will be a presentation by Jillian McBride from the Aberlour’s Guardianship Programme, a project in Glasgow supporting young people and children who are victims of human trafficking.

Amnesty International Global Consultation on Sex Work

As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, Amnesty are looking for responses to their consultation on sex work. We are going to take this opportunity to discuss the policy proposal that Amnesty have sent us and we can give our feedback too.

End of term evaluation and plans for after Easter

This will be the last meeting before the AGM, so I will be asking for your feedback as I did last semester. This will be really useful for the committee next year, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. We are also going to talk about our plans for after Easter, as there have been some great ideas on ways that we can all keep up with Amnesty but without taking up 2 hours on a Tuesday evening.

Tuesday 25th March: AGM and End of Year Social

Our AGM will be our last official Tuesday meeting of the year, and there are 9 positions up for grabs:

President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Campaigns Coordinator
Fundraising Officer
Publicity Officer
Press Officer
Website Manager

(2 x Ordinary Board Members to be elected at the start of the academic year)

I will have more information on each position at the meeting, but if you are interested in running for a committee position and want to know more, you can email me president@guamnesty.org.uk or the relevant committee member.

TBC (date may change) Thursday 27th March: Film Screening – ‘Blood in the Mobile’

‘Blood in the Mobile’ documents the filmmaker’s journey from Nokia HQ, Finland all the way to the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to discover the truth about the link between our mobile phones and worst conflict in the world today.

29th March: Trip to Arran – Please Sponsor us!

If you are not coming with us, we would love you to sponsor us. It’s not every day we climb mountains (that don’t lead to the GU library). Donate via our JustGiving page!

Other events

SRC Volunteer Clubs and Societies Awards 2014

Nominations are open for the VCS awards! There are many categories and you can nominate either GU Amnesty as a group, or a particular individual. So if there is something that you feel we/an individual deserve/s recognition for, then please complete a nomination form before 21st March!

Sunday 23rd March: Glasgow West Amnesty International Concert Fundraiser

3pm at Wellington Church, 77 Southpark Avenue (off University Avenue), Glasgow G12 8LE. Free entry, donations at the end.

Sandie Bishop, Lamond Gillespie, violins
Flora Tzanetaki, piano

Leclair Sonata for 2 violins
Mozart Violin Sonata KV 454
Prokofiev Sonata for 2 violins
Handel Trio Sonata in G minor

 

Keep it up, the deadlines are nearly over.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Ruth

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Tuesday 11th March: Film Screening ‘Free China: The Courage to Believe’ and AGM Announcement

Hellooooo,

Well what an incredible week for GU’s first International Women’s Week! Thank you to Domi for organising our events, I think we covered just about all the most important reasons why International Women’s Day exists. We are also very grateful to Eileen from Rape Crisis Scotland for coming along to screen ‘Consent’. If you missed any of the events, here’s what happened.

We’ve had a very busy year, and I can safely say that even in the last few weeks, we are not slowing down!

**TUESDAY 25TH MARCH: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) see below for more details**

Tuesday 11th March: Film Screening ‘Free China: The Courage to Believe’

5pm, Boyd Orr, Lecture Theatre 222

A film about organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, with guest speaker Mrs. Xu who is coming to share her experiences of imprisonment and brainwashing before coming to the UK to seek asylum.

Event page

Tuesday 18th March: Guest Speaker – Young People and Trafficking

5pm, QMU

There will be a presentation by Jillian McBride from the Aberlour’s Guardianship Programme, a project in Glasgow supporting young people and children who are victims of human trafficking.

Tuesday 25th March: AGM and Ceilidh, QMU

Our AGM will be our last official Tuesday meeting of the year, but afterwards we will be having our annual ceilidh with GU Red Cross and STAR Glasgow to cheer us up and celebrate the newly elected committee!

The positions up for election will be:

President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Campaigns Coordinator
Fundraising Officer
Publicity Officer
Press Officer
Website Manager

2 x Ordinary Board Members will be elected at the beginning of term next year. This is to allow new members the opportunity to get involved, although these positions are open to all members, not just those who are new to the society.

If you are interested in running for a committee position, we will be putting together a detailed description of each role in advance of the AGM but if you have any specific questions, you can email me president@guamnesty.org.uk or the relevant committee member.

Thursday 27th March: Film Screening – ‘Blood in the Mobile’

 

6.30pm, Boyd Orr, Lecture Theatre 203

‘Blood in the Mobile’ documents the filmmaker’s journey from Nokia HQ, Finland all the way to the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to discover the truth about the link between our mobile phones and worst conflict in the world today.

Other events

Wednesday 12th – Saturday 15th March: Citizens Theatre – ‘Refugee Boy’ and ‘Belong’

12th – 15th Main stage production – ‘Refugee Boy’
Post-show discussion following the performance on Wednesday 12 March.
15th March – ‘Belong’
‘Since January we’ve been working with the Citizens Theatre Learning Department on bringing together refugees, asylum seekers and local people to explore ‘belonging’ through poetry, song and storytelling. These workshops will culminate in an event called Belong next Saturday, 15 March, 4.30-6.30pm at the Citizens Theatre, prior to the Citizens main stage production Refugee Boy by Lemn Sissay. There will be food, fashion, music, singing, poetry, storytelling.’

Tickets are free – if you would like to go along book online or call 0141 429 0022. http://citz.co.uk/

Friday 14th March: LUSH Event

Lynn from LUSH Sauchiehall Street:

We’re holding a campaign in store next week regarding the ongoing conflict in Colombia. Our particular interest is in the Peace Community of San Jose, who we financially support through their provisions of cocoa butter for a number of our products in store. They are a self-declared neutral peace community, taking no part in the conflict between the government and rebels. Despite assassinations, intimidation and conflict they uphold the highest values of justice and peace. It would be wonderful if any of your representatives were available and would be willing to come in-store, between 1pm and 3pm, and help us to raise awareness of these human rights issues.

We will have a petition in store which we will be urging people to sign which will be presented to the Colombian government. The petition will also be available to sign online at lushpetitions.co.uk which we would be grateful if you could publicise to your social network community, in an urge to make more people aware.

Saturday 15th March: A Campaign Day with Campaign Against Arms Trade

10.30am-5pm, Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HZ
What’s the link between Edinburgh and drones, or Ayrshire and the teargas turned on democracy protesters in the Middle East? What does Dundee have to do with the repression in Bahrain? Find out at an info and skills-sharing day in Glasgow on 15 March.

Sunday 23rd March: Glasgow West Amnesty International Concert Fundraiser

3pm at Wellington Church, 77 Southpark Avenue (off University Avenue), Glasgow G12 8LE. Free entry, donations at the end.

Sandie Bishop, Lamond Gillespie, violins
Flora Tzanetaki, piano

Leclair Sonata for 2 violins
Mozart Violin Sonata KV 454
Prokofiev Sonata for 2 violins
Handel Trio Sonata in G minor

See you in the BOYD ORR on Tuesday,

Ruth

 

 

 

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Tuesday 4th March: International Women’s Week and the Scottish Students’ Conference

Hey everyone,

It’s going to be a very busy week! If you missed the last meeting, read Ellen’s blog about the CFCI.

Thanks to all of you who responded to the survey on the Secret Policeman’s Ball. Both the committee and sub-committee met last week to discuss the feedback, which has also been passed on to Billy Kirkwood as he is involved in organising the line-up. As soon as we hear back from Billy, I will forward you our response.

We have had an email from AIUK:

Re. Global policy consultation on sex work

‘As you may know, Amnesty’s International Secretariat is proposing to adopt a global policy on sex work. The global Amnesty movement is at the beginning of an extensive consultation process and is seeking views from its members around the world.’

Please see the end of this newsletter for more info.

Next meeting: Tuesday 4th March, 5pm in the QMU

International Women’s Week! 3rd – 9th March

There are lots of events happening this week, and you can find out what’s happening when by checking out the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/guiww2014/info

Women’s Rights Talk 5pm

For our meeting, we have invited a guest speaker, Elena Soper to come and talk to us.  Elena is a qualified Amnesty speaker, who focuses on women’s rights, so will give a presentation on women’s rights in Afghanistan, which has been one of AIUK’s main campaigns this year.

Workshop 6pm

After Elena’s presentation, I shall deliver a workshop on the role of the media in the socialisation of men, women and younger girls. The workshop will look specifically at the impact of magazines on perceptions of women and womanhood.

Feel free to invite friends to the meeting! https://www.facebook.com/events/228853113967214/

Thursday 6th: Rape Crisis Scotland Event, 4pm, Room 507, Boyd Orr

Rape Crisis Scotland are screening ‘Consent’, a film revealing about people’s prejudices and the role these can play in the context of rape trials. A discussion will follow and we will hopefully reach some conclusions as to how to tackle the issue.

Again, please invite anyone else who might be interested in attending https://www.facebook.com/events/530050043775582/

 

Friday 7th: The Vagina Monologues!

Last year’s production of the VM was fantastic, and I have no doubt that this year will be just as good if not better, so do come along! https://www.facebook.com/events/259811474201212/?source=1

8th – 9th March: Scottish Students’ Conference

To end the week, Edinburgh University are hosting the Scottish Students Conference on International Women’s Day. Everyone is welcome; here is the event for the agenda.

11th March: ‘Free China: The Courage to Believe’

We are having a film screening for this meeting, with a guest speaker who has escaped China after being imprisoned and tortured for her beliefs. Here’s the event.

The growing number of Falun Gong members is forming a threat to the Chinese government and people seen practicing it are therefore prosecuted, brainwashed and tortured.
http://www.stoporganharvesting.org/

Unfortunately, since Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline with a very positive impact on your health often the practitioners are also being used for the illegal organ harvesting market.

 

GU Amnesty Climbs* Goatfell!! 29th-30th March

Numbers have been finalised for our trip to Arran. For those of you who are coming, Maisie will upload a checklist to the fb event so that you know what to take. If you are not coming, please sponsor us!  There will be a Just Giving page created soon, and it would be great to have your support.

12th – 13th April: Amnesty International UK AGM

You must book by tomorrow. All members of AIUK can attend the AGM so let us know if you are interested and we can all go together.

Global Consultaiton on Sex Work Info

Last but not least, as mentioned above we’ve been asked to pass on the following which is a consultation from Amnesty International on a proposed adoption of a policy on sex work. Please read it and if you have views use the attached documents to feed back to AI on this important issue.

A fuller explanation:

As you may know, Amnesty’s International Secretariat is proposing to adopt a global policy on sex work. The global Amnesty movement is at the beginning of an extensive consultation process and is seeking views from its members around the world.

This pack is intended to provide you with more information on the consultation process and the draft policy proposal. It also includes a list of questions to help you explore the issues fully before sending your feedback.

In this pack you will find:

· Guidance notes for members
· The latest draft policy proposal*
· Q&A
· Feedback form

We understand that for some this is a sensitive and difficult topic to discuss but as a human rights organisation, we think it is important to have a genuine debate in order to establish our position. That is why we are encouraging all our Amnesty UK members to take part in the discussions. We will also be seeking views from a broad range of external stakeholders as part of this consultation.

The deadline for consultation is Friday 21 March and we will summarise the results for our Annual General Meeting in April.

We hope you will find these materials useful and please don’t forget to share them with your group or committee.

In the meantime, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to email us at swc@amnesty.org.uk

The International Issues Sub-Committee
On behalf of the Board

AI Sex Work Policy Feedback Form

AI Sex Work Policy Consultation Pack

See you on Tuesday,

Ruth

 

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Malala Yousafzai backs campaign against FGM | Society | theguardian.com

“I think it is very important that we make people aware of this issue because if no one knows, if no one wants to know, then we can never highlight it in front of responsible people and we can never find a solution” – Malala

 

Malala Yousafzai backs campaign against FGM | Society | theguardian.com.

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Tuesday 25th February: Human Trafficking and Conflict Minerals

Hello lovely people!

I really hope that those of you who came to the Secret Policeman’s Ball on Saturday had a great night and to everyone who helped out – THANK YOU SO MUCH. The night was a huge success and we have Debbie, the SPB sub-committee and many others to thank for doing an amazing job. We’ll have an announcement of the total funds raised soon, but in the meantime you can check out all the photos!

In order to make next year’s even better, there is an anonymous online survey that you can fill in to give your views: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D2K79F6

 

Next meeting: Tuesday 25th February, 5pm in the QMU

Human Trafficking in Russia

Duncan will be taking the first half of the meeting to talk about sex trafficking in Russia. We then have a letter-writing action as a follow-up to last week’s meeting by Euan from STOP THE TRAFFIK (Glasgow).

Conflict-Free Campus Initiative

There have been some developments in our efforts to get the University to support our conflict minerals campaign ! Well we have been invited to a meeting with David Newall (Secretary of Court) and Jo Gallagher (Head of Procurement), so that’s a start!

Conflict-what?

Last year we joined the global student movement for a ‘conflict-free’ campus. Read about the conflict-free campus initiative (CFCI) and what the campaign is all about.

I am aware that it has been quite a while since we discussed the campaign and we have quite a few new members so I will go over what the campaign is about as well as giving an update on some positive steps towards ‘conflict-free’ technologies.

 

GU International Women’s Week 3rd – 9th March

Tuesday 4th:

Women’s Rights 5pm

An Amnesty speaker will join us to talk about women’s rights.

Workshop 6pm: The role of the media in the socialisation on men and women and children

I will hold a workshop looking at how the media socialises women and men and children to think about women and womanhood.

Thursday 6th:

Rape Crisis Scotland Film Screening and Discussion

An event page with all the relevant details will be made soon, so save the dates!

GU Amnesty Climbs* Goatfell!! 29th-30th March

Maisie has been organising our trip to Arran and needs to know exact numbers, so if you haven’t decided if you are going, please do by tomorrow!

Join the event or email us to let us know you are coming.

*walks/crawls up slowly, taking lots of breaks and eating lots of chocolate

Other news:

Document: International Human Rights Film Festival

There is a call for submissions to the annual Document Film Festival, so take a look to see how you can enter! http://documentfilmfestival.org/12/

8th – 9th March: Scottish Students Conference

This year Edinburgh University are hosting the Scottish Students Conference on International Women’s Day. Everyone is welcome; here is the event for the agenda.

12th – 13th April: Amnesty International UK AGM

Only one week left to book your place! All members of AIUK can attend the AGM so let us know if you are interested and we can all go together.

NB: The AGM is hosted annually in different parts of the UK so it may not be back in Scotland for another few years!

See you all tomorrow!

Ruth

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Conservatives promise to scrap Human Rights Act after next election | Law | The Guardian

Conservatives promise to scrap Human Rights Act after next election | Law | The Guardian.

A threat becomes a promise, and a very dangerous one at that.

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Tuesday 18th February: STOP THE TRAFFIK Presentation and the Secret Policeman’s Ball!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to those of you who took part in the Guantanamo Bay demonstration last week – it was wet and drizzly but we still managed to get around campus a bit! Here are the photos and blog. There was actually an article in The Guardian last Tuesday about a legal challenge to the force-feeding of detainees, which many are being subjected to. Here is a short video that describes this brutal practice.

If you haven’t yet voted in the Rector election, here are some responses from candidates about their commitment to human rights.

http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/2014/02/rector-candidates-supporting-human-rights/

http://www.guamnesty.org.uk/2014/02/university-rector-elections-2014/

Next meeting: Tuesday 18th February, Committee Room 1, QMU

Human Trafficking

We are starting our next big campaign by having a discussion about recent cases of human trafficking  in the UK. A guest speaker from Stop the Traffik Glasgow is coming to give a presentation and we can discuss ideas for campaigning on this issue.

Visit https://www.stopthetraffik.org/uk for more information.

 

Saturday 22nd February: GU Amnesty’s 6th Annual Secret Policeman’s Ball + Afterparty hosted by Philanthrobeats!

 

IT’S HERE, IT’S FINALLY HERE!!

I hope you all have your tickets by now and are bringing along friends/neighbours/relatives. If not, get them online: https://www.guamnesty.org.uk/tickets/

Last Week of Publicity

We will be flyering all week so please give us a hand if you have time to spare, and take a bundle away with you from the meeting to hand out in all your classes. Remember that we are having a bake sale on Wednesday 11am – 4pm for further publicity, so please bring cakes and/or enthusiasm! https://www.facebook.com/events/1469560646588794/

We will also need people to help us set up on the night so if you are free beforehand then your help would be much appreciated!

GU Amnesty Climbs Goatfell!! 29th-30th March

Well we certainly tried last year but it was quite snowy…However, fingers crossed we’ll make it to the top this time!

This is a great trip and a great way to raise money. The walk isn’t too difficult so if you are keen but unsure then I would encourage you give it a try! Of course, if you have any questions then send us a message. Here’s the event page.

Don’t forget…

 

Action for Change, AIUK HQ London, 28th Feb – 1st March

Booking is now open and it’s FREE! Let us know if you are keen and we can help you to arrange travel to London.

See the event page and website for details of the agenda and the booking form.

 

Finally, one of our members is raising money by JUMPING OUT OF A PLANE, and all for a great cause. Louise would love some more sponsors, so have a look at why she’s doing it and chip in if you can.

 

Keep wrapped up in those ponchos,

Ruth

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Guantánamo hunger strikers able to challenge force-feeding, court rules | World news | theguardian.com

Guantánamo hunger strikers able to challenge force-feeding, court rules | World news | theguardian.com.

 

One of the men thought to be currently on hunger strike is Shaker Aamer, a British resident who remains in Guantánamo despite having been cleared for release by both the Bush and Obama administrations. In remarks he made to his lawyer in advance of the ruling, Aamer said:“This is one step towards justice … Instead of making matters worse here, they should treat us with respect, like human beings.”

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Rector Candidates Supporting Human Rights!

As you can read from Dominyka’s post, all of the candidates have expressed a commitment to promote human rights on campus. However, we have received further information from  candidates Alan Bissett and Kelvin Holdsworth that show their interest in some of the big campaigns that we have supported as a society. Whilst we are not officially backing any candidate, we agreed to pass on this information that was sent to us.

[Voting will take place this Monday and Tuesday.]

Alan Bissett

‘…in 2013 my solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe was shortlisted for an Amnesty International award, and I also co-wrote a pamphlet for Scottish PEN entitled Freedom of Expression in the New Scotland, exploring issues of censorship and press freedom.

‘I will be running a campaign which stresses equality, focusing on gender imbalance at various levels in the University and the status of refugees and immigrants.  I have already tried to tackle the disappointingly all-male selection for Rector, but only being elected would fully enable me to do this.

‘I held a Q&A in the QMU last week, which was very productive, and I spoke to representatives from Crossing Borders and STAR about the problems facing asylum seekers and refugees at the university, such as them being treated simply as ‘foreign students’, regardless of their particular needs and vulnerabilities.

‘I do of course recognise the excellent work which has been done by Amnesty students on the CFCI initiative, and would hope to carry this forwards if elected Rector.  Indeed, I spoke about this very issue in my latest interview with Qmunnicate magazine.’

 

Kelvin Holdsworth

‘In recent months, the human rights issue that I’ve been most connected with is the campaign for Equal Marriage where I’ve been one of the consistent campaigners in favour of marriage equality since long before the major equality organisations got involved in Scotland and in a workplace which is directly homophobic, sexist and discriminatory. Fighting those issues within church circles has kept me fairly busy over the last few years and it is good to be able to celebrate successes – the passage of legislation to allow bishops to be elected in my church without regard to gender, the Equal Marriage legislation passing at last at Holyrood are very public joys. Alongside those I’ve been involved in advocating for gender equality in less public roles in the church as well as campaigning against religious voices who encourage discrimination in Africa that leads to both violence and a situation where HIV prevention work cannot take place.

‘In recent months, I’ve been outspoken about human rights abuses in Commonwealth countries ahead of the Commonwealth Games in the summer. My call for politicians to be challenged to raise human rights issues with overseas leaders coming to Glasgow this summer was covered on the front page of the Herald newspaper at Christmas as well as in a very helpful leader article – see here: http://kelvin-holdsworth.co.uk/human-rights-and-the-commonwealth-games/

I’ve invited Peter Tatchell to my church in July to give a public human rights lecture and look forward to using that even to raise the profile of human rights just when the Games are beginning.’

 

It’s great that candidates are taking human rights seriously and I hope you find this information useful.

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Tuesday 11th February: GHRN Event and Something for Every Other Day of the Week

Hey folks,

It was great to meet new members last week, and I hope you all enjoyed the banner-making session last week. Both SPB and campaigns materials look great, so thanks for all your efforts!

Have a look at photos from our meeting and read Ellen’s latest blog on recent LGBT triumphs in Scotland and ongoing battles in Russia.

Updates:

-          Our Fundraising Officer, Maisie, is looking into accommodation for our annual trip to Arran for our sponsored walk up Goatfell. This will happen sometime in the Easter break so when we have more details we’ll let you know!

-          In the coming weeks, we will be getting back to work on our conflict minerals campaign as part of the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative. Secretary of Court, David Newall, has finally replied and agreed to arrange a meeting. We have also been invited to co-host a screening of ‘Blood in the Mobile’ with a charity called Earthmovies in March and are trying to arrange a panel discussion to follow the screening. See our campaign video and petition!

There are a looooot of things coming up, so here’s a summary:

Next meeting: Tuesday 11th February -Sir Charles Wilson Building, Basement Seminar Room, 5pm

Glasgow Human Rights Network – Lecture Series:

‘LGBT equality and the geopolitics of human rights: insights from Russia’

We have had a great year for clashing our events with other relevant events or dates and it has happened again. We realised that the next event by the GHRN is actually at the same time as our meeting. It looks like it’s going to be a great event and is very relevant to all our LGBT campaigning so we have decided to push back our plans and go along to this instead of our usual meeting.

‘The seminar will explore the Russian socio-political context and broader human rights issues within it, and the effects of international solidarity campaigns and foreign diplomacy on the issue. It will be opened by a talk by the editors of the Russian samizdat lesbian journal Ostrov’

The Sir Charles Wilson Building is opposite the GUU; find it on the campus map (E15): http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_1887_en.pdf 

Tuesday 18th February: Human Trafficking/Organ Harvesting in China

We are still waiting for confirmation from both Stop the Traffik Glasgow and Yuyu (our guest speaker on illegal organ harvesting) so it depends who we hear from first. The meeting will either be:

-          Presentation from Stop the Traffik Glasgow about their campaigns and a discussion led by Duncan from our committee on sex trafficking in Russia.

-          Documentary film screening of ‘Free China: the Courage to Believe’ and presentation by Yuyu about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Saturday 22nd February: GU Amnesty’s 6th Annual Secret Policeman’s Ball + Afterparty!

Our multi-award winning night of comedy is back. Once again we are bringing you the biggest student charity fundraiser on campus, hosted by Billy Kirkwood. Our afterparty is being kindly hosted by Philanthrobeats who have an event on this Friday – check it out!

Remember to get your tickets in advance! Here’s the event page for those on Facebook and website page for those who aren’t.

Flyering and competition

Flyering is starting this week!!

Debbie has created a Doodle for flyering so please add your name and spare 20 minutes or so to hand out flyers on campus.

Enter the flyering competition to help with publicity and win a cool prize.

Upcoming events with Amnesty International UK

Action for Change

Friday 28 February & Saturday 1 March 2014 – Human Rights Action Centre, London

FREE with crash-pad accommodation and food included.

Booking is now open!

This event is ideal if you are a member of a new Amnesty group or have recently joined your group’s committee. Think of it as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for activism training – a kind of Amnesty bootcamp! We’ll run sessions on all the elements of campaigning and equip you with invaluable skills – from how to secure media coverage, to how to make your MP really listen to what you’ve got to say.

  • Sharpen your campaigning skills at a range of interactive workshops
  • Hear what we’re planning to work on in the coming year
  • Take part in a campaign action which you can replicate back on campus
  • Network with your STAN Committee rep and Amnesty groups from your area

8th – 9th March 2014: Scottish Student Conference, Edinburgh

Amnesty International’s annual Scottish Student Conference is back, and this time will be hosted by Edinburgh University Amnesty International.

Speakers/workshops/actions TBC but these are the topics we will be focussing on:
– LGBT rights
– Human rights of sex workers
– Scottish Independence and Human Rights
– International Women’s Day

AIUK’s National Conference & AGM

Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 April 2014 – Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh

This is the annual event where Amnesty members and activists from all around the UK come together for a weekend of learning, discussion, and decision-making. We’re a membership-led organisation, so decisions made at the AGM are reflected in what we work on, and the way we work.

Student Human Rights Reporter Competition

Amnesty, the National Union of Students, the Observer and Unreported World are proud to once again be running a competition to find the Student Human Rights Reporter of the Year. The first prize is two weeks’ work experience at the Observer, a behind-the-scenes tour of Channel 4 News, and an award to be presented at the Amnesty International Media Awards 2014. The competition deadline is 20 June 2014. Please see here for the Terms & Conditions and details of how to enter.

Other events

Wednesday 12th February: GRAMNet film screening, CCA on Sauchiehall St. Doors open 5.30pm (6pm start)

The Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network are hosting a screening of ‘Here We Stay’ and ‘Portraits from Cameroon’ at the Centre for Contemporary Arts on Sauchiehall St.

Using song, spoken word and music, Here We Stay celebrates the rich and diverse life stories of refugees, asylum seekers and their communities in Glasgow today.

Portraits from Cameroon is a series of short testimonies of the banana workers who work in the Fako region. The film sparked international debate on working conditions in Cameroon and led to both ASDA and TESCO opening investigations on these plantations and a Global Gap audit.

Thursday 13th February: GU Unicef on Campus film screening, Boyd Orr 222, 7pm

UNICEF on Campus will screen “Children on the Front Line”: a documentary about the current conflict in Syria, and the story of five young children whose lives have been changed forever by the civil war.

Tea, coffee and snacks will be provided free of charge.

All donations will go to the UNICEF UK Syrian appeal, to provide food, shelter, care and education to the children and refugees of the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century.

Friday 14th February: Philanthrobeats @ St. Mary’s Cathedral

As a newly formed SCIO, PB is running a series of projects over the next year to actively and creatively better our communities through music and art. All proceeds from this Friday’s event & afterparty will go towards making these projects (and many others to come!) possible. Thanks for your support!

Check out the Facebook event for tickets and more information on the projects to be funded.

If you actually read all of that, you deserve a medal.

Hope to see you at the GHRN event on Tuesday,

Ruth

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