C Amnesty Quarterly T Volume 1, Edition 1
March 17, 2010
Why Write Letters? Because They Make a Difference. An Op-Ed by Helen Jack, Yale Chapter ''I was being kept naked in an underground cell,” a Dominican prisoner wrote. “When the first 200 letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes.” Amnesty International mobilized activists around the world to write to Dominican authorities urging them to release a man they had imprisoned for his work with labor unions. “The next 200 letters came and the prison officers came to see me. When the next pile of letters arrived, the director got in touch with his superior.” Freeing a prisoner takes thousands of letters. My letter, one more on that pile sitting on some bureaucrat’s desk, may make no difference. My signature on a petition means even less amongst the thousands of others. Why bother? Since it was founded in 1961, Amnesty International has helped release over 40,000 prisoners, people unjustly incarcerated by their governments. These successes stem from Amnesty’s worldwide network of grassroots activists who write letters, sign petitions, hold educational events, and work with government officials to push for human rights. Zmitser Dashkevich, the student leader of an organization working for political freedom in Belarus was imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of his right to assembly, association, and organization. After receiving thousands of letters from activists, Belarusian authorities released Dashkevich on January 23, 2008. Letters work. If I don’t stop to write a letter or pause to sign a petition, feeling lazy or too busy, I justify others not to sign or write. If a hundred other people took my lazy attitude, there would be noticeably fewer letters. Why vote? The election results would have been the same regardless of my ballot, yet still I voted, to make my voice heard and bring positive change to my country. I sign a petition for the same reason. Cont. on Page 4
Interested in being a part of Amnesty Quarterly? Great! We need your help to spread the word about the wonderful things Amnesty does every day. Did you see a good human rights movie? Did your chapter do a really epic fundraiser? We want to hear about it! E-mail your articles to kreynolds58@hotmail.com
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What’s Going on in the Amnesty Chapters of Connecticut?
Terryville High School Chapter The Terryville High School Kangaroos have been very active in their Amnesty International Chapter. Following up with their success last May when they got over 80% of the school to sign the petition on behalf of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, the group had an "Educational Update Day" on the case in school when the new year began in September. It was exciting to see how so many students smiled when they learned of the success of the campaign the previous May. Since the Troy Davis follow-up day was the major focus of September, the Chapter decided to host Banned Books Week in March, which is currently being planned. The Terryville High School Chapter of Amnesty International leads the school each year in a collection in December for the Heifer Foundation. When the earthquake struck in Haiti, the students decided that they wanted to take the lead in raising funds for earthquake relief. So, the Terryville High School Chapter of Amnesty International went back to work raising funds for UNICEF, and to date we have raised $2, 283.67. Amnesty International at Terryville High School is looking forward to a spring filled with action that will concentrate on the Northeast Special Focus Case and will work to get a group of students involved in this year's "Get On The Bus" trip. We are very excited about our upcoming events.
Ethel Walker School Chapter The Ethel Walker School Chatper organized a "chapel/assembly" featuring Amnesty and a speaker opposed to the death penalty. His name is Deacon Arthur Miller of the Roman Catholic Hartford Diocese. The chapter discovered him at an Abolish the Death Penalty rally in front of the state capitol and was impressed by his presence and oratory. He visited the school on the 24th of February.
Is your chapter doing something particularly noteworthy? We want to hear about it! Send your updates and upcoming events to kreynolds58@hotmail.com so that we can spread ideas and advice to one another.
The Yale Chapter The Yale Chapter of Amnesty International keeps up a very active status on campus, bringing human rights awareness to students each week. Along with weekly meetings, letter writings, and petitions for various human rights campaigns, Yale Amnesty has recently hosted several round table discussions with people of great interest in the field. Most recently, Professor Brundage, the chapter’s faculty advisor, spoke to the group on her work in human health and women’s rights. The Yale Chapter has also been particularly active in fundraising. Most recently, they completed their second Krispy Kreme donut fundraiser and it was a stunning success. In the coming months, Yale Amnesty will be working on the national census in an effort to raise awareness about the needs of the school’s city, New Haven. They will also be hosting a large panel on President Obama’s choices and accomplishments after his first year in office. The panel will feature representatives from the northeast regional office, Yale professors, and possibly other special speakers from outside the school. More information on the panel can be found in this newsletter.
Free Aung San Suu Kyi Our Prisoner of Conscience
Bonded Labor: Slavery in Hiding An Op-Ed by Lily Yan, Yale Chapter Slavery has gone underground. One particularly antiquated form of modern day slavery is bonded labor, (aka debt bondage, debt servitude). The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines bonded labor as a "system whereby people are required to repay a debt by working for their creditors," much like indentured servitude. An employer advances a loan to the laborer (to pay for weddings, funerals, medical expenses...) and requires the laborer to repay the debt by working for the employer. While on paper this seems like a contractual agreement, in reality bonded labor is an exploitative practice that shackles marginalized, poor laborers into greater and greater debt.
A Message from Amnesty International Online: TAKE ACTION NOW! Please send politely worded letters to the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, urging him to bring about the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar. Write to: Senior General Than Shwe Chairman State Peace and Development Council c/o Ministry of Defense Naypyitaw UNION OF MYANMAR (Burma) For more info, see page 5
According to the ILO, debt bondage mainly affects India, Nepal, and Pakistan. While it has been historically centered on agriculture, new forms of bonded labor have increasingly appeared in sectors like brick kilns, sweatshops, textile manufacturing, mining, and domestic work. Laborers can't just pay off their debt because their creditors/employers pay them barely subsistence wages, with little or nothing left over to repay the debt. Employers charge exorbitant interest rates, include recruitment/transportation/food costs for relocating laborers to worksites in the debt, and are the sole record keepers. This, combined with the illiteracy of many bonded laborers, creates an exploitative situation where employers easily violate or ignore contract terms and use "debt repayment" as coercion to keep laborers working. Thus, debts are sometimes passed down as "family inheritances" with children working to pay what their parents could not. Bonded labor, like many humanitarian issues, is intimately connected with a whole host of other societal ills. Laborers are what AntiSlavery International calls chronically poor--"a combination of material deprivation (income), capability deprivation (ill health, lack of skills, education), and vulnerability". This poverty is closely correlated with landlessness in rural areas, as those who have no land to live off of are forced to find other means of sustenance. In addition, as the entire family is often working to repay the debt, children of bonded laborers seldom have the chance to receive an education to develop marketable skills needed to escape unskilled labor. Working 7 days a week, 365 days a year also has its physical, mental, and psychological toll on the laborers. Cont. On Page 5
The Importance of Letters (continued from Page 1) There is a difference between making change through education versus through grassroots activism. The Yale campus abounds with panel discussions on global problems, classes on social justice issues, and casual dining hall debates on current affairs. These activities develop the knowledge and critical thinking necessary to build future leaders to handle these issues. Yet, in the rush to finish papers for these classes and attend the numerous panel discussions, we often forget why we are doing these things. We want to make some sort of positive change, right? I wonder how many of the 176 people enrolled in “African Poverty and Western Aid” or the smaller group taking “The Politics of Human Rights” this semester engage in any sort of activism outside of class? So many Yale students spend time learning and complaining about social justice issues, but claim to be too busy to engage in action while on campus. Education on these issues will not solve the problems until students apply that knowledge to action. The simple act of signing a petition or writing a letter can have an impact. Complain about a social justice issue not only to friends in the dining hall, but also to someone who might be able to change the situation. Letters from foreigners to international authorities show those leaders that people worldwide are aware of and opposed to their actions. Enough foreign pressure motivates them to change. Letters or petitions sent to domestic elected officials can have an even greater impact. Constituents elect these people to office. Officials have to care what their voters think. Writing a letter and signing a petition are forms of legislative lobbying that can shape policy. A staffer tallies each letter, email, or petition signature that comes into a government office. The tallies get reported to the official. Every tally counts. Constituent pressure played a large role in pushing Republican Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act in April 2008. This legislation, which is still awaiting a Congressional vote, would
improve how the United States reacts to the abuse of women worldwide. Take action! Change a policy; free a prisoner. Pause in your rush through Woolsey Hall to sign a petition outside Commons if you support the week’s Amnesty International human rights issue. Or go write a letter yourself about some other problem. Campus is inundated with information on crisis worldwide. It’s overwhelming. But doing something is better than doing nothing. “The letters kept coming, three thousand of them, and the President called me to his office. He showed me an enormous box of letters he had received, and said: 'How is it that a trade union leader like you has so many friends all over the world?'''
NEXT ISSUE: COMING TO AN AMNESTY CHAPTER NEAR YOU IN JUNE OF 2010
We want your articles! Next issue will be reflecting on:
The Greatest Accomplishments of CT AI Tell us what you are most proud of! What did you do that helped to make great change? E‐mail your articles to kreynolds58@hotmail.com by
May 31st
Take this opportunity to brag. As human rights advocates, you deserve it.
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi? Aung San Suu Kyi, co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD), a pro-democracy political party that sought to counter the military junta that had reigned over Myanmar since 1962. In 1990, the NLD won almost 80 percent of the parliamentary seats in a general election. Surprised at the landslide victory, the military junta refused to transfer power to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, and jailed scores of political activists. For 14 of the past 20 years, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced "Awng Sahn Soo Chee") has endured unofficial detention, house arrest and restrictions on her movement. She continues to be held under house arrest in Yangon.
Bonded labor also represents the extreme absence of labor rights. The relaxing of labor standards to encourage foreign investment and capital flow associated with globalization can, in extreme cases, encourage bonded labor as a cheap source of manpower. Through their association with the informal and unregulated sector of the economy, bondage laborers share similar vulnerabilities with migrant workers in China and undocumented immigrants in the US. Although the governments of all three countries have passed legislation officially banning bonded labor, corruption and lack of commitment have stalled the process of eradicating the issue. Current plans center on Identification of laborers, Release of laborers from their debt, and Rehabilitation to find alternate means of employment. It is the last part which has proved the most difficult. As bonded labor is tied up with many other problems, addressing this type of forced labor requires addressing the other issues as well.
Bonded Labor (Continued from Page 3)
As loan advancements often arise from poverty associated with landlessness, land redistribution to laborers could provide the economic autonomy needed for their freedom. Alternatively, unionization of bonded laborers, the enforcement of a living minimum wage, and receiving support from mainstream trade unions would dramatically increase the ability of laborers to repay their debt and earn a decent income above subsistence levels. Education and vocational training of children in bonded labor families is also integral to giving future generations the power to find better jobs and to resist exploitation. ILO has also implemented a program of microfinance as an alternate lending source, undermining the monopoly of the current debt creditors.
In India, Nepal and Pakistan, the laborers often belong to the Dalits, or the "untouchables" of the lowest caste who have been historically associated with jobs like handling dead animals and cleaning human excrement. Although the caste system has been officially banned, discrimination still exists. In Pakistan, many of the laborers are also religious (Hindu, Christian) and ethnic minorities. Discrimination constricts social mobility.
While the ultimate goal is locally based empowerment of the laborers, currently the laborers themselves wield no power of protest, and the governments and NGOs of India, Nepal, and Pakistan are either unable or unwilling to effectively implement the necessary solutions. Thus in these initial stages international pressure must be applied to get anti-bonded labor programs on their feet.
Amnesty International seeks the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.
Summing Up… If you are in the New Haven area, please make an appearance at…
The Obama Administration and Human Rights Reality versus Reputation hosted by Yale Amnesty International
For more information about Amnesty International, please visit the following sites: www.amnesty.org www.amnestyusa.org Please visit and post to Yale Chapter’s Amnesty blog at: www.yale.edu/amnesty www.yaleamnesty.blog.com Stay Active!
Wednesday, March 24 7:30 - 9:00 pm ·WLH ·207 Lucas Guttentag founder if the Immigrants' Rights Project at the ACLU
Charles Hill poliry advisor and dip/~mat
Sarah Snyder diplomatic historian and scholar if human rightspoliry
For more information, please con tact: helen. j ack@yale.edu William Harkness Hall 207 Yale University 100 Wall Street, New Haven,CT