Day 122

Still out of town with nowhere to volunteer (if you know of anything in Milledgeville, let me know!!) so I'm starting my week of virtual volunteering. It's been a while since I wrote some letters so I spent this evening on Amnesty International writing letters for human rights. 

The first was for Egypt. Amnesty International believes accountability for past security force abuses and reparations for the victims are necessary for bringing needed reform in Egypt. To achieve this, the Egyptian government must end the state of emergency, conduct a public and impartial investigation of past abuses and ensure those responsible are identified.

The next was a plea to our government to stop Haiti deportations during the humanitarian crisis there. The US continues to deport Haitians in the US to Haiti, including those with serious medical conditions, often under deadly circumstances. In January, a 34-year-old man died 9 days after being deported to Haiti where – during a cholera epidemic – he sat in a police cell covered with feces and vomit without clean water or food.

Another was to ask Sec. Clinton to put human rights at the heart of US Millennium Development Goals Policy. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most prominent global anti-poverty initiative ever undertaken. While some progress is being made, too many are being left behind. Meeting the target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75% by 2015 (MDG 5) would require a 5.5% annual reduction since 1990, and the world has seen only 2.3% annual improvement. A woman still dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth every 90 seconds. And troublingly, many populations—like the poorest of the poor, minorities and rural women—are being left behind. Peru, for example, has seen a 61% drop in maternal mortality between 1990 and 2008—but poor and Indigenous women remain at much greater risk.

The last one for this evening was to Senate Representatives asking them to empower Katrina survivors during the BP oil spill clean up by giving them a strong voice in the recovery process. It is proposed that legislation is passed to establish a Gulf of Mexico Independent Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council to guide cleanup and rebuilding efforts and to ensure that the impact of future drilling projects on coastal communities is taken into account. 

That's all for today. Hope you all have the opportunity to make a difference today!