Day 354

I'm taking a break from freerice and instead went to Amnesty International to write letters for human right's issues:

The first one was an urgent action letter for a lawyer who was beaten when he demanded to see his client. On 17 August lawyer Dmytro Karpenko was detained and tortured by police in Cherkasy, Ukraine, after demanding to see a client. When he complained about his treatment, the police accused him of assaulting them. His trial is on 29 December. The letter was to ask that his charges be dropped and that there be an immediate investigation into the allegation that Dmytro Karpenko was tortured while in police custody.

The next one was a letter for Wa’el Khattab, a forty-four year old man who was arrested on 14 August during the ongoing popular protests in Syria. He has had no contact with his family since. He appears to have been subjected to an enforced disappearance by the Syrian authorities. I wrote to ask that his whereabouts be disclosed; that he be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, allowed access to his family and a lawyer of his choice and provided with all necessary medical care; and that he be released immediately and unconditionally if he is a prisoner of conscience held solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

The last one was for Sarabi Seyunov, who has been held in pre-trial detention in Nalchik, Russian Federation, since November 2005, and has contracted tuberculosis (TB) allegedly due to his deliberate placement with a TB-positive inmate. His condition has rapidly deteriorated while he was being denied adequate treatment, and he can no longer attend his long-awaited trial. I wrote to ask for adequate medical care as well as a response to his requests for an independent medical examination, in accordance with the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Imprisonment or Detention. I also asked for consideration of replacing detention with a different form of pre-trial restriction in view of his health condition as well as an investigation of all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of Sarabi Seyunov and his co-defendants.

That's all for tonight! Happy giving!

Day 342

With National Human Rights Day just around the corner (December 10th) I chose to visit Amnesty International and fight for human rights!

My first letter was to defend Native women from domestic violence. More than 1 in 3 Native American and Alaska Native women will be subject to domestic violence or sexual assault in her lifetime. The maze of federal, state, and tribal jurisdictions, along with the damaging precedent set by the Supreme Court ruling in Oliphant v. Suquamish, has created an environment of impunity in Indian Country where perpetrators act without fear or consequence for their crimes. On October 31, 2011, Senator Daniel Akaka continued the fight to end violence against Native women by introducing S. 1763, the "Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act". The legislation will seek to tackle the issue of domestic violence in particular, by restoring the capacity of tribal governments to prosecute crimes of domestic violence and uphold protection orders in Indian Country.

The next one was to stop the repeated, arbitrary arrest, intimidation, harassment and ill-treatment of activists in Zimbabwe. The activists of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) are frequently targeted by police and security forces while exercising their freedom of speech and assembly. The members of WOZA gather to march to bring attention to human and civil rights violations in Zimbabwe. Many members have experienced incidents of unnecessary physical violence during the course of arrest and while being held in jail or prison.

The last one was to remind the Olympic Committees of the Bhopal Tragedy in India. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Bhopal, India were devastated in December 1984 by a catastrophic gas leak at Union Carbide’s pesticide factory (now owned by Dow chemical). Since the world’s worst industrial disaster, over 25,000 people have died, and over 100,000 continue to deal with serious health problems. There has been no justice in Indian or US courts for victims, no proper rehabilitation for the many survivors struggling with medical problems, and no adequate compensation for those whose lives were changed forever by the leak. Sadly, this human rights disaster now spans generations.

Day 322

Cold/Flu symptoms stopped me from going to the Baylor Clinic today so while stuck in bed I wrote some letters for human rights through Amnesty International:

I've been reading the Guantanamo Files and am horrified with the treatment of prisoners (or rather, the many innocent people) held there, so today's letters were for the people being held there.

The first letter I wrote was to stop Congress from making Guantanamo permanent. We are facing one of the biggest crises at Guantanamo since “war on terror” detainees were first transferred there nearly 10 years ago: Congress may soon vote to make indefinite detention and unfair trials permanent. The 89 people there who are approved for release could remain forever. The 46 slated for detention without charge could be denied due process forever. The 36 referred for prosecution could only be tried in unfair kangaroo courts. The United States government should be protecting human rights, not violating them.

Along the same lines I wrote a letter urging the Senate to remove Guantanamo provisions from the National Defense Authorization Act that has provisions that would keep Guantanamo open, further entrenching indefinite detention and unfair trials.

The next one was to ask our government to charge or release Shaker Aamer, a former UK resident detained at Guantanamo, who has been held without charge for nearly 10 years – despite the UK government’s repeated requests that he be returned to his wife and four children in London. Indefinite detention is a human rights violation. It must end.


The last one I wrote was for Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim who remains detained in Guantánamo without charge or trial after eight years, despite the fact that on December 16, 2009, US federal judge Ricardo Urbina found his detention unlawful and ordered his release. The government is appealing Judge Urbina's ruling and it is not known when the US Court of Appeals will hand down its decision. I wrote to urge the administration to release Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim immediately and allow him to be reunited with his family in Yemen.

Please read through some of these cases (Guantanamo Files is a great place to start) and stay informed with what's going on - the human rights violations you will read about are truly horrific and disgusting! Hoping and praying for those still going through the torture...

Day 298

Some days it feels like there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done, today was one of those days! I returned to the Amnesty International website to write letters for human rights:

• The first was to urge Syrian authorities to give strict and clear instructions to all public and private hospitals to accept and treat all wounded patients without delay. Also to ensure health professionals are allowed to perform their duty of attending to persons with medical needs or to exercise their right to freedom of expression or other peaceful activities without fear of arbitrary arrest and detention.
• The next was to demand basic services and human rights for Kenyans living in informal settlements. On September 12, an explosion ripped through a Nairobi slum, killing hundreds of people. It was a horrific scene of destruction that showed the insecurity of daily life for Kenyans in poverty, who live without basic services and sanitation. Worse still, slum residents can be forcibly evicted from their homes at any time by the government, as they did last year in Kabete, leaving hundreds of families homeless and with no way to earn a livelihood. 
• I then wrote to protect the basic rights of an Iranian actress. Marzieh Vafamehr was sentenced to one year in prison and a flogging of 90 lashes in connection with her appearance in the film My Tehran for Sale. It is unclear what the exact charges against her were. Several other members of Iran's film community, including actors and film makers, have been arrested in recent months, while Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof have been sentenced to six years in prison and bans on their artistic activities.
• Last one I wrote was to stop forced evictions in Serbia. Roma people living in informal settlements in Serbia are being forcibly evicted from their homes without any form of legal protection. Many people affected by the displacements become trapped in a vicious circle, forced to move from one settlement to another, and denied basic human rights, including adequate housing, employment, healthcare and education.

That's all for today! Happy Giving!

Day 297

Out of town for the day so I volunteered virtually by visiting freerice.com

I stuck to English vocabulary and remembered most of the words from previous times I have tried them. I donated 2500grains of rice in 30minutes.

Amnesty International mailed out a petition to sign, so I signed and mailed out:

• in support of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which demands basic human rights for children and an end to global violence against children.

Lastly, wrote a final letter for the Bert Show's Big Thank You! Mailing them all out tomorrow :)

Day 293

I have a full day today, so I am doing my giving first thing this morning. I visited Amnesty International and wrote letters for several different human rights issues:

The first was to stop the execution of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who converted to Christianity at age 19. Freedom of religion is a basic human right guaranteed by internationally recognized human rights conventions to which Iran is a state party. I wrote to urge that any death sentence against Mr. Nadarkhani for choosing to peacefully express his religious faith be overturned.

The next was to release Maikel Nabil Sanad a 26-year-old Egyptian blogger who was sentenced on April 10 to three years in prison by a military court for charges related to criticisms he posted on his Facebook page.He is a prisoner of conscience arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his views so I wrote to ask that the government immediately and unconditionally release him. 

I think I have written in support of this one before, but it is one that I think is very important and would have a huge impact in the country. In 2005, Zimbabwe evicted 700,000 people from informal settlements. As a result, an estimated 222,000 children had at least some part of their education disrupted. Families were rendered homeless, poverty increased due to lost income earning potential resulting in an inability to pay school fees, and in some areas schools were demolished. So I wrote again to demand education as a human right in Zimbabwe.

The last one for this morning was to ask that former President Jean-Claude Duvalier faces trial in Haiti.  He returned unexpectedly in January 2011, after 25 years in exile. It is incumbent upon Haitian authorities to ensure that he faces a trial after being charged with embezzlement and crimes against humanity. Between 1971 and 1986 under his presidency, hundreds of Haitians, journalists, trade unionists and political opponents were forcibly disappeared or extrajudicially executed, tortured and arbitrarily detained or forced into exile. His crimes must be investigated to ensure that justice is done.

Fighting for human rights - the perfect way to start my day and make an impact! Hope you all have a good Thursday.

Day 278

Back on the road and giving back however I can. I started with writing my thank you letter for the Bert Show's Big Thank you. I then visited Amnesty International and wrote some letters for human rights.

We sometimes take our access to education for granted. But not everyone has the same easy access that we do. In 2005, Zimbabwe evicted 700,000 people from informal settlements. As a result, an estimated 222,000 children had at least some part of their education disrupted. Families were rendered homeless, poverty increased due to lost income earning potential resulting in an inability to pay school fees, and in some areas schools were demolished. Amnesty International believes Zimbabwe’s mass removal of citizens from settlements where they had access to education, and the subsequent failure to provide for the children’s education, amounted to a deliberate violation of individual rights.

In 2009 Australia endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a commitment to its Indigenous People. However, the Australian government plans to strip funds from homeland communities. Traditional homelands are home to nearly one-third of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Research shows that with proper services people can be healthier, live longer and contribute valuable work on homelands, all with their identity and connection to the land intact. Yet the government's policy of stripping funding from essential services will effectively force people into hub towns and cities.  

The last letter was to help stop the harassment of Syrians abroad. Syrian authorities’ crackdown on dissent is not just confined to Syria. Syrian peaceful protesters in other parts of the world have also been systematically monitored and harassed by embassy officials and others believed to be acting on behalf of the Syrian regime.

Day 264

Today's giving was through Amnesty International. I read through many petitions, here are the one's I wrote letters for today:

• The first was one was for Jabbar Savalan, a 20 year old student who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on May 4, 2011. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression and condemns his conviction on fabricated drug charges. I wrote a letter asking for his immediate and unconditional release from prison.
• I then wrote a letter for Sanjiv Kumar Karna and four other students, who were last seen on Oct. 8, 2003 in Janakpur, Danusha District. Karna , a 24 year old student, was picnicking with a group of friends when he and 10 others were arrested by security force personnel. The students were reportedly brutally beaten. Six were subsequently released but Sanjiv and four others have not been heard of since. Police investigations into what happened to these five students have not been made public, nor has anyone been held accountable for their disappearance.
• I made a last minute effort and signed the petition to stop the execution of Troy Davis. The execution is currently on hold!
• The last one was to urge Sierra Leone's health minister to make maternal health a priority and to take immediate action to ensure that pregnant women and girls have access to all essential emergency obstetric care drugs and health care throughout their pregnancy. In spite of the government’s efforts over the last two years to introduce various initiatives to address challenges pregnant women and girls face in accessing drugs and medical care crucial to ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth, the challenges persist and many women continue to be denied access to care. Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. The absence of emergency obstetric care violates women’s right to health and puts their lives at risk. 

The 100 day countdown starts now!

Day 241

It's an evening of virtual volunteering and Dona and I chose to go to Amnesty International. Here's what she did:

"I really should volunteer online more... and while I've been facebooking and tweeting about our fundraiser on Wednesday, August 31st at 7pm at The Nook (shameless plug), I decided on Amnesty International today....

 

Today, I Took Action with Amnesty International to support Egyptian women's political participation, legal reforms protecting women from domestic violence and women's social, economic and cultural rights.

 

It wasn't a big ordeal... I logged on.. saw that I didn't agree with the governing body of Egypt and their extreme measures to silence women... and voiced my opinion.

 

http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now

 

Your turn!"

 

I signed petitions for: Egyptian women's rights; deadly and unaccountable militias in India to disband; to stop forced evictions in Egypt's informal settlements; and to free indigenous rights activist Kopa Kunjam. 

Hope you get a chance to check out some of the petitions!

Day 220

Another week of traveling, another few days of volunteering virtually, and another few days of Jiten covering for me :)

Tonight I went back to Amnesty International to write some letters. I started with a letter to support funding that protects Indigenous women from rape and sexual violence. Native American and Alaskan Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped than other women in the US. It is estimated that one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, with nearly 86% of rapes perpetrated by non-Native men.

The next was to stop Kenya from deporting Eritreans facing torture. Seven Eritrean refugees are currently being held at the Nairobi airport. They are seeking asylum in Kenya, but are not being granted asylee status. Instead, Kenyan officials are threatening to deport them. If returned to Eritrea, they are likely to be tortured, held incommunicado, and otherwise mistreated. Eritrean asylum seekers who are deported to their home country often face serious human rights abuses.

Another letter was for the release of internationally renowned HIV and AIDS researcher Arash Alaei. In June 2011, he was awarded the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Amnesty International is concerned the charges against Arash Alaei are based solely on vaguely-worded national security laws. He is a prisoner of conscience, targeted solely for his medical research and advocacy efforts and for his peaceful collaboration with non-governmental organizations in other countries.

The last was for a human rights lawyer who disappeared in China. Gao Zhisheng represented human rights defenders, Falun Gong practitioners and individuals facing the death penalty. He received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, in December 2006, for "inciting subversion." In April 2007, Gao Zhisheng told other activists he was tortured during pre-trial detention. In September 2007, his open letter to the US Congress about the deterioration of human rights in China was published in a US-based newspaper. About a week after the publication, plainclothes police went into his home, stripped off his clothes and beat him unconscious. In February 2009, he was taken away from home by security agents. His whereabouts remain unknown since then.

Amnesty International has many success stories because we keep writing our letters. Get involved and make a difference!

Day 196

While I would love to go out into the fields of sunshine and plant trees, and give hugs... I’m at work, and I not quite free to do as I please... or am I?

I love being an American bred, Indian raised woman! This world is my oyster, and I find this to be true every day! Had I been raised in India, I'd be a found in some village tending to my flock of hens, raising children, and serving my family... Hah! NO. Not really, we're a much more forward-thinking people.

I got two emails this week from Amnesty international regarding the crisis in Turkey. So I thought I'd take a look....

" Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey suffer discrimination in employment, housing and access to public services.

On June 25, 2010 thousands of people – among them lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) men and women, members of their families, activists and other supporters marched through the center of Istanbul in the greatest show of solidarity for the rights of LGBT people ever seen in Turkey to date.

Supporters marched in defiance of Turkey's laws which are interpreted or utilised in a discriminatory manner by judges and prosecutors, denying the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Currently, no provision exists within Turkey’s constitution or domestic law framework proscribing discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity."

I'm a foriegn woman in America, and yes, I can identify being discriminated against for it. So I lent my puny, but FREE voice to the LGBT community in Turkey, and signed a petition demanding equality!

I continued reading, and signed a second one to free Liu Xiaobo.

"Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo was charged with "inciting subversion of state power" and given an 11-year prison sentence on December 25, 2009 simply for co-authoring a proposal for political and legal reform in China. On October 7, the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court upheld Liu Xiaobo's prison sentence. Urge Chinese authorities to release Liu Xiaobo immediately and unconditionally."

I signed quite a few more, But I don’t want to ruin it for you… Check out amnestyinternational.org! It's just a few minutes of your time...

We become engulfed with the petty issues in our lives, and then we allow them to slowly consume us. Every day this year, I’m shown just how insignificant I am, and how even more irrelavant my “problems” are in the grand scheme of things. Taking a few hours every once on a while to remind myself that there’s more to my life than what I observe may be selfish, but I move forward with just a little more of a balanced perspective on life.
And in the mean time, I hope my voice, and perhaps a few of yours, makes enough noise to end some of the atrociousness we’re sheltered from!

Day 192

I'm on the road so taking the opportunity to go back to Amnesty International tonight. Here's a brief description of the ways I am getting involved:

• During 2009, thousands of civilians died in the final months of the war in Sri Lanka. Both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers committed war crimes and other gross human rights abuses. But no one has been held accountable. So I wrote to ask the U.S. government to support an international investigation into war crimes and other abuses committed by both sides during the war in Sri Lanka.
• I wrote to help protect human rights defender Lydia Cacho. I read an article about her on CNN and am amazed by the work she does. She first received multiple threats and harassment after publishing a book in 2005, in which she exposed a child pornography ring which allegedly operated with the knowledge and protection of politicians and business people of the Quintana de Roo and Puebla states. She continued to receive threats in the following years, on some occasions in reprisal for her work as a journalist and as a human rights defender at a women’s shelter in Cancún. Following the latest threats, there are serious fears over her safety and security.
• I wrote to put an end to LGBT discrimination in Turkey. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey suffer discrimination in employment, housing and access to public services.The newly elected government in Turkey has pledged to introduce a new constitution containing greater human rights protections. An anti-discrimination law is also scheduled to come before the Turkish parliament. However without concerted pressure, there is a danger that these legal changes will again ignore LGBT people's demands for equality.
  
  I wanted to highlight a human rights key victory from Amnesty International. I wrote about this one several weeks ago - take a look and see what a difference a little bit of your time can make: Military pledges to stop forced 'virginity tests' in Egypt
  
  

Day 165

Letter writing tonight:

1. Sent a letter to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, and Prime Minister of India urging them to ensure that the human rights of citizens are fully respected. Two environmental activists, Ramesh Agrawal and Dr. Harihar Patel, have been jailed in Chhattisgarh to silence their environmental concerns about industrial projects in the state. They have been jailed on false charges of "circulating defamatory material", "disrupting public order", and "causing alarm and panic among the public" for raising their concerns in a mandated public hearing about a local power plant operated by Jindal Steel and Power. While Dr. Patel remains in jail, Mr. Agrawal is being hospitalized for hypertension and is chained to his hospital bed - a clear case of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
2. The next was to the President of the Republic of Cameroon. Jean-Claude Roger Mbede has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for homosexuality, a criminal offense under Section 347a of the Cameroonian Penal Code. He is currently serving his sentence at the central prison in
   Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. He is at risk of physical attack and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on account of his real or perceived sexual orientation. He is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely because of his sexual orientation. 
3. The last was to the Minister of Justice in Argentina. The Indigenous Quilmes people consist of around 3,000 people and most of them live in the north-western Argentinean province of Tucumán. The community of Colalao del Valle is one of the biggest Quilmes communities with approximately 1,000 inhabitants. On 30 May a judge based in the northern Argentinian city of San Miguel de Tucumán rejected the request by the Quilmes Indigenous community of Colalao del Valle to stop the eviction order against their families. Members of the community were previously evicted from this land three times. Each time they reoccupied the land days later.  The 30 May decision has given the authorities the go-ahead to attempt a new eviction. Currently around 30 people, including 10 children, live on the disputed land. Evicting Indigenous communities is currently forbidden under Argentinean legislation.

While writing these letters I came across a success story that shows just how much of a difference you can make. Check it out:
When a Tweet can Change the World

Day 155

I'm volunteering from home today. It's been a few weeks since I last visited Amnesty International so it's a night of letter writing. 

The first letter was for the immediate and unconditional release of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese scholar and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who is serving an 11-year sentence for  "inciting subversion of state power". Liu Xiaobo co-authored "Charter 08," a proposal for political and legal reform in China. The police took Liu Xiaobo from his home in Beijing on December 8, 2008, two days before the planned launch of Charter 08. Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by Chinese authorities since its launch but only Liu Xiaobo has been charged or tried.

The next was asking the US government to support an international investigation into war crimes and other abuses during the war in Sri Lanka. During 2009, thousands of civilians died in the final months of the war in Sri Lanka. Both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers committed war crimes and other gross human rights abuses. But no one has been held accountable.

My last letter was to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar urging the Myanmar authorities to take immediate action to ensure that prisoners involved in protests in Insein, Hkamti
and Kale prisons are not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and that the Government of Myanmar ensures that prison conditions throughout the country meet international standards. Political prisoners in Myanmar who have initiated peaceful protests in three prisons, including hunger strikes, are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International has received credible reports that seven prisoners who were on hunger strike were placed in solitary confinement in cells designed for military dogs between 24 and 26 May. Political prisoners in Myanmar have used hunger strikes to protest poor prison conditions in the past. Prison authorities have tortured those who protest, or subjected them to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including reducing their diet, shackling them, and confining them in dark cells or military dog cells for protracted periods.


The letter writing takes just a small amount of your time but has a huge impact! Hope you're able to have an impact on human rights issues today!

Day 136

I'm on the road again and starting my week of virtual giving with Amnesty International.

The first thing I saw on the site today was a Featured Action to stop the execution of Troy Davis. This is a case based right here in Georgia. Troy Davis has faced execution three times for a crime he may not have committed. In an unprecedented evidentiary hearing held in a federal district court in Savannah in June, 2010, he was able to present evidence supporting his innocence claim. However, the standard for proving his innocence was “extraordinarily high”, especially given the lack of physical and scientific evidence in his case. The federal judge ruled that he did not meet the high standard, despite the fact that doubts about his guilt remain unresolved. Seven of the nine witnesses in this case have changed their story and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime.  No one should be executed, especially when there are so many doubts about guilt!

The next case I read through was horrific and disgusting. It was a call for action to investigate torture and forced 'virginity testing' on Egyptian women! After army officers violently cleared Tahrir square of protesters on March 9, 2011, at least 18 women were rounded up in military detention. The protesters told Amnesty International that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to ‘virginity checks’ and threatened with prostitution charges. Forcing women to have ‘virginity tests’ is utterly unacceptable. Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women!

The last one for today was regarding the disappearance of Arjun Lama. During Nepal’s civil war (1996-2006) over 1,300 people “disappeared” at the hands of both the government security forces and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Despite promises by political parties as part of the peace process, little progress has been made in determining the truth, delivering justice, or providing reparations to the families of the missing. To date not one person has been prosecuted in a civilian court for human rights abuses committed during the conflict. After years of campaigning, Arjun Lama’s family still does not know the truth of what happened to him after his abduction in April 2005. A Supreme Court ruling in 2008 ordered the Kavre police to register a murder case against 6 Maoists, but all of the accused remain free. The disappearance of Arjun Lama should be investigated promptly and thoroughly. Those found to be implicated should be arrested, and presented before a civilian court for trial. Despite many cases of disappearances being registered with the Nepal Police, police officers have often failed to actively pursue investigations. Imagine not knowing the whereabouts of your loved ones for years!


Get involved. Make a difference.

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!

Day 94

I wrote some more emails through Amnesty International this evening using their pre-filled forms and typing my own letters for action. Here are the issues I focused on today:

Avtar Singh, a retired Indian Army major was arrested in California on domestic violence charges. The letter asked that he be extradited to India to face murder charges for his involvement in the murder of human rights lawyer Jalil Andrabi - a Kashmiri lawyer and activist, who exposed a number of human rights violations by India’s security forces in Kashmir in the early 1990s. He was last seen on March 8, 1996 when he was taken away by Srinagar based military personnel who were led at that time by Major Singh. Nineteen days later, his dead body was found in the river Jhelum.

A Libyan woman, Eman al-Obaidi, who was detained after alleging that she was raped by members of Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s forces, has been released. However, she is still concerned for her own safety and has been prevented from leaving Tripoli. The letter urged Libyan authorities to ensure Eman el-Obeidi’s right to freedom of movement and that they conduct an immediate, full and thorough independent investigation into her alleged rape and other torture and ill-treatment by members of the Libyan security forces and to bring those responsible to justice.

Two leaders of the social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, are being sought by police. They are at risk of arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment. On 12 February, WOZA staged its ninth annual Valentine's Day peaceful protest in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Since then police officers have paid regular visits to the homes of Williams and Mahlangu, attempting to find them. Officers have also contacted a human rights lawyer, demanding he bring the two WOZA leaders to Bulawayo Central Police station. The officer reportedly stated that the two 'must prepare themselves for a long detention'. However, police have given no indication of the reasons why they are searching for the two WOZA leaders, causing fears that the two could be arbitrarily arrested and detained. Since February police appear to have launched a crackdown in which human rights activists across the country, including WOZA members, have been systematically targeted.

A 20-year-old man, Manik, is at risk of torture and extrajudicial execution in Bangladesh after being arrested on 8 March 2011. He was showing his relatives the place where his elder brother was killed on 12 February 2011, allegedly by plain clothes men in a special police force, Rapid Action Batallion (RAB). The letter urged that Manik not be subjected to torture by the RAB or other police personnel;  that he is released immediately and unconditionally, unless he is charged with a recognizably
criminal offense; and that a thorough, independent and impartial investigation is carried out into the death of Shahid, and any RAB or police personnel known to have committed extrajudicial execution, or other human rights violations against him, are brought to justice.

Lastly, urging authorities to prevent any attempt to drive residents of Lomas del Poleo off their land, and to ensure the land dispute is resolved fairly and satisfactorily in the Agrarian Tribunal. People living in Lomas del Poleo have been harassed and attacked since 2003 by men working for the landowner, who has tried to force them off land they have lived on for decades. The security guards have been menacing people living in an area of the northern state of Chihuahua. Many have fled the area, but the seven families still living there are now at renewed risk of attack. The guards are using several intimidation tactics: walking around the houses and firing into the air; firing at the houses and around the school; and driving around the houses in the middle of the night.

Again, this takes very little time but has a huge impact. I hope you have a chance to visit their site and act for human rights!

Day 55

Since I'm not able to go out into the community to volunteer today, I am volunteering with Amnesty International. I sent out emails for a variety of human rights issues, here are the highlights:

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a mother of two, has defended Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and other human rights activists, as well as juvenile offenders sentenced to death. On January 9, 2011, Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to eleven years in prison, and banned from practicing law and traveling for twenty years. The judge sentenced her to five years in prison on a charge of “acting against national security,” another five years for “not wearing hejab (Islamic dress for women) during a videotaped message,” and one year for "propaganda against the regime.” The persecution of Nasrin Sotoudeh is just one example of the Iranian government’s campaign against human rights attorneys who struggle to carry out their work in a deeply flawed legal system.

In Vietnam, freedom of expression and association has been subject to strict control by the Vietnamese authorities for many years. Dissidents who are critical of government policies and speak and write about human rights violations face a range of sanctions to silence them. These include surveillance by local police, restrictions on movement, interference with phone lines and internet access, rough interrogation including torture, detention by police, arrest and imprisonment.

Closer to home - On the way home from a family vacation, Maher Arar was detained as a terrorism suspect at a New York airport and sent to Syria to be tortured. Eventually, he was released without charge and sent home to Canada.The U.S. refuses to apologize to Maher Arar or to offer him any form of remedy. The Department of Justice had urged the Supreme Court not to hear Maher Arar’s case because it implicated "significant national security concerns." The Court complied.

In India, Binayak Sen is a leading human rights activist in the conflict-affected state of Chhattisgarh. On 24 December 2010, he was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of sedition and conspiracy after an unfair trial. On 5 January 2011, Dr Sen challenged his conviction by filing an appeal.Amnesty International holds that the charges against him are politically motivated and aimed at stopping his human rights work. He is a prisoner of conscience, and should be immediately released.

And lastly, as many of us have watched the protests, Amnesty International is urging the Algerian authorities not to crack down on protests in Algeria, and to lift the ban on demonstrations in the capital, Algiers. Protests have been calling for "democratic change", the lifting of a 19-year state of emergency and greater freedom for civil society and the media.