Croydon Amnesty International-Report of Year-February 2024/January 2025

It has been a busy year.  We have had three meetings with a speaker.  In February, Reem Abi Hayyeh presented to us the key findings of Amnesty’s research on the Prevent strategy as laid out in the recent report “This is the Thought Police”:  The Prevent Strategy and its Chilling Effect on Human Rights.  In April, Graham Bisset of Amnesty Futures explained to us the reasons for and various resolutions that Amnesty Futures were proposing to bring to the Amnesty AGM and for which they sought support.  In July, Michael Quinn, a senior community officer at AIUK spoke about Amnesty’s Rainbow Network and up and coming actions initiated by the Network followed by an interesting debate on gender identity and related issues.  In October the group went to Portcullis House for a talk on human rights in Western Sahara and related issues organised by the Western Sahara Campaign and chaired by Jeremy Corbyn.

We had a number of stalls during the year in an attempt to attract new members. We had a stall at the David Lean when the film “Twenty Days in Maripul “was screened and were invited to have a stall at the Co-op Bank in May.   We had a stall at the Jazz and Blues Festival at Ruskin House in July and campaigned against violence towards women in the context of the World Cup; to End the Occupation and the imprisonment of British nationals in Iran and Egypt. In September we had stalls during Fresher’s Week at Coulsdon and Croydon colleges and had some interesting conversations.  In December we had a stall at the Croydon Central Library to promote the Write for Rights campaign.  We also had a table top sale at St Augustine’s in June to raise funds.

In July we had our Amnestea and bring and buy sale in Joan’s garden.  We raised £69.20.

The same month to mark Pride, Ice and Fire theatre company (Actors for Human Rights) performed “This is who I am” preceded by an asylum mapping workshop, showing the hurdles of the asylum system. The next day, three of us took part in the Croydon Pride march carrying “Love is a Human Right “ placards.

In November we held a Lindy Hop dance ably organised again by Chris.  There was a taster session and delicious Turkish food organised by Peter and friends. We promoted the case of Chaima Issa in Tunisia whose freedom of movement has been compromised.  We raised, after expenses, £398.20.  A good time was had by all.

We raised £140 from carol singing at East Croydon station in the cold just before Christmas.   Wherever we were we had a collecting tin available.

We have sent hundreds of letters, emails and cards for scores of actions all over the world. 

Joan attended some of the regular vigils opposite parliament and outside the US embassy, demanding that Guantanamo be closed.  There were 14 releases during the year.  Peter spoke about the group at Croydon Hugh School for girls in June.

We had meals out at Galicia in August  and  Atesh after carol singing in December.

We are slowly developing our social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. 

.

Beyond our Amnesty involvement we are all friends and do our best to be supportive of each other.  We were sorry to see Bea and Ron (who were members for decades) move to Dunbar during the year and Rosa retire. They were sent cards and flowers from the group to say thank you for their contributions over many years. We have attracted the involvement of several new members during the year.

I would like to convey my thanks to Rachel and Joan for looking after our finances.  Thanks also go to Peter for sending out emails, keeping a watchful eye on group correspondence and for looking after our blog and to Ingrid and in her absence Joan, for being our minute secretaries. Thanks also go to Ingrid, for relaying Amnesty’s monthly actions to us; to Rosemary for being our press officer ; to Rosemary and Ingrid for attending regional meetings and to you all for your involvement in the group.

One of the cases we sent Urgent Actions for during the Year was Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi. We were waiting to take him up as a long –term case when on 1st November, he was released by the Algerian authorities from El Harrach prison following a presidential pardon to over 4,000 prisoners.

Ihsane El Kadi is well-known for being a critical voice against the Algerian authorities throughout his decades-long career as a prominent journalist, media editor-in-chief and founding director of the independent media company Interface Media. He had been arbitrarily detained since 24 December 2022 and was serving an unjust five-year prison sentence for exercising his right to freedom of the press.

Following his release, Ihsane El Kadi shared with Amnesty International his “infinite gratitude” to those who took action in calling for his release. He said that he had no doubt that the international campaign for his release influenced the authorities’ decision to pardon him. Furthermore, due to the visibility granted by global activism, Ihsane El Kadi believes the authorities improved his conditions of detention and were deterred from subjecting him to ill-treatment. As a testament to the importance of global activism and solidarity, Ihsane El Kadi stated that international campaigning is critical in offering hope and reassurance to detainees, stuck in their cells, that the world has not forgotten their plight. In a message to those still in detention for exercising their right to freedom of expression, he said that his pardon serves as evidence of the impact of global calls on the Algerian authorities. He stressed the need to accept “our shared humanity”, because expressing solidarity and protecting rights and freedoms extends beyond borders.

Thank you to you all for all that you do and for providing protection and hope to some many people each year.