Members of the Minehead Amnesty Local Group were pleased to be able to attend the SW regional conference on 22 March 2025. The conference was very well organised and hosted by the Exeter Group and included excellent speakers and discussions. There was also a lunchtime photo action on Cathedral Green about Afghan women and in support of a ceasefire in Ukraine and Gaza. The theme this year was “Think Globally Act Locally”.

Speakers on human rights spoke of issues in different countries, including a human rights defender from Somalia, Abdalle Munin, who has himself been a victim of human rights violations in his country, where journalists are persecuted for doing their job. Participants also heard about disability rights in South Korea, the situation of Uyghurs in China, the partnership between the Amnesty Feminists network and Rukshana Media in support of Afghan women, and the recently created UN network and its current campaign 'Stop mass atrocities. Stop abuse of UN Security Council veto'.

At the final session, we started a discussion about setting up a South West Network to harness the support National Members in the area, alongside the active local groups.