Our member, Alison Dietz, attended a reception organised by AIUK at the House of Commons on 6 November 2013. 



Alison reports: 'The reception was aimed at senior Ministers and MPs to raise the profile of  our campaign on women's human rights in Afghanistan and to push for greater commitment. It was an opportunity for activists to demonstrate to MPs their commitment to the campaign and to press them for further support.



Our MP, Ian Liddell-Grainger, was not at the meeting but it was good to see how many MPs and Amnesty supporters attended. Ages ranged from about 13 to the other end of the spectrum. The speakers were all eloquent about the need to support the work of Afghan women HR defenders, and the importance of keeping up the pressure on the government to ensure that women's rights are embedded into the FCO's programming  for Afghanistan. The speakers were John Bercow, Kate Allen, Natasha Walter (HR activist), Jim Murphy MP (Shadow Sec of State for International Development) and Samira Hamidi, an Afghan woman HR defender.'



Alison says she was fortunate to fall into conversation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's chief officer for human rights, Katrina McCready, and was able to stress the need for greater commitment to protecting Women HR defenders in Afghanistan by the FCO and the Department for International Development.

 

 There is a write up of this meeting in the winter edition of the Amnesty magazine.