Minutes. September Meeting

Truro and Falmouth Amnesty International Group

Minutes of Meeting held on 10 Sept 2014

1. Present:

   Amelia Scanlan,  Margaret George,  Linnea Glynne-Rule,  Hetty Tye,  Georgie Wong , Karen Cooper,  Chris Ramsey,  Robin Sellwood,  Wailim Wong , Lucky Kaur,  Shirley Sweeney, Megan Bridgeland.

    

2. Apologies :  None

    

3. Matters arising from the minutes of  9 July 2014:

   The bookstall on 23 August raised £114.77. The unsold books were donated to the National Trust.

   Amelia has booked to attend the Stop Torture skills training day on 4 Oct and Wailim was looking into going too. The group will pay their expenses.

4.    Secretary's report:

1. The Sept monthly action concerned Torture in Mexico. AI is launching a major report: 'Out of control. Torture and other ill-treatment in Mexico'. There was a letter to sign to President Peña Nieto calling for action to be taken to combat torture and ill-treatment, focusing in particular on the case of Claudia Medina Tamariz.

2. Women's Rights in Afghanistan. The campaign on this is underway, especially in the light of troop withdrawal. Materials are available for actions on the dangers to women at work in Afghanistan. Margaret agreed to order them, with a view to using them at the street collection in Falmouth on 11 Oct. It is hoped to do a series of tableaux around the town. Chris will approach the Falmouth students to get their support.

3. Phase 2 of the AI strategic goals consultation : groups are asked to give feedback on the first draft paper. This can be an item at our Oct meeting. Chris said that it was hoped to have a consultation meeting in the SW, possibly at Plymouth.

4. Amnesty trainers: there will be a Train the Trainers workshop on 6 Dec which Hetty hopes to attend.

5. Youth Awards. The competition is open to 7-19 year-olds, launched on 8 Sept and the closing date is 30 Jan 2015. It includes human rights reporting, photography, song-writing (and performing), campaigning and fundraising. Resources on the website.

5.    Individuals at Risk:

1. Georgie reported that it is Norma Cruz's birthday in November . She had brought letters to sign on behalf of Angel Colon, a Honduran migrant arrested in Mexico. He is to be visited by AI; also Silvia Perez a Mexican Human Rights worker who has been threatened but not given protection; and relatives of 'disappeared' persons in Mexico, and a letter to Guatemala concerning genocide during the 36-year civil war.

2. Egypt: there was an Urgent Action letter concerning restrictive laws which will affect NGOs which support Human Rights.

3. Saudi Arabia: a letter to be signed on behalf of Raif Badawi

6.  Stop Torture campaign:

       There was an Urgent Action letter re Azerbaijan. Amelia (and possibly Wailim) will be going to the Stop         Torture training on 4 Oct, which will include sharing best practice. Wailim is looking into organising an         event to highlight countries which torture despite having agreed not to. Amelia is looking into organising a         sponsored walk.

7. Israel and the Occupied Territories:

        Chris and Hetty had done letters to sign re the sale of arms to Israel. Chris reported that  Omar Saad a viola         player and Druze conscientious objector is coming over to play in Britain. Chris agreed to try to send him a         message of welcome. Margaret, Hetty, Georgie and Robin had been to a lobby of Sarah Newton MP     organised by Anne and Richard Watson. Anne had prepared excellent documents to give to S Newton and     took the lead in pressing her to get the sale of arms to Israel by British firms stopped. Sarah undertook to   send the documents to the Minister and to report back.

8. Feather flags:

         Karen had done a number of possible designs for our flag. Chris will contact Farshid with the chosen one and         find out the price.

9. Write for Rights survey:

        Chris asked for ideas to improve the Write for Rights materials. It was suggested that the format            needs to be         one which it is easy to reproduce for the stall.

10. Future events :

1. 21 Sept Freshers stall at Tremough. Chris would provide the display materials to George Perry.

2. 23 Sept Belarus Free Theatre. Amelia would attend the afternoon performance for schools, and Karen, Chris, Linnea and Megan would be there in the evening. Hetty would provide letters to sign.

3. 11 Oct street collection in Falmouth. It was agreed to use the materials on dangers to Afghan women workers to mount a tableau along with collecting. This could be done for a short while at different spots in the town. Georgie started a list of those available to help and it is hoped to have support from students at Tremough. Chris will ask them.

4. One World Week 16-23 Oct in the cathedral. The theme is Trade- living differently. There will not be much space but we can have a board fixed to the railings alongside St Mary's aisle and share a table with other organisations.

5. Autumn event at Tremough - showing of film 'Echo the pain of many'. It was agreed that Georgie should obtain the DVD and we could possibly show it at our Nov meeting, and also at Tremough if that suits the student group there. We will need to obtain a projector for our meeting.

6. We have our Xmas stalls on 22 Nov (this was in doubt at the meeting but has since been confirmed OK) and 13 Dec in High Cross, and at the Mayor's Charity event (Piazza) on 6 Dec.

    

   11.   Treasurer's report:

          Linnea reported that we have£1300.10.

    

   12. Next meeting: this will be on 8 October.