Unique charity campaign asks people to give time not money during the festive season

Amnesty International today launches its annual Greetings Card Campaign encouraging people across the UK to send a message of hope and support during the festive season to people facing persecution around the world.

The annual campaign makes it easy for people in the UK to add a couple of extra cards to their lists by providing information about people who are at risk, and addresses and postage information for sending cards. All the information is available as a free pack or online.

In previous years many thousands of cards have been sent from people in the UK, giving hope to those who received them and even resulting in prisoners being released.

Sudanese ‘people’s poet’ Mahjoub Sharif, who has been jailed many times, said about the cards he received:

“These cards came from people all over… They wrote the cards, they went out and bought stamps… it was because of these people that I became a braver person…It made a big difference in prison. The guards saw that if anything happened to me, the world would know.”

This year’s campaign includes appeals for a Burmese man who was arrested after he led a peaceful protest in August 2007 and has been in prison since, and a group of brave Zimbabwean Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights who are facing constant harassment and arrest for organising peaceful demonstrations against the government. Amnesty also wants people to send cards to a Russian man whose son has ‘disappeared’ after being reportedly seized by armed men in 2007, and to the residents of a Kenyan shanty town whom the authorities keep trying to forcibly evict from their homes.

Amnesty International UK Director, Kate Allen said:

“During a season when so many of us send cards to friends and family, we’re asking people to add an extra card to their list and really make a difference for people under threat.

“Sending these cards is a simple yet effective way of offering a great sense of hope and solidarity to many people at risk around the world.”