Last night I visted the Stratford-on-Avon Amnesty group to deliver a training session on Individuals at Risk. On arriving in Stratford their chair, Eileen cooked me a delicious meal of quiche, potatoes and vegetables followed by cake. The meeting began with group business and it seemed that they had been quite active with several events to report on. This included a fundraising literary event at the Chipping Campden Literature Festival where Vivien Heffernan gave her lecture ‘Shakespeare through Artists’ Eyes’.
The training session itself gave an overview of how Amnesty campaigns for Individuals at Risk including how it selects cases, how groups can find out about the cases they can take action on and how they can campaign for individuals. The group engaged with the workshop and were interested in the different ways they might get the public involved. The session ended with a roleplay session where the group members took on the roles of a member of the public and an activist on a stall. The stall holder had to persuade a reluctant member of the public as to why they should take action and why it makes a difference. Amnesty’s work on Individuals at Risk does make a difference and a third of Urgent Action cases result in a verifiable improvement for prisoners of conscience and others who are at risk.
To find out more about how you can take action for Individuals at Risk visit www.amnesty.org.uk/iar
To find out more about Stratford-on-Avon Amnesty group see www.amnesty.org.uk/stratfordonavon
If you are part of a local Amnesty group and would like a training session please email training@amnesty.org.uk
West Midlands Amnesty International UK 