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Amnesty International is a world-wide voluntary movement working to prevent some of the gravest violations of people's fundamental human rights. The Bradford Group is one of over 300 local groups within the United Kingdom. It forms the focal point of campaigning work carried out by supporters of Amnesty International in and around the West Yorkshire towns of Bradford and Keighley. Some group members meet regularly every month, whilst others are kept informed through our newsletter. Different members contribute to the group in different ways...letter writing for campaigns, organising and supporting events, distributing information and much more. Please explore our site and the links to other information and if you have any queries or would like to find out more about working with our group you can contact us.
Bradford
Group - Introduction In 1984 local supporters of Amnesty International formed a group so that they could work together - to campaign for the objectives of Amnesty International; to encourage other local people to work actively against human rights abuses; and to raise funds to help keep the organisation running. Since that time the group has actively campaigned on many aspects of the Mandate of Amnesty International and on cases of human rights abuse in countries across the world. We have also organised events and activities to inform and involve local people. We are ordinary people with diverse backgrounds, beliefs and commitments - but we share at least one common belief - that by working together, with other people all over the world, we can make a difference to the lives of people who are facing oppression, torture and death. Group members meet regularly once a month to discuss campaign work and plan future activities. The meetings are informal and are open to anyone who would like to contribute to the of work of Amnesty International to combat human rights abuses. Come along and see what's involved. Local supporters who can't join us in person are kept informed by newsletters and can still be involved in group activities
Our section on About AI describes the different ways that groups and individuals can be involved in campaign work using the information Amnesty International has gathered on human rights abuses around the world. This section outlines our involvement in those campaigns. We have an on-going commitment to the Turkish Regional Action Network (TURKRAN). We were inspired to join this network because we had been active in the case of Eren Keskin, a Kurdish human rights lawyer, based in Turkey. We were impressed by her courage and felt we could best follow up our work on her behalf by joining TURKRAN which offers support for human rights groups in Turkey as well as working on individual cases of human rights abuse. We participate in most of the country and theme campaigns initiated by the UK Section of Amnesty International and have long-standing sub-groups working against the death penalty and against abuses of human rights involving children. In 1999 we were involved in:
In 2000 we will be involved in:
In previous years we have been involved in campaign and case-work concerning:
Although we have previously carried out case-work for Prisoners of Conscience such as Eren Keskin we are not currently working on behalf of a specific individual. Many of our group members also take part in appeals and urgent actions on an individual basis. We also take part in the Greetings Card campaign which is a straight-forward way for everyone to express their sympathy for people suffering human rights abuses - whether or not they are active in the other work of Amnesty International. The campaign normally runs during December and January of each year.
Bradford Group - Publicity and Fundraising An important part of a local groups responsibilities is to raise awareness of human rights and human rights abuses. This is often achieved at the same time as encouraging new supporters to join the group and raising funds for local and national activities. On an on-going basis we make speakers available for local schools and clubs and we arrange stands in public places to encourage passers-by to take an interest. We have also arranged social events, services for Human Rights Day and sponsored activities. One of our main event every year is the Bradford Mela. Local supporters' creativity attracted attention to our stand: a realistic electric chair drew attention to the horrors of the death penalty; a human-sized Statue of Liberty, covered in campaign literature, emphasised the USA campaign - Land of the Free; and colourful face-painting was a major draw to young families and a successful fundraising activity. We hope our website will be another way to encourage people to be aware of human rights abuses and to do something about them. |