AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CHAPTER AT LESLEY NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
Last year, Lesley joined the peaceful struggle of prisoners of conscience worldwide with the establishment of a new chapter of Amnesty International at the college. As the chapter enters its second year, volunteers are needed to continue the group's efforts.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people acting on the conviction that governments must not deny individuals their basic human rights. Recipient of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize, Amnesty International bases its work on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The organization is independent of all governments, political parties, ideologies, economic interests, and religious creeds. Specifically, Amnesty works for:
Amnesty members help by sending letters, cards, and telegrams on behalf of prisoners of of conscience to government officials. Constant action generates effective pressure. Despite the apparent simplicity of a letter-writing campaign, it carries great power. Letters have directly produced thousands of releases for prisoners of conscience and have also been the key to better treatment during imprisonment.
- The release of prisoners of conscience -- men, women, and children imprisoned for their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language, or religion, provided they have neither used nor advocated violence;
- Fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners;
- An end to torture, executions, political killings, and "disappearances."
A released prisoner of conscience from the Dominican Republic wrote this description of the impact of Amnesty International's work on his life: "When the first two hundred letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes. Then the next two hundred came, and the prison director came to see me. When the next pile of letters arrived, the director got in touch with his superior. The letters kept coming and coming: three thousand of them. The President was informed. The letters still kept arriving, and the President called the prison and told them to let me go."
Nancy Heims is the advisor to Amnesty International but is off-campus this fall. Therefore, anyone interested in learning more about Amnesty International or joining Lesley's chapter should contact Chris Kelly at 349-8505 or Kathie Crowley. Upcoming events include letter-writing and a speaker series.
