Standing on the shore at Newcastle during the recent tidal surges, I watched wave after wave crashing over the harbour wall. The wall, otherwise imposing on a clear day, seemed a puny human artifice as it was battered by the tide and overcome by the power of the stormy sea. Just so, with our past.…Continue reading Time to embrace Haass on ‘the past’
Tag: Amnesty International
Mightier than the Sword: Journalism, Freedom of Expression and Power
“The Journalist who gives in to intimidation, who becomes obedient, has already lost the fight for that right (to freedom of expression)” Eynulla Fatullayev (2011) It’s a clichéd phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword”, but its message is typified in the work of Amnesty International’s decades-long letter/email-writing campaigns for human rights champions. Friday…Continue reading Mightier than the Sword: Journalism, Freedom of Expression and Power
International Criminal Court marks ten years but struggle for justice continues
Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the International Criminal Court, an organisation that Amnesty International campaigned to be set up and has both closely monitored and supported in the ten years of its existence. The ICC came into being after years of campaigning by victims and non-governmental organisations from across the globe. What initially started…Continue reading International Criminal Court marks ten years but struggle for justice continues
Happy Birthday Robert Mugabe: life expectancy in Zimbabwe
We are delighted to welcome this guest post from Adam Kula, journalist and volunteer at the Amnesty International office in Belfast. Robert Mugabe is not just one of the world’s oldest-surviving tyrants. He is perhaps one of his country’s oldest-surviving men – full-stop. In, Zimbabwe, where the World Health Organisation records an average life expectancy…Continue reading Happy Birthday Robert Mugabe: life expectancy in Zimbabwe
Muhammad Ali vs Electro-shock weapons
Belated happy birthday to “the Greatest”, Muhammad Ali, who celebrated his 70th birthday earlier this week. Thought I’d share the fantastic poster of him that I see every day, as it sits opposite my desk in the Amnesty NI office. It highlights his backing for Amnesty’s 1998 campaign in the United States to end the…Continue reading Muhammad Ali vs Electro-shock weapons
Would you send a letter to save a life?
Here’s a striking video from Amnesty, just launched today, promoting our global Write for Rights campaign. Over the next few weeks we’re asking people to put pen to paper and write a letter or send a card to a prisoner of conscience or other individual at risk of human rights violation somewhere in the…Continue reading Would you send a letter to save a life?
The activist-brick road
Recent discussions with our members at the Human Rights Consortium have frequently led to the concept of activism – what is it exactly and how do you get people involved? Like many things, once you start thinking about it you hear about it from all directions. Activism is by no means a new concept,…Continue reading The activist-brick road
Victory! Ulster Bank owner RBS in cluster bombs u-turn
Ulster Bank owner RBS has performed a big u-turn on its investments in makers of cluster munitions. The change comes after a period of intense campaigning by Amnesty International. Normally we tend to be reluctant to claim direct successes for our work, knowing that many variables are at work and that many people and groups…Continue reading Victory! Ulster Bank owner RBS in cluster bombs u-turn
UK breaches article 3 ECHR in its treatment of immigration detainee
This post comes from Anna Morvern, an immigration lawyer at Law Centre (NI) who writes here in a personal capacity. Anna has worked with and for immigration detainees for a number of years, as Legal Officer at Bail for Immigration Detainees and as an activist with various groups, including the Refugee Action Group in Northern…Continue reading UK breaches article 3 ECHR in its treatment of immigration detainee
“We are not scared” – Uganda’s gay rights leader in Northern Ireland
When David Kato was murdered in January, he was Uganda’s best known gay rights activist. That’s a tough mantle to carry. Uganda is not a gay-friendly country. Kato was murdered not long after suing a paper that named him as gay and calling for violence. The headline said: “Hang Them.” The Ugandan Penal Code prohibits…Continue reading “We are not scared” – Uganda’s gay rights leader in Northern Ireland
Poster power: art and human rights
Visual artists have an ability that the rest of us lack: to communicate complex ideas with nothing more than a few brush strokes, pencil lines or lino cuts. It reflects a capacity to communicate with our inner being as much as to engage with the intellect. Not all human rights ideas need to be communicated in words,…Continue reading Poster power: art and human rights