Amnesty International – Saga Chapter
1st General Meeting
15 February 2008
BACKGROUND INFO:
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
- “is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all.”
- Motto: It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
- 2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions
- 1977 –Nobel Peace Prize recipient
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL JAPAN
- only a couple of bilingual groups in Japan
- Kyushu groups:
- Oita – bilingual starting up
- *Fukuoka* – English-speaking (created 1 year ago)
- many Japanese speaking groups
- What do most groups do?
- letter-writing to government or corporate authorities
- campaigns (Darfur, Violence Against Women, Control Arms)
- movie and discussion nights
- fundraisers (coffee house, wine and cheese, anything!!)
- speaker nights
- community outreach
MEMBERSHIP
- Requirement: 5 persons who are registered members with Amnesty International and a group membership fee of \20,000 annually.
- To be a registered member of AI you need to complete the forms and pay \10,000
- Where does the money go? Fund AI campaigns and vocalize human rights abuses
- What do you get out of it? You will be an official AI member, have voting rights at the Annual General Meeting in Tokyo, be a part of a world renown organization that has saved and continues to save lives everyday from injustices.
Issues and Decisions
- Do you want to be a part of Amnesty International?
- (p) credibility, (p) reputation, (p) int’l/nat’l logistical support, (c)costs money
- Do you want to form another organization focused on human rights?
- (p) flexibility, op. for innovative mandate (p) cheaper, (c)lack of substantial credibility
- How often do you want the meetings?
- Do you want an executive?
- What issues/concerns do you want to focus on?
- Do you want a bilingual or just English group?
- When will we have the next meeting?
- What things do we need to accomplish before then?
- What will our goals/focuses be?
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT – NATIONAL - National concerns: - death penalty - 4 ppl executed by hanging in 2006 (aged 75 & 77) - asylum seekers - 2, 16 yr old Kurdish girls where detained for 40 days without reason - sex trafficking - up to 200,000 persons, mostly Southeast Asian women, are smuggled annually into Japan and forced to work in the sex industry - torture - approximately 90% of all criminal cases going to trial included confessions extracted through hard torture and violence from Japanese authority |
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT – INTERNATIONAL- International Statistics (1) 1 in 3 women in the world will be abused, sexually, physically, or verbally AT LEAST ONCE in their lifetime. (2) 2.3 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur, over 450,000 people have been killed (3) 640 million firearms in existence in the world today. That’s one for every ten people on the planet. (4) “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.” (5) More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day. (6) Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998
And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:
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