Global Write #4Rights Campaign Action Guide Be part of the world’s largest human rights action. Join your voice with other supporters around the world to demand that the rights of individuals be respected, protected and fulfilled. Help bring about real change in people’s lives. www.amnestyusa.org/write4rights This December, you can shine a light in dark corners and step up the pressure on governments around the world. Join Amnesty International’s Global Write-A-Thon from December 5-16, 2012, where together we will write, tweet, blog, stand up, and speak out to make sure that Prisoners of Conscience, human rights defenders, and individuals and communities at risk are not forgotten. Your letters and actions will be joined by millions of Amnesty supporters organizing for human rights around the world. Through your participation in this global action we can ensure human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled for the most vulnerable people. Amnesty International supporters have been writing letters and taking action on behalf of individuals for more than 50 years. Experience has proven that your actions can and do make a difference. Help us step up the pressure on governments around the world. This December we need your help to write letters and to organize public actions that increase visibility and support for individuals and communities at risk. As part of our effort to raise our voices for human rights we have developed this action guide which provides letter writing tips and organizing ideas to help you take action. There are people all over the world who need your help today. Here are some important things you should know: Each person featured in the Global Write #4Rights campaign has their own case sheet and sample letter. The case sheet provides background information on the individual, directions for whom to send your letters to, and key points to raise in your letters or public actions. Get noticed. Letter writing is at the heart of our action. But we also need your help to garner press for these cases. Help us tell the story of each person or community to the press and the public by organizing a public action. Contact your Field Organizer for ideas and support. Tell us how it went. If you get a response from a government official or a prisoner, get featured in the news or get recognized by your city or town elected officials, send us a copy of the letter or article to [email protected] or send it by mail to: Individuals and Communities at Risk Program Amnesty International USA 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington DC, 20003 All the resources you need are available at: www.amnestyusa.org/write4rights Please contact a Field Organizer for hard copies of these materials. To contact a Field Organizer in your area please call 1-866-A-Region (1-866-273-4466) today. 2 Table of Contents Write a letter. Save a life. Light your way to human rights change. Get Social. Organize a letter writing party. Embarrass a dictator. Organize a public action. Other Resources 3 WRITE A LETTER. SAVE A LIFE. Letter Writing Tips 1. Write in a respectful tone. You want the authority you are addressing to read your letter and understand your concern. Assume your reader is open to reason and a respectfully-worded appeal. Sign your name with a closing such as, “Sincerely.” 2. Carefully follow the facts as highlighted in each case sheet, and base your requests on the information provided. 3. Build your appeals on international human rights standards, not political opinions. Human rights are based on international laws, agreements and obligations. Effective letters cite these obligations. 4. Use your personal voice. Appeals gain strength when they are seen to be coming from many concerned individuals. Include a personal reference, for example: “As a mother of two children …,” “As a student….” Express key points in your own words. 5. Write in English, unless you are completely fluent in the language of the target country. 6. Repeat the individual’s name throughout the letter. This helps to ensure that the official will recognize the name and remember the letters sent on their behalf. 7. Be brief. Most letters can easily fit on one side of a single page and are more likely to be read when kept short. 8. You can refer to Amnesty International as your information source, but it may be more effective to simply state that you have learned about this person’s plight and are therefore concerned. 4 GET SOCIAL. ORGANIZE A LETTER WRITING PARTY. Getting your friends and family involved in a letter-writing event is a fun and impactful way to share your passion for human rights. Remember, the more of us who participate, the more likely it is that we will make a difference. IN YOUR COMMUNITY: host an event in a community center, place of worship, bookstore, coffee shop, student union, or any other venue. Consider inviting your mayor, city council members, or other local government officials, and local celebrities to join your Write #4Rights event. Above: Washington, DC Global Write-A-Thon letter writing event (2010). AT HOME: invite friends and family to join you for a cocktail, dinner or dessert party. AT WORK: invite colleagues to gather together and write a letter over lunch, during a coffee break, or at a happy hour. IN SCHOOL: Get together during lunch or after class. Consider incorporating letter writing in your curriculum. If you are an educator, check out the sample lesson plan available online: www.amnestyusa.org/write4rights WANT MORE GUIDANCE ON HOW TO PLAN YOUR EVENT? Use the event checklist in this guide to help you prepare for your event, run it, and follow up after it’s done. Write #4Rights events come in all shapes and sizes. Feel free to get creative, and organize an event that is tailored to you and your community. 5 LIGHT YOUR WAY TO HUMAN RIGHTS CHANGE. Light is a powerful symbol, often associated with hope, truth, energy, life. It illuminates. One of the ways you can make an action more interesting is to assemble lanterns, candles, or a visual projection of one or all of the individuals and communities at risk featured this year. Through these events we are shining a light on each person’s story and experience, bringing greater attention to them, illuminating the truth. As Amnesty International supporters shine a light around the world, it will quite literally illuminate the breadth of our collective action and power. For lantern instructions please visit www.amnestyusa.org/write4rights 6 EMBARRASS A DICTATOR. ORGANIZE A PUBLIC ACTION. Public actions are excellent ways to bring individuals together to celebrate or protest for a cause. Whether a flash mob or screen projection on a building, a well-executed action has the power to attract media attention and raise local and national awareness of an issue. Your public action has the ability to influence government officials, pressure dictators and speed up resolution on a case. They key to organizing a successful public action is creative campaigning, good planning and visibility. Be clear on your goal. Have a clear set of goals in terms of what you hope your action will accomplish, and keep those in mind as you start shaping your action. Always remember to bring a petition with the case information, pens and a clipboard so people can sign on behalf of the case. Get media attention. It is easier to get the media’s attention when you are talking about one issue or person. Pick one case that will allow you to gain the media’s attention and call attention to the specific human rights violation connected to the case. Invite local and state media and bloggers to your action. Send a press release in advance and follow up the day before the action. See a sample press release at the end of the guide. Choose a time, date, place. Choose a time, date and place that will attract your target audience and the press. Some days are better for getting news than others. Always check and see if your location requires a public space or sound permit. Organize. Getting people to turn out to your event can be tough. Use social media, flyers and signs to raise awareness of your action. Utilize all email list serves, Facebook and Twitter to invite people to participate in your event. Reach out to likeminded organizations, student groups and coalitions whose members may be interested in attending. Get creative with the action. Tailor your program to your action. If you’re organizing a rally, make sure you have a powerful speaker. If you are organizing a stunt, wearing similar colors or clothing can make for a powerful visual. Signs, flyers, street art and chants are all fun and vibrant ways to help get your message across to the public. For more info on reaching the media, check out: www.amnestyusa.org/write4rights 7 OTHER RESOURCES TALKING POINTS Below are three main messages about this year’s Write #4Rights, along with examples that can be used to excite public interest in your event. For 50 years, Amnesty International’s human rights campaigns have been instrumental in obtaining freedom for prisoners of conscience worldwide through pressure from letters, faxes, and e-mails written by AI activists. Tens of thousands of individuals have been released from jail, rescued from torture or aided in other ways following action by Amnesty International. 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was an activist for peaceful change and when her political activism put her at odds with the ruling powers in the mid-1980s, she was jailed.