AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL – Hornsey and Wood Green Group

Minutes of the Meeting of 15th July 2015

Attendance: Dennis Bradley, Jane Bywaters, Ros Cranston, Paul Duployen, Ross Fisher, Gina Mackenzie, Isabel Manley, Maureen Paton Maguire, Francine Miller, Jean Scott, Herbert Trent, Hinako Walter.

Apologies: None.

Minutes of the last meeting / Matters Arising:

The minutes of the June meeting were agreed with no corrections.

Stephen Young, one of the two new London Region reps, was unable to speak at tonight’s meeting for personal reasons but will now come to the September meeting.

The Marcus Garvey Library in Tottenham will shortly close for refurbishment and so is unavailable for exhibitions. However, the relevant Council officer has suggested that other libraries might be available. Dennis will pursue this further in relation to the two Amnesty exhibitions which are on offer.

Campaigns:

Death Penalty – Nothing new to report.

NAFRAN – A new e-zine (22nd) has been issued, which details the poor state of human rights in North Africa. The campaign for Ali Arrass in Morocco (also featured in the Stop Torture campaign) continues. In Libya there have been discussions between representatives from Misratah and Tawargha so Amnesty may be able to re-open work on the displaced Tawarghans despite the lack of any central authority.

China – Nothing new to report.

NB. Since the meeting Amnesty has launched an on-line petition regarding the recent detention of large numbers of human rights defenders. Details of this were circulated to all those on the Group’s e-mail distribution list.

My Body My Rights – In Sudan a group of Christian women has been threatened with flogging for supposedly wearing indecent clothing.

Stop Torture – Nothing to report.

Correspondence:

The Monthly Action concerns Palestine’s wish to seek justice via the International Criminal Court. Dennis has written the suggested letter to Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, asking him to support this and an examination into any crimes committed by either party in the 2014 conflict.

Amnesty has a solidarity action for Yevgeniy Vitishko, a Russian environmental activist jailed for three years for allegedly damaging a fence erected illegally in a protected forest during preparations for the Winter Olympics. His request for probation has recently been denied.

July 11th was the official Day of Commemoration of the genocide in Srebenica of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and Amnesty organised a vigil in Trafalgar Square to mark this. Letters will be sent in August to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to increase efforts to search and identify all victims of enforced disappearances and to establish a fund to support the families of missing persons.

Finance/Fundraising:

The current balance is £908.02, following our collection of £612 for the sponsored walk. We agreed to make a donation of £500 to AIUK.

We discussed arrangements for the Group’s annual garden party / concert on 25th July.

The next fundraising event is the annual London-wide Street Collection on Saturday, 10th October. We will also be collecting at an underground station, hopefully East Finchley, on one day in the preceding week.

Diary Dates:

For further information about these events, contact Dennis Bradley at .

·  Amnesty Cycle London to Brighton sponsored bike ride, Sunday, 6th September. See AIUK website for more information.

·  City & Tower Hamlets AI pub quiz, Sunday, 13th September, at the Water Poet Pub, starting at 6 p.m. For tickets (£5.50) contact https://www.wegottickets.com/event/327388.

·  Public meeting on undercover police operations in the U.K. organised by Hammersmith and Fulham Amnesty Group – Tuesday, September 15th, 7.30pm at Latymer Upper School, King Street W6 9LR.

·  Rocky Horror Show live performance in aid of AIUK featuring Stephen Fry, Mel Giedroyc and Emma Bunton, Thursday, 17th September, Playhouse Theatre, Embankment. Live cinema screening at various cinemas including Cineworld Wood Green, the Barbican and some Everyman cinemas.

·  London Region Conference – Saturday, 3rd October.

·  AI London-wide Street Collection – Saturday, 10th October.

Next meeting: Wednesday, 19th August, at the Muswell Hill Quaker Meeting House, Church Crescent, N10, 8.00 pm.

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