School Action Pack - May 2012

SCHOOL ACTION PACKMAY 2012

Stop executions of child offenders

Act now for an Arms Trade Treaty

Inside Australia’s detention centresAmnesty International Australia | www.amnesty.org.au

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ACTION PACK MAY 2012

IMPORTANTPlease visit the w

ebsite

for the latest on our

campaigns as

circumstances can

change quickly!!

www.amnesty.org

.au

ContentsSECTION 01 01.1 Updates and news

SECTION 02 CAMPAIGNS02.1 Act now for an Arms Trade Treaty 02.2 Our big win for homelands02.3 Inside Australia’s detention centres02.4 Stop the execution of child offenders

Action

Sign a banana action card

Make a thank you card

Draw a self-portrait with a message

Write a letter for child offenders

Target

Friends, classmates, teachers, parents

Your local MP

Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen

Minister for Justice, Sudan

CAMPAIGN ACTIONS: AT A GLANCE

Cover: A child soldier, Ethiopia, 27 May 2007. © Private

Amnesty International is part of the global movement defending human rights and dignity. We work with people in Australiaand our region to demand respect for human rights and protect people facing abuse. We campaign, conduct research andraise money for our work. Our active members, such as school action groups, play a vital role in achieving our aims throughwriting letters, sending online actions, organising creative awareness-raising activities and fundraising in their communities.

Campaign

Arms Trade Treaty

Homelands

Rethink refugees

Individuals at risk

UPDA

TES AN

D NE

WS

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ACTION PACK MAY 2012 | SECTION 01.1

ARMS TRADE TREATY– 100 DAYS AND COUNTING On 23 March Amnesty Internationalactivists from across the world cametogether to tell governments that the worldneeds a strong Arms Trade Treaty.

Throughout terms two and three studentscan participate in 100 days of action for anArms Trade Treaty. There are lots of ways toget involved – see more in Section 02.1.

RIVERSIDE’SMARKET DAYRiverside Girls High School’s AmnestyInternational action group (in Sydney,NSW) organised an Amnesty Market dayon Thursday 5 April. The action groupencouraged students to sign up to theAmnesty International website, takeaction online and donate. They handedout badges, stickers and balloons fordonations and organised a cake stall.Overall the action group raised over $650!

This term Riverside have been focusingon the refugee campaign. During anassembly they even conducted a flashmob, where they performed the refugeefacts eg ‘The number of refugees whohave arrived by boat who have beenterrorists = zero’.

Well done Riverside!

ATT launch, Melbourne,23 March 2012. © AI

New Zealand activists handout fresh bananas to raiseawareness at an informationstall, March 2012. © AI


MEET THE YOUTH INTERNSAlex Long and Simone O’Connor arepart of our new youth program forover-18s, based in Sydney.

Alex is a long-time supporter ofAmnesty International and has justcome back from a year travelling inEurope. She is putting her backgroundas a high school teacher to good useby working on resources to bringhuman rights into the classroom.

Simone has started her Masters inPeace and Conflict Studies atSydney University after finishing aBachelor of International Studies at Wollongong University. Simonedeveloped her passion for socialjustice after volunteering in communitydevelopment in Cambodia. She iscurrently developing excitingworkshops for school students.

Youth interns Alex (left) and Simone. © AI

I love working in an

environment where

every day is devoted to

achieving human rights

and improving the lives

of those who might not

have a voice.

– Simone

“Young people have the

capacity and the passion

to make such a difference

in the lives of those who

face human rights abuses

– not tomorrow but today.

I love inspiring them to

get educated on what’s

going on in the world

and how to get involved.

– Alex

“

CAMPAIGNS : INFORMATION AND ACTION

THE UNITED NATIONS AND AN ARMS TRADE TREATY

It can be confusing talking about global treaties, international meetings andcomplex issues. Here is a rundown on what the United Nations (UN) does increating international laws and regulations and how they decide on global treaties.

The UN aims to create the world as it should be – just, fair, equal rights forall ... the list goes on. The UN is made up of 193 member governments –nearly all of the world’s countries. These governments come together at theUN to discuss important global issues and try to reach common groundabout what standards all countries should follow. This is the way thatinternational law and global treaties are made.

These international laws and treaties not only affect how countries behavewith other countries but also how governments treat their own people.For this to happen, each country’s government also needs to incorporateinternational law into national laws.

Confused? Imagine that there is a neighbourhood with lots of different houses.People from each house meet and decide the rules they want for theircommunity. Every house must then commit to following these rules. Thepeople from each house not only need to follow these common standardswith other households but also with their own household members.

Act now for an Arms Trade Treaty


A box of ammunition capturedin South Kordofan, Sudan,July 2011. © Private

Munitions (mostly 155mm shellsand fuses) abandoned by Gaddafi’sretreating forces, Ajdabiya, Libya,26 March 2011. © AI

ACT NOW>>Fill out the banana action card and add your voiceto the call for an Arms Trade Treaty – remember tophotocopy it so your friends can take action too.

Please send to [email protected] or YouthCoordinator, Amnesty International Locked Bag 23,Broadway NSW 2007

Got more time?In Australia we are able to play and hang out in parkswithout the risk of armed violence. Organise alunchtime picnic and gather students, teachers andparents together and talk to them about why astrong Arms Trade Treaty is important. Don’t forgetto ask them to sign a banana card – email us [email protected] for a stack.

Any other ideas?In the next 100 days you can do lots of differentthings: hold a stall with banana action cards hangingoff a banana tree, speak at your assembly or dosomething else. You are only limited by your creativity.

Need some help? Email [email protected] orcontact your Schools Network Outreach member.


CASE STUDY :: SYRIA

As of January 2012, Amnesty International has obtained the names of4,345 people who have been killed in the Syrian authorities’crackdown. We have continued to work on the Syrian unrest as part ofour crisis work. Last year students took action for Syria, asking theauthorities to respect human rights. You can continue to help out theSyrian people by supporting the Arms Trade Treaty.

Khaled-Al-HamedhOn 31 July 2011, 21-year-old construction worker Khaled al-Hamedhleft his home in the city of Hama to buy medicine for his four-year-oldbrother. He never came home. Several hours later family membersfound his crushed body with a bullet wound in his back – clearevidence of the devastating impact that weapons in the wrong handscan create.

The Russian Federation is reportedly Syria’s biggest arms supplier.According to various reports, Russia supplies an estimated 50 per centto 70 per cent of Syria’s weapons.

Khaled’s story would have been different if we had a strong Arms TradeTreaty. The Syrian Government could not have legally received weaponsfrom Russia.

What is the Arms Trade Treaty? The Arms Trade Treaty is a global treaty that aims to restrict how weaponsare traded between countries, including countries in that weapons passthrough to reach another country.

The UN will decide at a special negotiating conference in July whether or notthe world needs a global Arms Trade Treaty. Seeing that millions of peopleare being killed, injured, raped or forced to flee their homes due to conflictor armed violence, it is definitely time the world got an Arms Trade Treaty.

What is Amnesty International calling for?We are calling for the strongest Arms Trade Treaty possible – one with humanrights protection at its core. This type of Arms Trade Treaty would:

1. Include the Golden Rule on human rights

The Golden Rule means that weapons should not be traded with countriesthat are likely to use these weapons to commit serious human rights abuses.This includes systematic killings, mass rape, forcible recruitment of childrenas soldiers.

2. Be comprehensive

The treaty needs to cover all weapons, bullets, small arms, missiles, aircraftand tracking systems. It must include all export and import, as well asweapons that are in transit, for example when shipments of weapons stop in a country for re-fuelling.

3. Be enforceable

The Arms Trade Treaty must be enforceable otherwise it will be nothing more than a piece of paper. Governments need to check up on each other(peer review); there must be public reporting on who is selling what, towhom, and which countries are allowing these cargoes to pass through theircountry; and there must be streamlined processes so countries can easilymonitor the arms trade.

A dawn candlelit vigil to mark the one yearanniversary of Syria’s uprisings, Sydney, 15 March 2012. © Hamish Gregory/AI

_(first name)

___(last name)

I call on every government toset up an Arms Trade Treatythat effectively preventsarms from fuelling serioushuman rights abuses or war crimes. Additionally, I call on the AustralianGovernment todemonstrate increasedleadership in theAsia-Pacific region andamongst all UN MemberStates to support such a Treaty.

___(signature)

Thank you, we will add yourname to the global petition.

_

Did

you

know

that

ban

anas

hav

e

mor

e in

tern

atio

nal t

rade

reg

ulat

ions

tha

n w

eapo

ns?

ww

w.am

nest

y.or

g.au

/arm

stra

de


74 per cent of the world’s weapons are supplied by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, one of the most influential countries in the European Union.

Worldwide arms deliveries by supplier, according to value

US 35%

RUSSIA 15%

UK 7%

GERMANY 7%

CHINA 6%

FRANCE 6%

OTHER 24%

Source: Congressional Research Service, 22 September 2011

ACT NOWSign our global petition and demand

that all governments stand up for a Treaty with strong human rights

protection rules at the UNnegotiations in July 2012.

Hi, I am

__________________________(first name)

__________________________(last name)

I call on every government toset up an Arms Trade Treatythat effectively preventsarms from fuelling serioushuman rights abuses or war crimes. Additionally, I call on the AustralianGovernment todemonstrate increasedleadership in theAsia-Pacific region andamongst all UN MemberStates to support such a Treaty.

______________________(signature)

Thank you, we will add yourname to the global petition.

________________________

________________________(email)

_________________________(school)

__________________________(school postcode)

_________________________(date of birth)

Please leave us your contactdetails and we will update you on the campaign and/or for marketing purposes.

We will not send on yourother details.

g


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ACTION PACK MAY 2012 | SECTION 02.2CAMPAIGNS : INFORMATION AND ACTION

Last year Amnesty International launched a new report about homelandsand their significance to Aboriginal Peoples. Titled The land holds us:Aboriginal Peoples’ right to traditional homelands in the Northern Territory,the report highlights how intrinsic homelands are to Aboriginal Peoples’health, culture, families and livelihoods.

Since last year, students have been supporting the Alyawarr and AnmatyerrPeoples to remain on their homelands. Thanks to your support, thegovernment understood that people care about homelands and that theywant to see access to equitable funding, infrastructure and basic servicesfor the people who live on homelands. At the end of term one the Federaland Northern Territory governments announced a $221 million, long-termfunding commitment to Aboriginal homelands.

While the government’s commitment is a positive first step, we need toensure that funding is equitable and that it means that infrastructure andservices can be improved.

The money itself is a continuation of the level offunding for homelands between theCommonwealth and Northern Territorygovernments. But it is also a continuation of thestatus quo, which we’ve demonstrated isinadequate. Homelands are still getting a tinyfraction of the overall government spend in the NT.

Our big win for homelands

Top: A signpost showing the way to some of the 16 communities on theUtopia homelands. © AI. Photo: April Pyle

Mddle: Aleyak (teenage)girls Rianna Ross andChristalin Jones at theUtopia Health Service. © AI. Photo: Chloe Geraghty

Main image: From left:Rosiah Jones Kngwarrey,Justin Long Pwerl andEthan Jones Kngwarrey from Soapy Bore, huntingalong an ilpay (creekbed) on the Utopia homelands.© AI. Photo: April Pyle

ACT NOW>>Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected torepresent the interests of the people in theirelectorate. So, your region’s MP is elected to listento you and take your ideas to parliament.

Make a thank you card for your local MP. Thankthem for their commitment to homelands and askthem to continue to respect homelands in theirdecision-making.

You can find out who your local MP is by going tohttp://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-government/government-in-australia-faq

Some guidelines for your thank you card:

1. Introduce yourself.

2. Tell your local MP how much you welcome thehomelands funding announcement and therecognition of the importance of homelands.

3. Mention that you’d like to see a commitment toensure homelands are included in all futurepolicies including health, education andinfrastructure.

4. Ask them not to abandon homelands.

Send us your card, with the name of your local MPor where you are from and we will forward them onyour behalf.


Homelands are the traditional

lands that Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander

communities have a deep

connection to. By raising

families on their homelands,

Aboriginal Peoples are able

to maintain their relationship

with land and culture and

have control over their lives.

i

Top: Sunset over theUtopia homelands. © AI.Photo: April Pyle

Right: Sisters Myrtle,Violet and KathrynPetyarr at Mosquito Boreon the Utopia homelands.© AI. Photo: April Pyle

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ACTION PACK MAY 2012 | SECTION 02.3CAMPAIGNS : INFORMATION AND ACTION

Our refugee campaign coordinator Alex Pagliaro is back from visiting someof Australia’s most remote detention centres with some shocking tales. Thetwo-week research trip covered detention facilities on Christmas Island,Curtin in WA and Wickham in Darwin. Our findings confirm what we’veknown all along: long-term, indefinite detention is crushing people.

You can find lots of information about the detention centre tour online,including video blogs from Alex. Go to www.amnesty.org.au/refugees.Remember to check with your teacher or parents first as some of the storiesare upsetting.

Inside Australia’s detention centres

Above right: An action for Amnesty International’scampaign to release migrant children fromdetention. “Kids don’t belong in detention centres”says the t-shirt of one young campaigner inAustralia. January 2005. © AI

Other images: Curtin detention centre. © AI

Other developmentsAmnesty International recently helped release areport on children in detention around the world –children just like Fatima and Syed’s. The report,Captured Childhood, details the horrors faced bythe tens of thousands of children detained aroundthe world, 500 of whom are in Australia. It asksgovernments to end child detention and outlines analternative that is more humane and less expensive.

CASE STUDY :: SYED AND FATIMA*

Syed, Fatima and their two sons have been at the Christmas Islanddetention centre for two months. They left Afghanistan in 1999 whencivil violence spread and the country became unsafe. The family fled toPakistan and established a business.

Unfortunately the Pakistani Government started to become less tolerantof refugees. Syed and Fatima’s children were banned from attendingschool. Then in 2010, the Taliban kidnapped their eldest son. Fearingfor the lives of their younger sons, the family fled again.

The family is yet to start the formal process of applying for asylum,despite being in Australian territory for more than 70 days. They do notknow when this will begin or when they will be transferred to themainland. They know that applying for refugee status could takemonths or years, and are worried that their children will not receive aproper education while they wait.

Fatima is grateful for the safety her family has found in Australia. Whenasked if there are any problems with their conditions on ChristmasIsland, she said that sometimes her children feel lonely and bored inthe small compound. She understood that on such a small islandactivities and excursions are limited but said that young boys needspace to play.

Syed said, “Everything is for my family. If I die, no problem. But mywife and children, they must have a life”.

*Names and details of origin have been changed to protect identities.

ACT NOW>>Draw a self-portrait with a message saying why, as a young person, you don’t think you should be in detention. We will deliver yourmessage to the Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen.

Got more time?We are inviting schools to help celebrate Refugee Week by participating in Walk Together. This event involves thousands ofAustralians uniting on Saturday 23 June to walk in solidarity with asylum seekers, refugees and other new Australians andcelebrating Australia’s history of welcoming people to our shores. It will take place in every capital city and some regional areas –for more information contact [email protected]


Message:

CAMPAIGNS : INFORMATION AND ACTION

Abdelrazig Daoud Abdessed and Ibrahim Shareef Youssif from Darfur,Sudan, have been sentenced to death for crimes committed whenthey were children.

Abdelrazig Daoud Abdessed and Ibrahim Shareef Youssif are part of agroup tried for carjacking in May 2010. The group, allegedly affiliatedwith the Darfurian armed opposition group, included another two menwho were also children when the alleged crime happened.

In Sudan many people do not have birth certificates, so courts attimes rely on medical examinations to establish people’s ages. Theother two men were medically tested to prove they were minors, butAbdelrazig Daoud Abdessed and Ibrahim Shareef Youssif were not.They were therefore placed in adult detention facilities and tried andconvicted as adults.

The application of the death penalty to a child is forbidden bySudan’s 2010 Child Act and by Article 37 of the Convention on theRights of the Child, to which Sudan is a state party.

Although the Supreme Court in Sudan’s capital Khartoum ordered aretrial because children were involved, in November 2011 the SpecialCriminal Court in North Darfur upheld the death sentences.

Stop the execution of child offenders in Sudan


Above: Stills grab from a sand art videoproduced by Amnesty International Koreathat highlights the death penalty. © AI

Left: Death Penalty action at AmnestyInternational’s International CouncilMeeting, Mexico, 15 August 2007. © AI

Abdelrazig Daoud

Abdessed and Ibrahim

Shareef Youssif remain in

prison awaiting execution.

i

Think a letter can

’t

do much? Think aga

in.

Twenty-year-old Az

erbaijani youth ac

tivist Jabbar

Savalan was freed

in December 2011 a

fter almost 11

months in jail. Ja

bbar Savalan’s cas

e was part of a

December 2011 Lett

er Writing Maratho

n, during which

hundreds of thousa

nds of people in m

ore than 80

countries wrote le

tters demanding Ja

bbar’s release.

Jabbar Savalan was

arrested and accu

sed of drugs

possession on 5 Fe

bruary 2011, a day

after he

posted on Facebook

calling for Egypt

-inspired

protests against t

he government. He

was convicted

largely on the bas

is of a confession

extracted

under duress, desp

ite a blood test s

howing that he

had not used drugs

.

“It feels good to

be with my friends

again. I feel

good now that I ca

n spend time with

them and my

family,” Jabbar Sa

valan told Amnesty

International.

“Amnesty Internati

onal is a symbol o

f human rights

and freedom, not j

ust in Azerbaijan,

but everywhere

in the world. I am

grateful for all

the hard work

done by your organ

isation and other

organisations

which fight for fr

eedom in Azerbaija

n.”

ACT NOW>>Abdelrazig Daoud Abdessed and Ibrahim ShareefYoussif are facing the death penalty for crimescommitted when they were children. You can helpsave their lives by writing a letter to the SudaneseMinister of Justice urging him to commute theirdeath sentences.

Some key points for your letter:

• Call for Abdelrazig Daoud Abdessed andIbrahim Shareef Youssif to be retried inproceedings that meet international standardsof juvenile justice.

• State that international human rights law andstandards and the Sudanese 2010 Child Actprohibit the execution of children.

• State that you oppose the death penalty as it isa violation of the right to life and an ultimatelycruel, inhumane and degrading punishment.

• Ask that all death sentences be stopped.

Please make your letter polite and respectful.

Address your letter to:Minister of JusticeMohammed Bushara DousaSudan

Salutation: Your Excellency

Please send your letters to:Amnesty InternationalAtt: Youth Coordinator Locked Bag 23Broadway, NSW 2007

We will collect your letters and send them on.


Jabbar Savalan at homeimmediately after his release,26 December 2011. © IRFS

Documents

School Action Pack - May 2012