Minutes of The Meeting of The St Albans Group of Amnesty International Held on Wednesday 9 March 2016
Present: Irene Austin(Chair), ShrooqAlqahtani(Minutes), Louise Chick (Secretary), DakheelAlqahtani, Penny Williams, Mike Bennett, David Dickson, Sue Grieve, Maureen Huckle, Philip Nixon, Hilary Tyrrell, Jackie Seaton, Karla Siswick, Maria Harlan(Welcome back).
Apologies for Absence: Amanda Jones, Judy Jacques, Peter Smith, Katharine Mears, Sue Fakes.
Finance: 32 tickets for the April play- at The Abbey Theatre - have been sold. There are still 40 tickets to sell so please circulate information about the play and get your friends to come.
AGM Resolutions:The group went through the Resolutions A2, A3, A4, A5, B1, B2, B3, B4; which will be voted on next month’s Amnesty UK AGM in Nottingham on 9/10th April.
The decisions were as following;
*A2 HUMAN RIGHTS IN ERITREA
Summary: This AGM instructs AIUK to campaign for -1- the rights of Eritreans to have secured national borders; -2- the release of political prisoners in Eritrea; and -3- the rights of prisoners in Eritrea;
Decision: The group have voted against it for the reason that this should be left to the country coordinator's capacity;
*A3 WESTERN SAHARA
Summary: The resolution calls for Amnesty International UK to campaign against continued human rights violations in Western Sahara;
Decision: The group have voted against it for the same reason as the above;
*A4 REVIEW OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S INTERNATIONAL POLICY ON ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES
Summary: A resolution to confirm whether AIUK’s membership wishes to seek a review of Amnesty International’s policy on access to abortion, leading to support for wider access to legal and safe abortion based on a woman’s right to choose;
Decision: There were different opinions regarding this resolution, as a conclusion the majority voted with this resolution;
*A5 CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
Summary: This resolution calls for Amnesty International UK to bring forward a motion to the 2017 International Committee Meeting (ICM), calling for the development of research and policy on the human rights impact of climate change and consideration of climate change as a global priority campaign;
Decision: The group decided that Irene could vote for or against this resolution with consideration to any further details come up at the AGM;
*B1 VOTING RIGHT FOR ELECTIONS HELD AT THE AGM
Summary: To change the voting rights for the elections that are held at the AGM to one person equals one vote;
Decision: The group decided to reject this resolution;
*B2 CLOSURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS NGO ACCOUNTS BY THE CO-OP BANK
Summary: This resolution calls on AIUK to take action to challenge decisions of the Co-operative Bank and related government regulations which have led to the bank closing the accounts of many human rights organisations including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign;
Decision: The group decided to vote with this resolution;
*B3 USE OF LIVE STREAMING AND ONLINE VOTING AT THE AIUK AGM
Summary: A resolution intended to open up decision making at the AGM to the full AIUK membership, and allow greater representation and communication for all groups and members;
Decision: The group decided to let Irene decide with or against at the AGM. Philip has suggested that the next AGM should be held in Shetland Island;
*B4 BANNERS AND PLACARDS FOR GROUPS AND NETWORKS
Summary: Production of banners and placards for campaigning action;
Decision: The group decided to vote with this resolution.
Campaigns:
- Women’s rights in Afghanistan:Katharine is responisble for this campaign.No updates or actions.
- Death Penalty: Mike Bennett took over this campaign last month. No updates or actions.
- Stop Torture:Louise brought the petition for those who had not yet signed it, to the UK government about holding a full enquiry into UK involvement in rendition and torture. There will still be time to sign this at our April meeting if you have not yet done so.
- Control Arms:No actions.
- Forced Evictions: No actions.
- My Body My Rights: - ACTION ON BEHALF OF JUDY JACQUES
*Burkina Faso: Solidarity action with girl survivors of forced marriage. Group members took away template triangles and those who can will bring fabric triangles of the same size to the next meeting, upon which we will write messages of solidarity to be sent to the 5 shelters in Burkina Faso that Amnesty is working with. These shelters are for girls who have been subjected to early forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Contact Louise Chick for a template if you missed the March meeting and would like to bring fabric triangles to the April one.
7. & 8Asylum Refugees and Migrants & Syria
There is a film on 31st March at the AmnestyHuman Rights Centre for which Irene has a spare ticket. Sue Grieves said she would go with Irene. Amnesty has started a new campaign calling for safe and legal routes for refugees to reach Europe and the UK. Details of an event (14th March) and a march on the 19th March were circulated.
This is the 5th Anniversary of the Syrian uprising. Irene presented a letter for signature for Anne Main asking her to write to the Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond to ensure the UK champions human rights benchmarks at the Syrian talks and to lobby parties to the conflict to end unlawful attack against civilians and civilian objects.
Details of a website were given at the meeting and have also been circulated by Louise in updates. The new coordinators, Lucy Bartlett and Catriona Harris are now sending out regular updates.
Irene will meet them at the AGM and arrange for them to come and talk to our group.
9.HWSF
The meeting with the new Refugee Council Worker has been moved to the 24th March. Until then it is difficult to know how the Refugee Council will want HWSF to work with them. Irene has attended an East of England Event on the 3rd March held by the Strategic Migration Partnership looking at a multi-agency approach for the East of England. They outlined how the scheme had worked in different areas. One of the key concerns raised by councils is that the scheme is not streamlined enough. Accommodation has to be found first but (as in the case of one council), families can pull out of the scheme at the last minute and the council are left with the accommodation. They felt that another family should then be found much quicker to replace the first family.
HWSF arelooking to hold a befriending one day course with language support on the 30th April. Once they meet the Refugee Council and agree this, they will let people have more details. They still need a venue for this in St Albans but somewhere it is easier for people to park.The Council have offered a room if
10.GULF STATES - ACTIONS PROVIDED ON BEHALF OF AMANDA JONES
*BAHRAIN
Ali Isa al Tajer - the brother of a prominent Bahraini human rights lawyer, who was arrested in November 2015. He was locked up with no access to a lawyer for 25 days and eventually charged with “joining an illegal terrorist organisation to overthrow the government” and “training individuals on the use of weapons for terrorist purposes”. He denied all charges and said he had been tortured to sign a “confession” he could not read as he was blindfolded. Ali is still in prison, suffering from the pain caused by his torture and although his lawyer filed a complaint, none of the people responsible for Ali’s torture has been brought to justice.
Ebrahim Sharif was sentenced to one year in prison on 24 February 2016. The High Criminal Court in the capital, Manama, convicted him of “incitement to hatred and contempt of the regime” but acquitted him of “incitement to overthrow the regime by force and illegal means”. Both charges were related solely to a peaceful speech he made in July 2015, and he has not used or advocated violence. He is a prisoner of conscience. The letter requests:
Ahmad Fardan is also a prisoner of conscience who has been imprisoned solely for his peaceful work as a photojournalist. Ahmad was sentenced in February 2015 for “attempting to participate in a public gathering” in connection with a demonstration on 16 December 2013 in Abu Saiba’ village, which he had intended to cover as a photographer. Amnesty International is concerned by allegations that Ahmad Fardan was tortured when in the custody of the security forces during his original arrest in December 2013. The letter requests:
We also signed solidarity actions for 2 Gulf individuals we have written letters for in the past and whose cases are ongoing:
BAHRAIN : Mahdi Abu Dheeb, former president of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association (BTA), is serving a five-year sentence in Jaw prison. He is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for exercising his rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Amnesty International is concerned about the health of Mahdi Abu Dheeb. He is diabetic, has high blood pressure and has suffered from neck, lower back and knee pain since he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated in prison. In November 2015, his family reported their concerns regarding irregularities in his access to his medication and hospital treatment outside prison. There is also concern regarding the lack of investigations into Mahdi’s Abu Dheeb’s allegations of torture. Amnesty suggest messages of support to Mahdi Abu Dheeb and his family.
UAE: Dr Mohammed al-Roken, a professor of constitutional law and human rights lawyer serving a 10 year prison sentence in the UAE following his conviction in 2013 in a mass trial of 94 activists, which became widely known as the “UAE 94” trial. Mohammed Al-Roken was imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and association and for his work as a defence lawyer representing his clients and his advocacy efforts on behalf of human rights. Amnesty International has not received any recent updates on the situation of Mohammed Al-Roken but continues to campaign for his freedom and suggests messages of support to Mohammed Al-Roken.
11. Israel/Palestine issues:Hilary and Philip provided the following actions which have been signed by the group members;
- Mohammed Faisal Abu Sakha - a young circus performer detained in mid-December and placed on administrative detention. Amnesty has also featured him in advertisements in UK papers. Mohammed is now an AIUK Individual at Risk.
-Mohammad Al-Hashlamoun- the group signed again a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defence to call for the young man’s release, and a further call to allo regular visit from his family and lawyers and that he held separately from adults at all times.
-TairKaminer- the group signed a letter to the Israeli Minister of defence to call for the release of TairKaminer who has been detained for her refusal to serve in the military despite her willingness to do alternative civil service, in addition to ruge the Israeli authorities to bring alternative for those people who are unwilling to carry out military service in Israel or the Occupied Territories for reasons of conscience.
The Amnesty Annual Report for Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2015/2016 has been released and available for everyone to read at the following link;
12. CENTRAL AMERICA - ACTION PROVIDED BY PETER SMITH
Honduras: Action about the murder of human rights defender Berta Caceres, who opposed the Aqua Zarca dam project. She had received death threats and should have been under protective custody. Letter sent to the Honduras Ambassador in London asking him to urge his government to investigate the murder and protect other members of her group The Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras, and also protect the only witness to her murder.
Reminder of Speakers:
* Emma Hart will come on 8th June to accompany Marcus Armstrong who will talk about his conflict resolution work in Iraq.
*Amanda has e-mailed a speaker on UEA and Bahrain for May or the autumn.
Irene will contact Catriona Harris/Lucy Bartlett for a meeting on Syria, either October or November.
Next meeting: Weds 13th April, 8pm at the Friends Meeting House, St Albans.
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