Write for Rights: Stop the Hate
Katie Davos from Amnesty International joined via Zoom to share information about what Amnesty does and participates in. She educated the participants about the types of letters that people might write during the Write for Rights campaign. Those letters include: appeal letters which are addressed towards the government officials themselves and solidarity letters which are addressed to the family with sympathy and support. The appeal letters have changed 127 people’s lives. (Photo by Hailey Church)
The Warren Hills Human Rights Club hosted a Write for Rights campaign in mid-January.
Write for Rights is a national campaign run by Amnesty International which is a non-profit non-governmental organization that works to end the abuses of human rights around the world.
After school, students and teachers alike went to the library to write letters addressed to various governments around the world in order to use their voices to free people from unjust restrictions of human rights.
Write for Rights originally started in Warsaw, Poland 21 years ago when a group of people decided to write letters for human rights as a celebration of the international holiday.
This year’s Write for Rights campaign focused on 13 different cases involving people’s human rights being violated by their governments.
According to the Amnesty International website, “This year’s campaign includes a lawyer from Hong Kong jailed for encouraging people to light candles to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown; an Iranian man jailed and tortured for peacefully protesting against inequality and political repression who has been held in solitary confinement for more than two years; and three Zimbabwean activists who were abducted, beaten, sexually assaulted and jailed because of their activism.”
Not only has Write for Rights changed the lives of many people around the world, but also of the students involved in the club.
Senior Renee Simeus, board member of Human Rights Club, said she joined during her sophomore year.
“I had Ms. Rokosney for AP Government and Politics and she was always talking about the club,” she said, “I have always been aware of things going on in the country and internationally and I’ve been concerned with people not having the ability to access basic human rights. I think it is important to fight for that.”
Senior Gabriella DeLeon, president of Human Rights Club, had a similar tale.
“I was in Mrs. Rokosney’s Genocide Studies class and she used to talk about the club,” she said. “She also thought it would be good if I joined because I always try helping the people who were effected by genocide, so I joined.”
DeLeon said people seem more inspired to help with activist campaigns when the focus is more personal.
“Last year, there was one case involving a Guatemalan man named Renoldo. He was imprisoned for advocating for environmental rights, and I’m also from Guatemala so it resonated with me,” she said. “He was released after Amnesty sent all the letters from the Write for Rights campaign, and that felt like such a big accomplishment and the fact that our school was part of something so big that affected his life.”
Senior Narolyn Garcia, board member of Human Rights Club, shared her reasons why students should join the club.
“A lot of people think that while in Human Rights Club we go outside and protest or go after people who don’t believe the same things as us or have a political affiliation with one or the other side of the spectrum,” she said, “but we just want to get the point across in the most peaceful and united way possible. So, if you are interested in community service or helping out the people or standing up for injustice, then it’s a perfect club for you.”
