News and Events

Group meetings in 2008

The Norwich Amnesty group meets in the Charing Cross Centre on the third Wednesday of every month.

Meetings start at 8.00pm with a business session before the main theme of the meeting, often with a guest speaker.

  • July 16th Business and planning meeting
  • August 20th Business and planning meeting
  • September 17th  David Mead, Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of Learning UEA                                                  'The Impact of the Human Rights Act: Should we keep it, change it, or get rid of it?

Latest Newsletter


                                            Amnesty International UK  Norwich & District Branch

NEWSLETTER JULY 2008

Welcome to the Group's summer newsletter.
A lot has happened since the February edition. In March we held our AGM and a new committee was elected. After an absence of several years I have taken on the task of chairperson again. I would like to thank Debbie for so ably chairing the group over the last few years. We are all pleased that she continues on the committee. Many thanks also to those who stood down from the committee for all their hard work, especially to Jim whose persistent letter-writing skills were so invaluable in helping to secure Akram Awan's release. The new committee is busy planning exciting events over the coming months: vigils, speakers, fundraising. You are all invited to take part in any of these and we look forward to meeting you.

We still have places on the committee for publicity and fundraising members so please do contact me if you feel you would like to take either of these on. There would be good support for you so don't worry. Many other groups have the same problem!

My "amnesty batteries" were recharged at the National AGM in April. Here the need for AI's work was made only too apparent for example in China, Darfur, Zimbabwe and Guantanamo. Over the coming months I hope you will be able to come to our monthly meetings to help AI's work locally and take part in our discussions. Meetings are a mixture of business, talks and discussions. However there will be a major change. As from the July meeting our meetings will be held at the same venue but on the THIRD WEDNESDAY of each month. So the next meeting will be on Wednesday 16th July at 8pm in the CHARING CROSS CENTRE, St. JOHN MADDERMARKET, NORWICH. I would like to encourage you all to see if there are any groups you may know of, church, union or school, who would like a speaker about AI's work. This is an important aspect of our work.

Our AGM decided not to charge a group membership fee from now on. This is an important change and next month information will be posted out regarding how we intend to deal with this.

We are exploring the idea of twinning AI groups with Norwich's twin cities, Koblenz, Novi Sad, Rouen and El Viejo. I hope you will find the summer/ autumn programme interesting and I look forward to meeting you at some of these events. Your help at any of them would of course be much appreciated. This year is the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations and we are planning a joint event with the UNA locally for 19th December.

Finally, we are all committed to regularly updating our website so please check this out for the latest information on events and actions. www.norwichamnesty.org.uk is where you need to be.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and views on any aspect of our work.
David Ford Chairperson

Binyam: the Last Briton in Guantanamo

Binyam Mohamed, a British resident, was arrested at Karachi Airport in April 2002 and then secretly flown by American agents (by "extraordinary rendition") to torture centres in Morocco and then Afghanistan, before his transfer to Guantanamo prison in September 2004. Binyam wrote to the Prime Minister on 29 May, "I have been held without trial by the US for six years, one month and 12 days. That is 2,234 days (very long days and often longer nights). Of this, about 550 days were in a torture chamber..." There is now considerable anxiety about Binyam's deteriorating physical and psychological state.
The US government has now started show trial proceedings against various alleged ‘terrorists', including Binyam who was arraigned on 3 June for "conspiracy" and "providing material support for terrorism". These charges, which carry the death penalty, relate to a supposed "dirty bomb plot" in a US city which has already been discredited during the trial of José Padilla in a normal civilian court and against whom all charges were dropped.
Defence lawyers are claiming that the alacrity of the Bush administration to suddenly push the trials forward, after years of leaving prisoners to rot in gaol, is politically motivated and driven by a wish to see men condemned and executed before the Presidential elections in November.
It can be predicted that the campaign to procure the release of Binyam will be met by the usual government response: "Sorry, it's now in the hands of the courts and sub judice. So,no comment". The answer to this is that proceedings in what Lord Steyn has called a "Kangaroo court" are so flawed that they are in breach of due process and international law. Among the more flagrant abandonment of basic legal and human rights are:-

o the use of ‘evidence' gained through systematic torture.

o the use of hear-say evidence.

o the use of evidence that is withheld from the accused and his defence lawyers.

A key demand of the international campaign is for Guantanamo to be closed immediately and for prisoners to be either released or brought before a proper, civilian court with all the correct protections - hard-won rights gained after hundreds of years of struggle against tyranny. As the defence attorney David Nevin, has remarked, "If the US government's evidence is as strong as it claims, you have to wonder why it lacks the confidence to prove its case in a real court with constitutional protections".
There are, however, some positive signs. The US Supreme Court on 12 June decided that Guantanamo prisoners had a right of appeal to civilian courts in mainland America, a decision welcomed by Obama that has caused chaos in the military tribunals .
Secondly, Binyam's defence lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith and ‘Reprieve', has sued the British government to hand over any evidence in its possession relating to the arrest, secret rendition and torture of Binyam - a procedure in which UK agents are claimed to have participated. The government rejected this on the grounds that it had no obligations in ‘international law' to assist foreign courts in which torture was an issue. This indicates that the UK government, far from protesting to the USA on behalf of Binyam as it has claimed, is in effect blocking his defence. The British government was put to shame on 3 June when Mr. Justice John Saunders upheld Binyam's application for judicial review on the grounds that "if it is correct" that he had been subjected to torture, then "it is arguable that there is an obligation to disclose material".

What can you do to help fight for the fair trial or quick release of Binyam Mohamed?
Firstly, you can place pressure on the British government by writing to:-

Rt. Hon. David Miliband, MP,
Foreign Secretary,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles St,
London, SW1A 2AH.

 Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP
House of Commons,
London,
SW1A 1AA

You might use some of the above points. It can also be noted that in the last few days Miliband has spoken directly to television news cameras attacking the Mugabe regime for acts of torture. But he cannot have double standards and speak out against tin-pot dictators, while remaining publicly silent on the Guantanamo trials orchestrated by an ally with whom the UK claims to have a ‘special relationship'. As the trials begin, which is likely to happen from 15 September onwards, there is every indication that the inside evidence of massive illegal acts of secret rendition, physical abuse and torture will begin to unravel before the world's media, bringing the two governments into even more disrepute before the other court, that of international opinion.

The Norwich Amnesty International Group is also planning to undertake various street protests, the first of which will be on Saturday 19 July, starting on the Forum/Library steps at 11.00 am. The event will include a symbolic caged prisoner.
Do come along and support the campaign.

                                                                        Human Rights for China

‘By allowing Beijing to host the Games you will help the development of human rights,' Liu Jingmin, vice- president, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee, April 2001.

‘We are convinced that the Olympic Games will improve human rights in China,'
Jaques Rogge, president of the IOC, 24 April 2002.

The Chinese authorities promised to improve human rights if it were awarded the Olympics. So far they are breaking that promise. People in China are still being executed. People in China are still being tortured. People in China are still having unfair trials. People in China are still being silenced for trying to better their lives.

It was hoped that the high profile of the Games would provide an opportunity to encourage sustainable reform in China. The Chinese people deserve to be proud of their country in every respect including its human rights record. Unfortunately the run-up to the Games has been overshadowed by China's deteriorating human rights situation. This deterioration is happening not just despite the Olympics, but because of the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee stated that if the human rights situation in China was not acted upon to its satisfaction then it (the IOC) would step in. Amnesty will hold the IOC and the Chinese authorities to these statements.

Amnesty's focus is clear and its objectives are in four key areas
• The death penalty
• Punitive detention without trial and the prevention of torture and ill-treatment
• Protection of human rights defenders
• Unwarranted censorship of the internet

The Games are a milestone by which to measure the Chinese government's resolve to improve the human rights situation in the country. At present the Chinese authorities appear to have made a strategic choice that it is better to control and suppress dissent and weather the limited international condemnation rather than make meaningful concessions close to and during the Games.

For more information about Amnesty's campaign contact www.amnesty.org.uk/china

For information on letter writing actions contact
Joanna via the group's email info@norwichamnesty.org.uk

On Sunday August 3rd 12 - 4pm we will be part of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts family day (free entrance) joining in its theme of ‘Carnival of the Animals'. We will have elephant based games for children and China Campaign information for adults. Our link is that human rights abuses are the ‘elephant in the room' at the Olympics because no one wants to talk about them.

                                                                  No recourse to public funds.

Most of us would like to think that the UK has measures to protect all women from violence and abuse. We'd like to think that if any woman is repeatedly abused, beaten, humiliated and raped, the law will ensure she can get protection and justice. It is not always the case. Many women come to the UK in the hope of improving their lives. They may come on temporary work permits, student visas or spousal visas. Some women come to marry. The 'no recourse to public funds' rule says that a woman in this position, even if she's married to a British citizen, is not entitled to certain state benefits, including housing benefit and income support. But these are the benefits a woman must be able to claim to get a place in a refuge if she needs to escape violence. As a result, many newly-married women in the UK are trapped in violent marriages and even if they do muster the courage to seek help from the authorities, they are turned away.
The UK government has taken significant steps to address violence against women - particularly domestic violence. In its paper on domestic violence 'Safety and Justice', the Home Office recognised that support and accommodation to victims of domestic violence was 'life saving and critical'. So the UK government knows it is in the wrong when it fails to protect women arriving in the UK. It introduced a 'domestic violence concession' that was meant to help. It failed to address the 'no recourse to public funds rule', which means the women cannot leave violence because they cannot access funds for alternative housing or income while they attempt to make a claim under the concession. Effectively the concession and the rule cancel each other out. The government also sent a letter to chief executives of local authorities, but it is not mandatory and has not been widely disseminated. On two previous occasions the government allocated ad hoc, short-term funding to women's aid, but it soon dried up. Denmark, Austria, the US and Canada all have a similar rule, but they have built in exceptions, amendments and appropriate long-term sustainable resourcing to ensure that women are not trapped in violence.
 

One time he is beating me up badly and I felt really, really painful. I took a shower and then he started with me. I asked him to stop and he wouldn't take no. He said that he was my husband and that he could do anything. It is a bad word but he raped me really badly.


Amnesty International UK has joined its voice with the voices of these women, the refuge workers, the many black and minority ethnic women's groups, such as The Black Southall sisters and the Women's Resource Centre who have been campaigning and lobbying for years on this subject. We are all calling on the UK government to:


  • Allow refuges the funds they need to offer protection from violence to all women suffering abuse

  • Provide for an exemption to the 'no recourse' rule to ensure women are not forced to remain with a violent partner.

  • Develop an integrated strategy for violence against women to minimise policy contradictions that undermine women's rights


In the coming months the AI women's Group will be highlighting this campaign as part of Stop Violence Against Women (SVAW) campaign. They will be lobbying national and local government authorities to publicise the plight of women fleeing violence with insecure immigration status who have no recourse to public funds.
Roz Women's group

                                PROTECT THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING BODY SHOP EVENT

On Saturday March 8th, International Women's day, the Norwich Group held an event outside the Body Shop in Norwich, to publicise the plight of women and young girls who have been trafficked into this country as part of the sex trade. Thanks to the involvement of students from the UEA and City College who were prepared to stand in the Body Shop window, and to Group volunteers who handed out leaflets and collected signatures for a petition, the event attracted a lot of interest and was very successful.

The petition was to try and persuade the government to ratify the European Convention Against Trafficking, which would ensure that the victims of this crime were given adequate protection and access to medical, psychological and social services, rather than being treated as criminals themselves. We collected a large number of signatures, and more student events were planned to highlight this important campaign. Thanks again to all those who took part, and to the Body Shop, Norwich for allowing us to use their window space.
                                                                    

 Future Events

• July 19th Saturday 11am. (see above) Action in support of Binyam Mohammed al Habashi, in front of the Forum. Supporters welcome.

• Sunday August 3rd 12 - 4pm Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts - Fun Day - ‘Carnival of the Animals': Elephant-based Olympic Games and information about the China campaign.

• Sunday September 7th 11am onwards: Burston Rally Information stall

• September 28th 2.30 :Treasure Hunt
Norwich City Centre

• November 13th 10.30 - 4pm Christmas Sale at member's house

• December 19th 60th anniversary of the UN Celebration with UNA.

For more information on any of the above please contact:    info@norwichamnesty.org.uk


September Open Meeting:

On September 17th 8pm David Mead, Senior Lecturer in law, Director of Learning and Teaching at UEA:

‘The Impact of the Human Rights Act: Should we keep it, change it, or get rid of it?'

                  This year's street collection raised £354.40 our highest total for several years. Thanks to all who helped.