Amnesty International
Faculty advisor: Mrs. Stowe
Student contacts: Anna Childs
The Suffield Academy chapter of Amnesty International provides insight and knowledge to the world around us. We try to extend the views of our peers past the United States borders and into the rest of the world. We, along with the national chapter of AI, want the world to recognize and follow the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and for everybody on the planet to have equal and fair rights.
Goals
The Suffield Academy chapter of AI mainly focuses on the same goals of the national chapter of Anmesty. We invison a world where everybody enjoys all the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On a more local level , we would like to attend more confrences and protests. We would also like to attend the Get On The Bus confrence and protest again. We would like to take a trip to the UN to strengthen our understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Projects
Currently, we have done the holiday card project. We asked people in the school to write cards to prisoners being unrightfully held to make their holiday a bit better. Last year, we made power points about the unrightful treatment of AIDS patients in parts of Africa and Asia and presented them to leadership classes. We also attened the Get On The Bus conference in New York City. We attened three protests and heard several people speak. The protests we attened were regarding domestic abuse in Russia, unlawful treatement of Homosexuals in Egypt, and the unrighful death sentance of a monk in Tibet. We have also held chapels and attened regional confrences. Last year, we joined the Gay- Straight Alliance to raise money and awareness for the Elton John AIDS foundation. Right now, we are working on Tsunami Relief efforts with several other clubs in the school.
In the Suffield chapter of Amnesty, we do not really have specific leadership roles. We all come to the meetings with ideas and thoughts about what we can do. At one point of another, we all have the opportunity to lead the group in one way or another. This year, we have all picked a case that we feel strongly about.
What we are looking for in a member of Amnesty is sombody who is dedicated. They need to realize that what happens outside of Suffield Academy, Conneticut, or the United States does matter and can make a difference in their lives. They must be passionate about Amnesty and the focus cases. Amnesty is a group that relies on members like this, and it is crucial that we have members like this in our group.
For more information, please visit
http://www.amnesty133.org/ai/gotb/index.html
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html