Shahroze Rauf | News Editor
Featured Image: The event was held at the Bear Pit where students wrote letters to government officials across the world. | Courtesy of Shahroze Rauf/Excalibur
Amnesty International at York invited students to write letters to advocate for human rights across the globe.
The event, held on November 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., saw students arrive throughout the day to write for a variety of specific issues.
“Amnesty International holds Write for Rights every single year, where they pick ten cases — different cases around the world in different countries,” says third-year law and society student and Vice-President of Amnesty International at York, Nada Abdel-Maksoud.
These cases will often involve political prisoners and human rights injustices, according to Abdel-Maksoud. Then, students and supporters will come together and write to the governments who are committing said human rights violations to try to invoke change.
The event garnered a good amount of attention last year, sending out just under six million letters and messages from over 200 countries.
“The past years, we’ve had to send out over a hundred letters,” Abdel-Maksoud says, discussing the York extension’s impact. “In the years I’ve seen the event happen, it has attracted a lot of attention, so we’re glad about that, and it really helps because it seems like such a small thing but it makes a big difference.”
And the event has made a difference. In 2014, film director Oleg Sentsov was arrested by Russian authorities on charges of plotting terrorism acts. Amnesty International, alongside other human rights organizations, took to his side to defend him and label the accusations by the Russian court as fabrications.
After being released on September 7, 2019, Sentsov thanked activists and people who wrote letters during his incarceration.
“I brought two bags. The second contained 22 kilograms of paper, mostly letters. I did not throw a single one out. I brought them all and kept them, as they are so dear to me. There are books, notebooks, a big pack, 15 of them. They are completely filled with writing.”
Abdel-Maksoud says the letters are not directly connected to the remediation of these human rights violations; however, they could be a factor that help individuals around the world.
“Those letters, because they are so personal, you can write them to the people facing that injustice or the government itself. It really makes a difference because people get to read, people that are in solidarity with them, and governments get to see how much people want these injustices solved,” says Abdel-Maksoud.
York students attended for their own personal reasons, and explained how they were touched by specific cases that Amnesty International was working on.
I, myself, wrote to the case about people arrested for helping refugees in Greece. They volunteered for a rescue mission, and were arrested. Although they’ve been released on bail, they are pending charges,” says fourth-year communication studies student, Olivia Graham.
“This seems like such a small thing, and people always seem to think that writing letters and signing petitions are small actions. It’s the most basic form of mobilization for your rights and the rights of others,” says Abdel-Maksoud, urging others to attend the Write for Rights event.
The official event by Amnesty International will take place on December 10.
