Amnesty International
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. Its goal is to build a world in which every person enjoys the rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
A.I. was begun in 1964 by a lawyer called Peter Benesen, in London, England as journalists were starting to report on human rights abuses. There is an English section in Ottawa as well as a Toronto Office. A.I is governed by its members who are independent of all governments, political persuasions and religious creeds. Amnesty International is funded by the members and donors, and no funds are sought or accepted from governments.
The A.I. program at Newtonbrook United Church, group number 98, was begun in 1982 by then members of NUC. The current membership is about 20 and meetings usually consist of 9-10 members. The group meets on the second Friday of the month except October and may meet during the summer, in Newtonbrook’s Fellowship Room at 7:30 pm. There is an annual fee of $35 or $15 for students and people on fixed incomes. Anyone who would like to come for a visit is encouraged to do so.
The Amnesty International group at NUC promotes self-awareness by going to Human Rights movies or sharing an educational DVD, with an engrossing discussion afterwards. Promoting awareness in others includes concerts in partnership with the Taiwanese congregation on Human Rights Sunday, the closest Sunday to December 10. Please check the online calendar for this event.
Another duty of the group is letter-writing campaigns to stop grave abuses of:
• the rights to physical and mental integrity,
• freedom of conscience,
• protect refugees,
• abolish the death penalty,
• End political killings, 'disappearances' and torture.
• freedom of conscience,
• protect refugees,
• abolish the death penalty,
• End political killings, 'disappearances' and torture.
An example of these campaigns is the Stolen Sisters, which involved missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. Newtonbrook’s Amnesty International group wrote letters to the Prime Minister and Indian Affairs Minister to demand that Canadian officials take concerted action to protect the lives of First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and girls.
For further information on Amnesty International Canada, please click on the following link:
“The "least of my brethren" are the hungry and the lonely, not only for food, but for the Word of God; the thirsty and the ignorant not only for water, but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice and love; the naked and the unloved, not only for clothes but also for human dignity; the unwanted; the unborn child; the racially discriminated against; the homeless and abandoned, not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, that covers, that loves; the sick, the dying destitutes, and the captives, not only in body, but also in mind and spirit; all those who have lost all hope and faith in life; the alcoholics and dying addicts and all those who have lost God (for them God was but God is) and who have lost all hope in the power of the Spirit.” ~ Mother Teresa