A group of letter writers in Iroquois Falls will be reaching out around the world this coming Monday, trying to improve human rights around the world.
Amnesty International Write for Right” is held every December 10th, as part of the United Nations International Human Rights Day.
Fran Coté is a co-organizer of the Iroquois Falls event with Zoreena Voyer. Coté says Amnesty International provides ten particular cases of rights violations around the world. The letters are addressed to political leaders in those countries, in an attempt to have the wrongfully imprisoned released, or their conditions improved.
“We can’t sit around and just be selfish and worry about ourselves, according to Coté. “We really are a global community and what happens in other countries affects us. We may not realize it, but it does.”
Coté acknowledges that there are human rights abuses in Canada and the U.S. as well.
In December, 2015, letters were written concerning Albert Woodcock, who had been in solitary confinement in the southern States for close to 50 years.
“In February as the host,” she recounts, “I got an email from Amnesty International, telling us that Albert Woodcock, after all those years in solitary confinement, had been released.”
Amnesty International credited that development to the letter-writing campaign.
“Write for Rights” is at Trinity United Church in the Falls, from 4:00 to 8:00pm. Coté says soup and sandwiches will be served, as the event stretches over suppertime.
You can learn more about the cases being highlight by Amnesty International this year, at www.writeathon.ca .