Update to come.

Background info on Haiti and Afghanistan

Many people asked questions at the March meeting about the current political and social climates in both Haiti and Afghanistan. Here are some useful links for your own further research:

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79214 (Haiti)
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/haiti-no-protection-girls-against-sexual-violence-20081127 (Haiti)

For a good history of Haiti, try to find The Uses of Haiti by Paul Farmer.

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79295 (Afghanistan)
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/afghanistan-tens-thousands-people-displaced-fighting-and-hunger-20090218 (Afghanistan)

Amnesty G48 March 2009 Meeting
Club Activity Room, Level 2, Seoul Women’s Plaza, (near Daebang Station, Line 1) 345-1 Daebang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Saturday, March 7, 4 – 5pm

FOCUS: Planning for International Women’s Day (March 8)!

Map: http://www.seoulwomen.or.kr/nhpeng/intro/directions.jsp

1. Introduction (for new members) – Who is Amnesty International and what is G48?

2. Women’s rights campaign foci: Haiti & Afghanistan

i) Background on the campaigns (Tom)
ii) Brainstorming: action planning / resource production

3. Other Business

i) Minorities database
- Asia Pacific Youth Network activism (member presentations)

ii) Human Rights Education (for ESL teachers)

iii) May Info Fair stall

iv) Gwangju trip

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING VENUE
We will be meeting in the club activity room at Seoul Women’s Plaza. The room is just next to the stairs on the 2nd floor of Seoul Women’s Plaza. You can find the location of this in English at http://www.seoulwomen.or.kr/nhpeng/intro/directions.jsp.

Please let me know in advance if you will be attending or not so that I can organize the room accordingly. Please call me (on 010 7517 1984) at any time prior to or during the meeting if you need help finding the place or are having any other problems.

Amnesty G48 February 2009 Meeting
Club Activity Room, Seoul Women’s Plaza, (near Daebang Station, Line 1) 345-1 Daebang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Saturday, Feb 7, 4 – 6pm

1. Introduction (10 min presentation) – Who is Amnesty International and what is G48?

2. Review of January meeting and actions
- Gaza actions

3. Petitions
- Hmong letter writing campaign
- 100 Days Campaign
- Gaza Appeal

4. Palestine Update (Tom)

5. Gwangju Massacre/Uprising (May 18) video screening
- Memorial trip planning

6. G48 Projects (gathering interest and finding project leads)
- Minorities database
- Asia Pacific Youth Network activism (Tom – brief presentation)

7. Upcoming actions
- 2009 Activism Calendar

8. Any other business

Following the meeting, those who are interested can travel together to Hongdae to AGBN: Aid Gaza Benefit Night at Club 500.

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING VENUE
We will be meeting in the club activity room at Seoul Women’s Plaza. The room is just next to the stairs on the 2nd floor of Seoul Women’s Plaza. You can find the location of this in English at http://www.seoulwomen.or.kr/sw/english/eng_location.html. The room can host around 20 people – so let’s fill it up!

Please let me know in advance if you will be attending or not so that I can organize the room accordingly. Please call me (on 010 7517 1984) at any time prior to or during the meeting if you need help finding the place or are having any other problems.

Hours before Israel announced a ceasefire, an Amnesty International fact finding mission gained access to Gaza. Their initial reports are disturbing: the team found first hand evidence of war crimes, serious violations of international law and possible crimes against humanity by all parties to the conflict.

AI researchers continue investigating attacks against southern Israel and are currently documenting the true scale of devastation wrought on civilians in Gaza. The stories they report are harrowing.

In the early afternoon of January 4th, three young paramedics walked through a field on a rescue mission to save a group of wounded men in a nearby orchard. A 12-year-old boy, standing by his house, assisted the operation by pointing to where the men could be found. An Israeli air strike on the area killed all four.

The bodies of the four victims could not be retrieved for two days. Ambulance crews who tried to approach the site came under fire from Israeli forces.

Our researchers later traveled to the scene of the strike with the two ambulance drivers who witnessed the attack. They met with the boy’s distraught mother and found the remains of the missile. The label of the missile read, “guided missile, surface attack” and cited the United States as the country of origin.

This is just one of many similar stories.

Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel searching, collecting, transporting or treating the wounded must be protected and respected in all circumstances. Clearly, this was not the case on Jan. 4th.

More than 87,000 of you have written Congress and former administration officials. These emails, along with the massive outpouring of letters from around the world from other Amnesty sections, are making an impact. Just this week:

the United Nations pledged $613 million in aid for Gaza
60 members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary of Clinton calling for humanitarian support for Gaza
And hours ago, the US pledged $20 million in aid

We have a small window of opportunity to build on this momentum: urge Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice to push for a full-fledged independent investigation.

This investigation is critical for many reasons, not the least of which is the clear evidence of the use of white phosphorous, as well as the mounting evidence of the misuse of US arms3. As you read this, Amnesty researchers continue documenting the use of arms, and we expect an action specifically calling on Congress to investigate the misuse of US weapons in this conflict in the coming weeks.

Everyone is responsible for the protection of international law. The US government must not turn a blind eye to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. It should support an independent international inquiry by the United Nations into allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law – by all groups participating in the conflict.

The story of the paramedics and the young boy is not an anomaly. Write Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice today and urge accountability for abuses in Gaza and southern Israel now.

TAKE ACTION NOW: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11644&tr=y&auid=4461028

We are looking for young people (between 16-30 years) who believe that they can create real human rights change in the Asia Pacific.

Asia Pacific Youth Network (APYN) is an emerging network across the Asia Pacific region of young people, and organisations that represent young people, interested in human rights activism. We care about human rights impact, we care about working together as young people, we care about you and we believe that together, we CAN make change happen.

APYN members are from all over the Asia Pacific – from Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, India, Japan and South Korea.

Please join me in making my rights, your rights, our rights – a reality. Join the Asia Pacific Youth Network by accepting this invite or by searching groups on:

Facebook:
Asia Pacific Youth Network (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=18204093501&ref=ts)
Asia Pacific Youth Network Indonesia
Amnesty International Malaysia Youth Network

Ammado:
Asia Pacific Youth Network (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=18204093501&ref=ts)

Orkut:
Asia Pacific Youth Network

Why do we need you?

With our campaigning calendar packed for 2009, we need to be able to activate individuals to take action – online or otherwise – for us to create real change. One of the ways we can do this is through building up our Network. Everyone also brings something a little different to APYN, we embrace this diversity and seek to make sure we can speak when and where we can have an impact!

Please visit: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7680906833&ref=ts and join the Facebook group to receive action invitations, updates and more.

‘Stop the war in Gaza’

A group of expats and Koreans from Amnesty International Korea collected over 500 signatures over the weekend in protest of the war Israel had been waging in the Gaze Strip. The signatures were written on postcards and signatories were encouraged to write personal messages.
Tom Rainey-Smith, from New Zealand, is a member of Amnesty in Korea and helped to organize the campaign. He reported that together with three different Amnesty International groups in Korea, around 15 people had taken part in the postcard-signing drive.

Israel invaded Gaze three weeks ago in response to a barrage of rocket attacks from Palestinian militants.

The damage in Gaza is said to be devastating, but Israel has refused to embed journalists with its military. According to reports, 4,000 buildings have been destroyed, with another 20,000 badly damaged.

Thirteen Israelis have been killed since the Dec. 27 offensive began, and according to Palestinian sources, more than 1,300 Palestinians have died.

Israel declared a one-week cease-fire on Sunday, while a Hamas leader claimed a “great victory” over Israel, despite the high death toll.

Amnesty Korea G48 is an official group of Amnesty International and consists of both foreign and Korean members.

They meet every first Saturday of the month at different places in Seoul. For more information, e-mail Amnesty International at amnestyseoul@gmail.com. See www.amnesty.org and www.amnesty.or.kr for information on the internet.

(mattlamers@heraldm.com)

2009.01.20

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/01/20/200901200047.asp

PALESTINE ACTION – END THE KILLING OF CIVILIANS

As the slaughter continues and civilian casualties rise as the IDF drives further into the most densly populated cities of Gaza, the international community now more than ever has a moral oibligation to voice its outrage and call for an end to the violence.

Amnesty International Korea held an action on Tuesday to call for an end to the violence. There were at least 3 members from G48 present, perhaps more (I was only able to be there for the last 15 minutes): Michelle, Paul and myself. As it was an AI event, the cameras were out in force and I was interviewed briefly by the Hankyoreh. As many of you knwo, being an international face at a public action in Korea attracts interest and attention. Both things are desperately needed now to mobilise the public to speak out against the invasion (I’m personally a little sceptical of calling it a war).

On that note, I’d like to make a call for all of you who are free this Sunday from around 2pm to come and join a demonstration that a newly-formed AI Korea student group has organised. The details are as follows. Please note that police permission has been obtained to hold this action.

When: Sunday, January 18, 2pm – 5pm.

Where: Marronnier Park, Daehangno (get off the subway at Hyehwa St (line 4), exit 2 and see the map in the station).

Why: To call for an immediate end to all unlawful killings in Gaza and an immediate ceasfire.

What to bring: Yourself, 100 friends, and a sign (if possible, otherwise there will be some available on the day).

Problems: Call e-mail Tom at amnestyseoul@gmail.com.

Please let me know ASAP if you are going to attend as the organiser would like to know numbers.

URGENT GAZA ACTION

Hi guys,

I hope many of you are able to make it out to this Tuesday’s action outside the Israeli Embassy to protest the unlawful invasion of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces and the ongoing civilian casualties. The death toll is mounting by the minute and a huge number of civilians are amongst the dead.

It is definitely time to act out, and I would actually like to apologize that it has taken this long for an action to be organized.

I am working with AI Korea to secure permits for G48 to hold its own actions on the issue in the near future.

Here are the details:

When: Tuesday, Jan 13, 12pm (until 1pm)

Where: (Outside) The Israeli Embassy, 18th Fl., Cheonggye11Bldg., 149 Seorin-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul 110-726 Republic of Korea (next to Donga-Ilbo Building)

Subway: Get off at Jonggak Station (Line 1)

See map: http://seoul.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/document.asp?SubjectID=1040&MissionID=89&LanguageID=0&StatusID=0&DocumentID=-1

Why: To demand an end to unlawful killings in the Gaza Strip

What: Press Conference (5-10 mins) followed by demonstration (for demonstration we will relocate to a nearby location)

For Korean speakers, visit www.amnesty.or.kr and add a photo to the petition to end the killings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SHUT DOWN GUANTANAMO BAY ACTION – POSTPONED UNTIL LATER IN THE MONTH

When: POSTPONED (20th Jan – Tentative reschedule to coincide with Obama’s first day in office)

Where: TBC (perhaps near Gwaghwamun)

Why: To mark the 7th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay – and demand its closure.

What: Dress up in orange suits (as detainees are clothed), raise awareness and collect signatures.

As soon as I confirm this action, I’ll let you all know in a mailout.