Help us find the disappeared
You
could be taken at any time, day or night. You might be at home, at work or
travelling on the street. Your captors may be in uniform or civilian clothes.
They forcibly take you away, giving no reason, producing no warrant. It becomes a nightmare for your relatives who might spend years
desperately trying to find you, going from one police station or army camp to
the next. They might never discover
whether you are dead or alive. The officials deny having arrested you or knowing
anything about your whereabouts or fate. You have become a victim of enforced
disappearance.
An “enforced disappearance” occurs when agents of the state arrest a
person and the state then denies any knowledge of the person’s status or
whereabouts.
Amnesty
International has reports of many thousands of such enforced disappearances - in
Sri Lanka, Russia, El Salvador, Morocco, Iraq, Thailand, Pakistan, Bosnia,
Equatorial Guinea, Egypt and Argentina, to name a few. No one is immune; victims
include men, women and children.
One such case is that of 29 year old Ibragim Gazdiev who, on 8th August
2007, was reportedly abducted by armed men in the North Caucasus republic of
Ingushetia in the Russian Federation. He has not been seen since, and his family
believe that he is - or was - held incommunicado. The authorities deny that they
are holding him. The reason for his disappearance is unknown. Ibragim's father
reported his son's disappearance the same day and a criminal investigation was
opened. However, the investigation has been suspended more than once. Ibragim's
father reported his son's disappearance the same day and a criminal
investigation was opened. However, the investigation has been suspended more
than once; it was reopened in February 2009 but it has been suspended again
since.
August 30th is the International Day of the Disappeared.
In Sheffield on Monday 30th August at 2.00 pm local Amnesty International
supporters will be assembling in front of the Town Hall to remember the
thousands of victims of enforced disappearance from around the world and to
campaign for justice for them and their families.
Published Date:
23/08/2010
Modified Date:
23/08/2010
International day of the disappeared
Aug. 30, is the International Day of the Disappeared,
observed by Amnesty International and other human rights groups around
the word to remember the disappeared and to press for justice for the
victims of enforced disappearance and their families. An “enforced
disappearance” occurs when agents of the state arrest a person and the
state then denies any knowledge of the person’s status or whereabouts.
In Sheffield on 30th August at 2.00 pm we will be assembling in front of the Town Hall to remember victims of enforced diappearance from around the world.
Published Date:
14/08/2010
Modified Date:
14/08/2010
Amnesty remembers the plight of the people in Burm
This Sunday (8th) marks the 12th anniversary of the famous
8/8/88 protests in Burma, when hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors took
to the streets to call for human rights and democracy. It was to end in
bloodshed – a brutal crackdown by the ruling military junta would leave an
estimated 3,000 people dead in the weeks that followed. It is a massive milestone for the Burmese people and it would
be great if you could blog about it and keep an eye on the comment pages for
other stories about the anniversary. The
leader of the protests back then was Min Ko Naing. He was also involved in
organising the protests in 2007. He is now in jail and is one of Amnesty’s
priority cases. Sadly little seems to have
changed over the years and the junta’s reaction to the protests back in 2007
only reinforced the point. Burma is a country where torture, slave labour and
unfair trials are all common place. And there are estimated 2,200 political
prisoners there. An overview of the
current state of play in Burma can be found in our annual review entry on the
country here.
If you fancy watching a bit of
video content, we also have the moving testimony of Waihhin is a Burmese
student living in London, and her father Ko Mya Aye was also involved in both
protests. He is currently serving a 65-year jail sentence. Her video can be
viewed here
There’s a good timeline of the events in
Burma on Dipity
Published Date:
08/08/2010
Modified Date:
08/08/2010
Free Sheffield Library Theatre event.7th July
Seven Years
with Hard Labour
Scripted by
Christine Bacon and Sara Masters |
"The command came. The machine gun blew her off the
armoured car. I ran to her body and she was already dead. 3000 people were
killed on the streets that day. And I said, whatever I face, I have to stay
alive to fight this." |
|
Where: Library
Theatre,
Central Library, Surrey St, Sheffield, S1 1
XZ
When: Tuesday 6th July @
7pm
Tickets: Free entry! Donations welcome
for Burmese Political
Prisoners and Karen Community
Association, Sheffield.
Kindly Supported by Sheffield City Council as part of Summer of Sanctuary
There are currently over 2100
political prisoners incarcerated in
Burma. This play
weaves together four accounts from former Burmese political prisoners now living
in the UK. Through their engaging, divergent and often humorous stories, a
damning picture of a ruthless military regime is
painted.
  |
iceandfire explores human rights stories through
performance. Seven Years with Hard
Labour is performed by members of
their national outreach network, Actors for Human Rights, made up of over 500
professional actors dedicated to drawing public attention to a range of
contemporary human rights concerns.
www.iceandfire.co.uk/outreach/
|
Support
our work
iceandfire theatre is a registered charity and we
receive no statutory funding. If you would like to make a financial contribution
to our work, you can do this via this linkwww.justgiving.com/iceandfire |
Published Date:
30/06/2010
Modified Date:
30/06/2010
Street choirs amass in Sheffield
The National
Street Choir Festival is a long-standing annual weekend of song
that aims to create a connection and sense of community between choirs
nationwide. It has been held in a different location, predominantly in the
North of England, each year. The Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in
Manchester in 2007. Last year the wonderful Whitby Community Choir did a
fine job of hosting, and in 2010 the festival returns to Sheffield, the city
where it all began.
More info
http://streetchoirsheffield.wordpress.com/
Published Date:
18/06/2010
Modified Date:
18/06/2010
Calling people of faith in Sheffield
The Sheffield Amnesty Group is keen
to forge links with faith communities who share the aims of Amnesty
International and subscribe to the Articles of the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human rights.
To further this cooperation the
Group can provide speakers and materials to describe the work of Amnesty
International in general and the Group and its various campaigns in particular.
We also welcome requests to attend events that faith communities organise,
e.g., festivals, special anniversaries and demonstrations and marches promoting
awareness of human rights.
For further information contact story.robin@yahoo.co.uk.
Published Date:
22/05/2010
Modified Date:
22/05/2010
Shell's hell in the Niger delta
You will have recently seen the damage an oil disaster can do in the Gulf of Mexico. Decades of pollution in the
Niger Delta has led to serious human rights violations, driving the people of
the region into poverty. The oil industry has failed to adequately prevent the
human rights impacts of its operations in the Niger Delta.
Watch the video
http://vimeo.com/11804108
EMAIL
Decades of pollution in the Niger
Delta has led to serious human rights violations, driving the people of the
region into poverty. The oil industry has failed to adequately prevent the
human rights impacts of its operations in the Niger Delta.
Background information
The Niger Delta is one of the 10 most important wetland and coastal marine
ecosystems in the world and home to some 31 million people. It is also the
location of massive oil deposits, which have been exploited for decades by the
government of Nigeria and multinational oil companies. The people of the Niger
Delta have seen their human rights undermined by oil companies that their
government cannot or will not hold to account.
Amnesty International is concerned about the devastating impact that pollution
and environmental damage, associated with the operations of Shell, is having on
the human rights of people in the Niger Delta.
For more information:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=618
Published Date:
17/05/2010
Modified Date:
17/05/2010
Messages from two brave people
I
have received two brave and powerful messages to
you from two people in the Russian Federation whose cases we have been
working
on in Sheffield AI group.
Ibragim Gazdiev
1)Update 08-Apr-2010 Investigation into Ibragim Gazdiev’s disappearance
was
suspended by the investigator yet again on 7 November 2009.
The investigation was suspended on the standard grounds given in the
Russian
Criminal Code of "failing to establish someone who may be a suspect in
the
case."
Mukhmed Gazdiev, Ibragim’s father, appealed to the Karabulak District
Court
against the decision to suspend the investigation. On 15 March 2010
Karabulak
District Court rejected Mukhmed Gazdiev's appeal, and refused to order
the
investigation to be reopened. The Court concluded that all the possible
investigative actions had been taken.
“I received letters from many...correspondents, who write to me with
warmth, with concern, different people write, different ages....I am not
able to
reply because I don’t speak English. But when I pick up this letter, I
feel the
warmth it gives off. And I want to ask you to use the means you have to
contact
these people in my name and thank them, at least in words. If I could do
it
myself, I would have done it long ago… Thank them from me for this. They
wished
me a Happy New Year, a Happy Christmas. And these letters are lying
here, right
before our eyes, with their wishes, and they make me feel sorrow and
grief, and
joy.”
"...you know, in the world, the vilest things are happening. Because
sometimes not everyone realizes, and even if they do realize, they do
not say
what they think, do not fight for justice, do not fight against the
filth in
their midst. Due to these people, there are wars and misfortune, crises,
etc.
You must not be silent, if next to you your friend, your comrade, your
fellow
Earth-dweller, that is, your sort of “planet co-dweller”, let’s say, is
suffering. They are being killed, and you say nothing. Tomorrow they’ll
come for
you, and this time you’ll be silent forever. So, if we want to live on
this
Earth – this wonderful Earth – with all our comforts, and if they are
not there,
we can create them, these comforts, in peaceful conditions. I am talking
to all
those who can hear me: do not keep silent! Act! ... How can we live in a
society
where a person has no rights. Such a society is a perfect setting for
the
killing of peoples, for stealing their resources, for corruption to
grow, for
drug addiction to flourish, etc. We must stand up against this. ... I
want
people to not stay silent, to be concerned for each other, to help each
other.
And then it may happen that these barbarians will stop their criminal
activity,
so that people will be able to breathe more easily."
2) Aleksei Sokolov
Aleksei Sokolov is a human rights defender and head of the
Russian human rights organisation Pravovaia Osnova (Legal Basis),
campaigning
against torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners in the Russian
Federation.
He is also a member of the Public Commission for the Control of Places
of
Detention. He has been detained since May 2009 and is currently under
trial in
Bogdanovich, a small town in the Sverdlovsk Region of Russia.
Aleksei Sokolov has passed on the following message of thanks for all
the
help and support he has received:
"I have got an opportunity to thank .. all members of the organization
personally for the help and support that you are giving me. Your
kindness and
understanding fills my soul so much that I continue to struggle against
despotism, human rights violations and oppression of human beings,
wherever I
am. I am prepared to defend human rights, despite the danger that
threatens me.
In prison many are not happy with my behaviour and dream of the time
when I
finally break down and become "obedient" and "manageable", but they are
sadly
mistaken, because life without fighting loses its meaning and is called
an
existence, and this is not for me. Thank you very much for the postcards
and
letters with kind words and words of support. With respect to you and
all the
good people at "Amnesty International". Aleksei Sokolov."
Published Date:
15/04/2010
Modified Date:
15/04/2010