Human Rights Day

December 10th is a very special day for every single one of us. For you see on that day in 1948 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly. It consists of thirty articles describing basic human rights and freedoms inherent for ALL people regardless of sex, age, identity, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality. Every December 10th we celebrate this immensely valuable document.

For the last six years Amnesty International has honoured the declaration by holding a Global Write-a-thon. Last year over thirty-six thousand letters were written by Canadian participators alone. Over twenty-thousand letters were written in each of the 2006 and 2007 Write-a-thons.

Does writing letters work? It sure does! It lets governments, businesses, and individuals know that covert and clandestine activities will not go unnoticed. Our letters are acknowledged, heeded, and answered. Governments respond to public pressure. Every year prisoners of conscience and others wrongfully incarcerated are released after Amnesty Write-a-thons. During the 2008 Write-a-thon, letter writers demanded to know the whereabouts of Jestina Mukoko, a human rights activist in Zimbabwe. Mukoko had been abducted by state security officials on December 3rd, 2008. Her whereabouts were released on December 24th, after persuasion from thousands of Write-a-thon letters. She remained in custody until March 2nd, 2009 when she was released on bail following three months of international pressure. In September of this year, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court ordered a stop to the prosecution of Mukoko after hearing that she was tortured in custody.

This year I will be writing ten letters from December 6th - 12th. I encourage everyone to take time to write at least one letter as a tribute to the rights we take for granted every day in Canada. If you wish to sponsor my letter writing or make a donation to Amnesty International please contact me. For information on and appeals for the 2009 Write-a-thon please visit http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/.