Human Rights Day - Part 2

In just fifteen minutes I can save a life, release a prisoner of conscience, or reverse a government policy. This is the power of letter writing. I will validate this by providing some information on the letters I have written this past year.

I wrote ten letters during the 2009 Write-a-thon and four resulted in action:

In Nepal, workers and clients at the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre were encountering abuse and violence for their work in supporting women victims of violence. They now have an improved relationship with police and better police response as a result of pressure from last year’s Write-a-thon.

In Greece, the Minister of Citizen Protection of the Hellenic Republic promised a swift, impartial investigation into the assault on Konstantina Kouneva, a trade union secretary.

In the Ukraine, Belarusian opposition activist, Igor Koktysh was released and sent home after being detained for two and a half years.

Kareem Amer was released from prison in Egypt just weeks ago. He had been jailed for criticizing the president’s religious views on his blog.

Of the 28 letters I wrote this year three resulted in action: the release of Abdollah Sadoughi in Iran, the release of six doctors in Sudan, and President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso committing to lifting all financial barriers to emergency obstetric care and access to family planning, as part of a strategy to fight maternal mortality in the country. In addition, Yusak Pakage was released from prison in Indonesia, a case from the 2005 Write-a-thon.

This represents only the cases I have undertaken. Dozens of others prisoners have been released this year, countries have taken steps toward abolition of the death penalty, and governments have improved human rights because of the pressure created by thousands of other AI members worldwide.

My success rate usually averages around 15%. However, during Write-a-thons this increases to 30 or even 40 percent. The power of the pen!!

Please take time to write a letter. Cases and letter writing tips can be found here.