Amnesty International, Eastern PA

Agenda - Thursday November 19th
Amnesty International Philadelphia Chapter Meeting
7:00 pm at the Ethical Society, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square

• A speaker from the ACLU – detention of illegal immigrants
• Reports about last month’s events:
• The Friday noon Human Rights Luncheon on October 23rd featuring Gladys Monterroso from Guatemala
• Lobbying Senator Casey on November 19 on closing the Guantánamo Bay detention center; ratifying the international women’s human rights treaty; and human rights of immigrant detainees
• Report on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
• Planning for the Global Write-a-thon:
• We will participate during our December 17th meeting
• Ellal Aklilu will attend to talk on an Ethiopian prisoner of conscience, Birtukan Mideksa
• Write letters regarding human rights violations in Mexico; also some Amnesty International Urgent Action letters

Group #531(Allentown, PA) met on Oct. 27 with five people in attendance, including one new member. The group reported sending 14 letters in the last two months, not including those of our two, most prolific, letter writers who were unable to attend.

After sharing some of the successes of AIUSA in the last two months, we discussed our upcoming fund-raiser wrapping gifts at Barnes and Noble with Group #347. We also discussed the Global Write-a-thon; it is our understanding that the new Muhlenberg College AI group will be hosting an event for the area.

We each sent letters to the President and our members of Congress reiterating the country’s need for an independant, impartial investigation into the abuses committed by the past administration in its “war on terror.” Finally, we went over the priority campaigns suggested by AIUSA for the coming year.