MFHS Students Defend Human Rights Around the World

Amnesty International is a new club this year at .  They are affiliated with the global organization of students and adults who learn about human rights violations and want to stop them.

Students Daniel Crowley and Kelly Adlington were inspired to start this club last year after studying the Holocaust in English class with teacher Beth Larson. 

“We were talking about the Holocaust, and some students said that it has never happened again.  But, that’s not true.  Genocide is still happening across the world,” Larson said. “After learning that, some of the students wanted to do something about it.”

The club at MFHS is made up of about 10 students.  They have been involved with the international letter writing campaign to free “prisoners of conscience.”

“We want to be involved in movements that have real-life meaning,” Crowley said.

The international organization has identified people they feel have been jailed unfairly because of their beliefs.  They encourage students and concerned citizens to write letters to the people and organizations detaining them, asking that their human rights are respected.  The idea is that the prosecutors, embassies, and ambassadors will receive countless letters from all over the world pressuring them to reconsider the detainment of these people.

The students wrote letters to help three people unjustly imprisioned

The MFHS club wrote letters for three people they felt were unjustly imprisoned according to the Amnesty International worldwide organization. 

The Amnesty International website says that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) had endured house arrest and unofficial detention 15 of the past 21 years after co-founding the National League for Democracy.  Students from MFHS wrote letters asking for her freedom.  She was released on Nov. 13, 2010.

Filep Karma of Indonesia is serving 15 years in prison for organizing a peaceful flag raising event in 2004 according to Amnesty International.   He has been beaten in prison and suffered from health problems.  Amnesty writers from around the world helped to obtain much-needed medical attention for Karma while in prison.

Femi Peters, Campaign Manager for the Gambian opposition United Democratic Party of Ghana, was arrested during a demonstration in 2009.  Amnesty members from around the world, including from MFHS, wrote letters asking for his release.  He was released on Dec. 10, 2010.

Simple Hope’s Pack-a-thon

The Amnesty Club also participated in a Pack-a-thon event hosted by the local non-profit, . 

Club members donated $25 and packed bulk food into family meals which will be distributed to targeted communities in Tanzania.

To learn more about Simple Hope, read the on Menomonee Falls Patch Feb. 24.

Looking toward the Future

The Amnesty International club at MFHS wants to continue educating themselves about global conflict and human rights violations.  They hope to expand the club next year.