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One of the global citizenship initiatives we have at UTS is Amnesty International. As a student run club that works alongside the organization, Amnesty International is one of the most direct and engaging parts of UTS focused on global citizenship education. The club itself meets regularly to discuss issues surrounding human rights and the ways in which they are currently being violated. The organization is centered around the idea that we are most powerful when we stand together for human rights. At UTS, Amnesty emulates the same principle by creating installations around the school to effectively educate the entire school community. For example, this year the club created many educational posters and hung them in the stairwells around the school. Each poster identified a victim of human rights abuse and the unjust circumstances that surround their story. Through involving the entire student body, Amnesty contributes to creating a more globally aware and informed community.
An important aspect of Amnesty at UTS is the petitions and letters written by UTS students to directly combat these violations of human rights. The goals of the organization are to defend freedom of expression, protect women’s rights, abolish the death penalty, demand justice for crimes against humanity, and demand corporate accountability where companies have abused people’s rights. These are the issues protested against though letters and petitions. Amnesty very clearly works against power inequalities present in our world. The organization is independent of any government, political ideology, religion, or economic interest; and is financially independent. With these rare attributes, Amnesty is able to conduct investigations, raise awareness, and create action with no bias toward corrupt governments or bodies of power. At UTS, Amnesty is only in it’s second year, leaving lots of potential for upcoming years in terms of it’s presence in our school community. For now we are thankful to have a presence that is capable of both educating students on critical global issues and giving them the opportunity to act against them.
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Excellent post UTS, it is great to see a student body partner with an organization as highly acclaimed as Amnesty International. Having students educate themselves and spread their knowledge of the atrocities taking place across the world that many of us never hear about, to fellow students in an education based approach can be very powerful. Many times when we organize fairs or other activities in school to addresses issues such as human rights, the true meaning is lost when we hold games and prizes. By having posters and concrete examples of violations of human rights, you give students a more emotional connection to the subject which can many times empower them to take action. I would like to know if you have worked with local politicians or written documents such as a “white paper” to address local human right violations. Also when talking about Amnesty International, I would place caution in stating that any organization would have completely no bias when dealing with very sensitive issues.
Sounds like there is a lot of great momentum around this club! That's fantastic! How does the group help to spark discussion about injustices faced in the school's context (e.g. Toronto) as well- or is it mostly focused on global issues?
ojavid
Feb 16, 2015