Northern Ireland – Abortion is not a Crime

The highest court in the land has ruled Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are in breach of the UK’s own human rights obligations. Northern Ireland is the only place in the UK where women can face up to life in prison for having an abortion.

Theresa May can no longer do nothing whilst countless women continue to suffer on her watch. Act now – call for Northern Irish women to have access to free, safe and legal abortions. Send an email to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.  https://www.amnesty.org.uk/

Upcoming Events…

Alexander Dakers is a long time Amnesty International supporter; his exhibitions have always encouraged donations to Amnesty.  He was one of the exhibitors at our own Art Exhibition in 2014.  He has a new exhibition running from 18th June up until 25th of June at Bournemouth International Centre, free entrance each day 11:00AM – 17:00pm

Doctors on the Frontline – how do we make a difference? The New Forest AI group are hosting a talk by by Liz Harding, Humanitarian Advisor to Medecins Sans Frontieres – Doctors without Borders. This international charity has been providing medical help in war zones since 1971. It’s on Saturday 30th June, 2pm (light lunch from 1pm) and admission free (donations invited). Its at the Lymington Centre, New Street, Lymington SO41 9BQ (no parking there but plenty of public car parks in vicinity).

Bourne Free is on Saturday July 14th, Bournemouth Gardens, and we hope to have a presence again this year.  More on this next month, but if you are free that day and want to help, please reply to this newsletter.

South America Newsletter

The June edition of the South America Regional Newsletter is now on the blog. Our group has focused on South America since its inception, which is also reflected in our case files – see below. The 2 volunteers who run the network for AIUK – and produce the newsletter – do a huge amount of work on our behalf.

GDPR

You’ve probably been inundated with requests to resubscribe to other newsletters and email lists. We haven’t done so because we’ve always been explicit about why we’ve collected your email addresses – to send you this wonderful newsletter to keep you updated! Also every newsletter has the option to unsubscribe or update your information (but please don’t go…)
On our blog we have updated our privacy policy and terms of use. If you have trouble sleeping do go and have a read. If you have ever been to one of our meetings you may recall your details been collected (and £5 being extracted!) to be considered a member of the group. We have debated bringing in a new membership form, but this was put on hold by GDPR – ultimately we don’t want to hold any paper records. We are planning to shred the old membership book (affectionately known as “Sallys Book”) at the next meeting….

Wareham Street Collection

We were only on the streets of Wareham for two hours, with four collectors, but raised a fantastic £92.35.  This may not sound a huge amount, but a couple individual collectors got over £25, which compares with an average of less than £10 for two hours in Bournemouth. What’s more, people were genuinely friendly, often keen to talk and aware of some of the issues (and who Amnesty International are). Some even commented they’d missed seeing us recently!  Interest has also been shown in setting up a Wareham group, so a very productive morning. Thanks to all who helped.

Taner Kılıç

Taner Kılıç is one of the founding members of the Turkish section of Amnesty International and its president since 2014. Along with 22 others he was arrested last June and charged with belonging to a “terrorist organisation”. The others have gradually been released.  On 31 January Taner Kılıç was finally released after eight gruelling months in jail.

While his family excitedly waited for him to walk out of prison and into their arms, he was re-arrested and taken back into custody. He now remains jailed pending his next hearing on June 21st. This is hugely upsetting and disappointing – and completely unacceptable.

Please email the Turkish Minister of Justice now demanding Taner Kılıç  is released. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/free-taner-kilic