Amnesty International Bournemouth Poole Christchurch Group

Please Sign the Petition

We are in Bournemouth Square this Sunday (13th May) afternoon collecting signatures for an Amnesty International petition. We want David Cameron to join Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband by publicly committing the UK to lead the way in securing a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty.

No one knows for sure how many hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. But we do know that at least some of the weapons used to do the killing came from companies based in the UK and USA. The weapons were sold to him even though it was known he was committing such atrocities.

World leaders meet in July to draw up the first ever treaty aimed at controlling this deadly trade. With your help, the Arms Trade Treaty can help save thousands of lives. But it will only succeed if it makes clear that arms shall not be transferred where there is serious risk that they will be used to commit human rights abuses and atrocities as well as fuel poverty. [Read more…]

“Which Yorkshire town has name which means “broken bridge” in latin?”

On Saturday 28th April we held another (? 12th) Quiz Night in Christchurch at ye Olde George Inn.

The questions, as ever, were somewhat difficult and devious.  The participants, dedicated, hard-working and sharp as ever..

 

David and Rosemary Brown both created and set the questions, and kept proceedings in order.  The evening raised nearly £150, and (as ever) helped nudge our profile up a notch.

“The didgeridoo is made from a branch of which tree?”

“In which country was Gabriel Fahrenheit born?”

[Read more…]

Please visit Letters page – we sent cards of support to Chen Guangcheng who is under illegal house arrest in Shandong province, China. You can send letters and emails to the authorities in China via the A.I.U.K. link.

On that page you will also find links regarding the jailed brothers in Cuba – their  offence listening to hip hop music…

Events

A reminder its just over two weeks till our next Quiz Night in Christchurch, 28th April at Ye Olde George Inn.

We are still in discussions with Bournemouth Council about holding a letter signing in the Square in May. This is in relation to the Arms Trade Treaty – the idea being to bring pressure on David Cameron to sign up….

Next Meeting 10th May 2012 at Moordown Community Centre

Should Formula 1 hold a Grand Prix in Bahrain? As Amnesty International releases a new position statement on Bahrain, we pose the question.  Join us in this debate, partly as an experiment in how to use Facebook!

What do think? The position of Amnesty International (quoted in the Guardian) is

“Holding the Grand Prix in Bahrain in 2012 risks being interpreted by the government of Bahrain as symbolising a return to business as usual. The international community must not turn a blind eye to the ongoing human rights crisis in the country.”

Read their briefing on Bahrain here:-
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20058

Please join the debate by either”Like” or “Share” on Facebook”.

 

to our group website.  Hopefully you will find any information you want about our group, but more importantly it will inspire you to take action. The best way to keep in touch with us is via our email newsletter. This generally goes out once a month. This is changing in format as we develop the blog and  the newsletter will link to relevant actions or events, rather than being too detailed itself. The group meets every month except August at Moordown Community Centre. This is on the second Thursday, 7.30 to 9.00.  This is a sort of business/planning meeting with some letter writing. If there is a speaker or any particular change to the format it will be flagged up in the newsletter. We have a Facebook page – please go and like us! Its another excellent way of keeping in touch and joining in with actions and campaigns.