The Voice - Student Newspaper

Amnesty International state conference presented by GCC students

By Raquell Guerrero
Managing Editor, The VOICE

The Glendale Community College Amnesty International (AI) chapter hosted the Amnesty International Human Rights State Conference on Saturday Oct. 25.

Starting out with the Amnesty 101 workshop, community leaders spoke about five important AI campaigns which include Darfur and Death Penalty Abolition.

Another campaign is Counter Terror With Justice.

The campaign calls "for an independent commission of inquiry to conduct a trough investigation into torture and other abuses conducted in the 'War on Terror' and for those responsible to be held accountable."

Individuals at Risk is another campaign where Amnesty International saves lives and provides hope "by coming to the aid of people who are jailed, threatened, tortured or harassed because of who or what they believe."

The Stop Violence Against Women campaign was also discussed at the conference.

The workshop included an activity for students that asked about some of the sources of violence against women, its effects, and how it can be prevented.

According to Amnesty international, a woman is raped every six minutes and a woman is battered every fifteen seconds just in the United States.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women stated that at least one out of every three women in the world will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

Despite this, the United States has not ratified the international United Nations treaty Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Joe Biden (D-DE) introduced The International Violence Against Women Act (S. 2279) on October 31, 2007.

As stated in its summary, The International Violence Against Women Act, "directs the U.S. government to create a comprehensive, 5-year strategy to reduce violence in 10-20 diverse countries that have severe levels of violence against women and girls. To achieve this goal, the Act authorizes more than $1 billion over 5 years in U.S. assistance to support international programs that prevent and repond to violence."

A workshop on the Master's Program in Social Justice and Human Rights was also presented at the conference by Dr. William Simmons.

Simmons is one of the founders and current director of the program at ASU.

The Masters Program is available at Harvard University and ASU.

Simmons stated that "students can expect a rigorous masters-level program that will prepare them for careers in non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and in government. During their course of study they will work in a hands-on way with community members addressing real human rights problems."

Many other workshops on AI Online, Lesbian, Gay, Bisiexual and Transexual (LGBT), Eritrea, Refugees in Arizona, Katrina-The Right to Return, and border issues were also part of the conference.

"I have been involved with Amnesty International on and off for more than 20 years. I was drawn to the organization because it is engaged in working on concrete cases of human rights abuses from around the world," said Simmons.

More information on GCC's Amnesty International chapter can be found by contacting club advisor Ed McKennon at (623)845-3195.