Group Nine – KWPeace

Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church

What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: groupnine9@gmail.com (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)

Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.

Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)

You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.

Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.

This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.

Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.

Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at groupnine9@gmail.com which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.

We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.

For more information about this event, email groupnine9@gmail.com. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.

Amnesty International Write For Rights, 11am to 4pm, Saturday 9 December 2023 at Kitchener Public Library

What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: 11:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday 9 December 2023
Where: Kitchener Public Library, Meeting Room D
Location: 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener, Ontario Map 1
E-mail: groupnine9@gmail.com

Children are welcome!

Write for Rights is the world’s largest human rights event. It’s a moment when Amnesty International’s 7 million supporters around the world join together in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect human rights!

Drop in and find out about the 11 cases we are highlighting this year. You can make a difference by signing letters and petitions to governments defending the rights of refugees, women, indigenous peoples, and human rights workers!

A letter from the organizers

Hello,

We hope to see you soon at our first in-person Write for Rights event since COVID!!! This year it will be held in KPL Room D Saturday December 9 from 11am to 4pm.

We will be joining together with Amnesty International’s millions of supporters around the world in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect the rights of eleven selected groups and individuals at risk.

We have had many successes over the years including the release of political prisoners, the ending of torture in specific cases and in bringing human rights offenders to justice.

We are including a package so that you can print and sign letters in advance and bring them to the event. Then when you arrive, you can focus on creating cards of support for the individuals at risk. We will have cards and art materials available for you to use.

We are also including a young people’s activity package — so if you are a parent, teacher, grandparent and have some time to sit down with your young person — you can create a card of support for indigenous Torres Strait islanders and bring it to our event. Take a picture of your activity and send it to groupnine9@gmail.com so that we can post it to our Facebook page. The young person’s activity will also be available at the KPL event as well as a creative activity for younger children!!

At our regular meeting on Tuesday, 5 December 2023 we’ll be firming up plans for the event as well as signing letters — so if you have downloaded and printed the package, please bring your letters to the meeting.

Helpful information about the event:

If you are coming to the KPL by car, you can park for free in the open-air lot to the east of the Library. If you park underground you’ll have to pay.

Room D is on the lower level. Food brought from outside is not allowed. If you wish to have something you can purchase it at the café upstairs.

If you are printing your own letters at home and do not want to bring them to the Library on the 9th, you can drop them off in the W4R box which will be on the front steps at 97 John Street West Map 2 from 10-17 December. In either case, please do NOT put your letters in individual envelopes. Fold each letter in half and write the country to which it is being sent on the outside. Please have all your letters in a single large envelope with your name on the outside, or held together with a rubber band and a label giving your name.

Take care,
David and Margaret

PS — If you want to edit your letters please send a request to groupnine9@gmail.com and we will send you a WORD version.

Group 9 Amnesty International (Waterloo Region) Write for Rights campaign starting December 1, 2021

Dear Group Nine Human Rights Supporters,

For many years now Group Nine Amnesty International (Kitchener-Waterloo) has actively participated in Write for Rights on Human Rights Day December 10. We have joined with Amnesty International’s seven million supporters around the world in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect the rights of selected individuals at risk. We have had many successes over the years including the release of political prisoners, the ending of torture in specific cases and in bringing human rights offenders to justice.

This year while human rights abuses continue worldwide, COVID-19 again makes an in-person event impossible.

In spite of that constraint, last year together we took over 300 actions in our “Ten Days for Human Rights” at-home campaign.

This year, we hope you join us again to produce a mountain of letters and sign online actions to let governments know that we are still watching, and send messages of support and encouragement to those who are in the front lines of the struggle for human rights.

Here is the Group Nine Write for Rights 2021 letter writing plan:

Ten Days for Human Rights!!!

There are two ways in which you can participate in the letter and card actions:

by sending individual actions yourself (by post and/or online) at your cost,
by collecting all your letters and cards for us to send by bulk mail at our cost. We will also have some in-person outdoor photo opportunities for sharing messages of support on social media and a small group indoor socially distanced card- making gathering (more on that separately).

Each day from Dec 1 to 10, Group 9 will send you an email giving background information on one case, a sample letter, a link for an online action, and a suggestion for a supportive action (usually a card) that you can take. We will repeat this each day for 10 days to cover all the cases.

Option 1 – If you are sending individual actions:

Each day, participants will complete and mail the letter and card – as well as getting their “bubbles” to do the same. Please keep a record of the number of cards, letters and online actions sent for each case (including cc’s).

On December 11th, we will send out an email to everyone asking each of you to send in the number and type of actions you and your bubble have completed for each case.

Option 2 – If you would prefer to have your letters and cards included in a Group Nine bulk mailing:

Collect your letters and cards during the ten days so that you can make one delivery. Please do not use an envelope for each letter or card. Rather, fold your letter once and write the name of the recipient and country on the outside. Do the same on the outside of the card. Put them all in one large envelope or wrap with a rubber band and include a slip with your name so that we can keep a record. Mary and David will provide a drop-off box at their front door in Waterloo from Dec 10 to Dec 15. They will quarantine the letters, organize them by recipient and then mail them in bulk.

Email groupnine9@gmail.com for the drop off address and directions.

If you would like to make a contribution towards postage costs for the bulk mailing, please send an e-transfer to groupnine9@gmail.com

We know that this is much more lonely work than coming out to Seven Shores Café to write letters together and socialize over coffee and delicious treats, but we hope that you will involve your “bubble” in creating a mountain of cards and letters for Ten Days for Human Rights!!!

We’ll keep you posted about our possible in-person events via separate emails.

Your first case letter will arrive on December 1.

Thank you for your support for human rights!

David and Margaret for Group 9

Group Nine is the local chapter of Amnesty International Canada in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We normally meet at 7:30 pm on the first Tuesday of every month in *Room 4224 (The Fretz Seminar Room) at Conrad Grebel College*, University of Waterloo (140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo N2L 3G6). Please confirm by email or on our Facebook page..

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmnestyInternationalGroup9/

Website: https://www.amnesty.ca

E-mail: groupnine9@gmail.com