Canadian Tamil Congress Writes for Rights
On December 10th, 2011, the Canadian Tamil Congress joined thousands of letter writers across Canada and around the world in writing for rights. In commemoration of International Human Rights Day, thousands across the world picked up a pen to write for human rights. Canadian Tamils did just that today at the CTC Office in Toronto. CTC members and supporters, along with their families, read through cases of various human rights violations and expressed their concern in handwritten letters.“Personalized letters from a concerned citizen of the world can change people’s lives and that’s exactly what Amnesty International has been promoting for the past 50 years”, said David Poopalapillai, national spokesperson of the Canadian Tamil Congress. "We are happy to see so many young children show interest in human rights and hope that they will start advocating for those suffering around the world soon" added Poopalapillai.
The purpose of the Write for Rights campaign, as per Amnesty International, is to mobilize thousands of people around the world on International Human Rights Day. The main goal is to use the power of letter-writing to help address human rights violations including the release of people who have been wrongfully detained. Amnesty International has documented success stories of how these letters have effected change and has stated that the letter-writing efforts of people have led to positive results in approximately one-third of the cases.
The members of the Tamil community have also been victims of human rights violations and have first handedly felt the painful effects of discrimination. Having gone through that themselves, they wanted to show their concern for other human rights violations around the world. So, they picked up a pen and started writing. Today, members wrote in support of various causes:
• Called for justice for two Indigenous women violated by soldiers in Mexico
• Demanded justice for the killing of a student in Sri Lanka
• Demanded the clsoure of an inhumane prison camp in North Korea
• Voiced their concern against Bill C-4, the Anti-Smuggling, Anti-Refugee bill
• Insisted on freedom for a prisoner of conscience in Iran
• Called upon the Canadian Government to bring imprisoned Bashir Makhtal home from Ethiopia
If you did not have a chance to drop by CTC today, please take a minute to visit Amnesty's Write for Rights website at http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/ and choose a cause that you can write for.
Never underestimate the power of writing.
Published on: 12/10/11 22:38
