Minutes. November Meeting

Truro and Falmouth Amnesty International Group    Minutes of Meeting held on 11 Nov 2015

1. Present: Hetty Tye, Lucky Kaur, Margaret George,  Linnea Glynne-Rule, Karen Cooper, Wailim Wong,  Megan Bridgeland,  Carys Hill, Georgie Wong, Chris Clarke, Rosy Bott, Shirley Sweeney, Pam Dosanjh, Laura Baglow, Chris Ramsey.
2. Apologies :  Robin Sellwood,  
3. Matters arising from the minutes of 14 Oct 2015:

None not on the agenda.

1.  Secretary's report:

1. The November monthly action concerned Atena Farghadani, an Iranian woman imprisoned and accused of 'imsulting members of parliament through paintings'. While in prison, Atena was subjected to a virginity test and may also be accused of 'illicit sexual relations falling short of adultery''. This is because she shook hands with her male lawyer when he visited her in prison. There was a card to sign to Atena and a letter to the Iranian authorities calling for her release.
2. There was advance information about next year's AIUK Conference and AGM, 9-10 April in Nottingham.
3. Amnesty Youth Awards are now open
4. Stop Torture: good news - the release and return to Britain of Shaker Aamer. The EU voted overwhelmingly for the call to close loopholes in the prohibition of the sale of tools of torture.
5. Morocco: there was a letter of support for Ali Aarrass, currently on hunger strike.
6. Human Rights Act: there was to be a skillshare on the HRA in London on 28 Nov.

5.    Individuals at Risk:

1. Georgie reported on Central America. She had a card to sign to mark COFADEH's 33rd anniversary.
2. In  Egypt, Azza Soliman and 16 others have been released.

6. One World Week: our display in the cathedral on the theme of refugees and the Human Right Act led to petitions being signed.

7. Future events:

1. The film Open Bethlehem is scheduled to be shown at the Performance Centre, Tremough, on 1 Dec. It is hoped that the director Leila Sansur may be able to attend. Chris asked for help from 6pm to set up an Amnesty information stall.
2. the planned social; walk was postponed till the spring in view of the weather and probable muddy terrain.
3. Georgie was collecting names for the stall rotas (28 Nov, 5 Dec and 12 Dec)
4. Chris has been invited to speak at Truro College during the day on 2 Dec and would appreciate help.
5. Sat 20 Feb: regional conference in Exeter.

8.   Treasurer's report:  Linnea reported that we have £1189, but we still owe the rent for the meeting room.

9. AOB:

1. In his role as regional press officer, Wailim attended  a conference, and aims to get groups to have a higher profile in the press and radio/TV.
2. Karen will circulate a link to an online course on Human Rights.
3. Chris spoke about a consultation on the AI position on abortion and urged supporters to go onto the website to complete the survey.

10. Next meeting: this will be on 9th Dec at 7pm.

11.At the end of the business meeting,  Lucky gave an interesting and thought-provoking training on 'Our bodies our rights'