Chair's letter - March 2017

Dear colleagues,

The Annual General Meeting is nearly upon us and I look forward to seeing lots of you at this year’s event. It’s taking place in Nottingham over the weekend of 8-9 April. If you want to find out more, or if you can’t attend and want to vote by proxy then please click on the links in our web page.

I’m writing to let you know about two new things that we’re trying this year. 

The first of these is a blog space that provides a bit more explanation about this year’s Special Resolutions and, most importantly, allows you to ask questions and post comments. It’s an experiment and we’re taking little steps at first, so that we can learn lessons that might help us develop this approach for the future. That means we won’t be able to support blogs or deal with comments on the other resolutions but we’d love you to take a look, engage and let us know what you think. You can find the blogs here. 

We know that only a small percentage of our members can attend the AGM in person but we think it’s an important event and we’re keen to try different ways of making it more accessible. So this year, we’ll be experimenting with live streaming on the afternoon of Saturday 8 April. This is the part of the AGM that contains the Board’s report, the Director’s speech and a panel discussion on a topical human rights issue.

You’ll be able to watch the live stream by using this link on the day. As it’s the first year we’ve tried this, we want to keep costs down and make things simple, so we won’t be broadcasting on Sunday or streaming from the AGM workshops and working parties. However, we’re keen to get your feedback, so please do have a look and let us know what you think and how we can improve by contacting us after the AGM weekend.

And I’d like to give a special mention to Amnesty’s group in the Shetland Islands. This was their idea and we’re grateful for the suggestion (which was adopted as an AGM decision last year). What we learn this year will inform our future plans.

Best wishes,

Ruth Breddal Chair,

Amnesty International UK Section