Minutes. July Meeting

 Minutes of Meeting held on 8 July 2015

1. Present:  Margaret George,  Wailim Wong,  Georgie Wong, Chris Clarke,  Shirley Sweeney, Rosie Bott.
2. Apologies : Robin Sellwood, Chris Ramsey,  Karen Cooper, Hetty Tye, Lucky Kaur, Megan Bridgeland,  Linnea Glynne-Rule.
3. Matters arising from the minutes of 10 June 2015:

AOB ii Linnea had sent £30 towards the candle in the cathedral and had received a letter saying how pleased they were. This had been a good idea for pr and good relations.

1.  Secretary's report:

1. The summer edition of the Amnesty magazine had arrived.
2. The July monthly action concerned 'the Gaza Crisis: Palestine has the right to seek justice via the International criminal court tell the UK to stop threatening them''. There was a letter to sign to go to the Foreign Secretary. Other matters flagged up the fact that there will soon be materials available on the Human Rights Campaign, and groups are urged to take part in local Pride activities with the theme 'Love is a Human Right'.

5.    Individuals at Risk:

1. Georgie reported on Central America: a) Mexico Yacenia Armenta was tortured by police until she confessed to the murder of her husband. AI could find no evidence against her. She was to be visited in prison by AI on 25 June. There was a letter to sign on her behalf. Georgie had a birthday card to sign for Claudia Medina. Angel Colon a former POC is now touring in Canada and speaking at meetings. On the website there is an action to sign for Adrian Vasquez.                           b. Honduras a new law has come in establishing a National Protection Council which should defend HR workers, lawyers, journalists etc who are at risk. This is a new law so it is not yet certain how effective it will be.
2. On N Africa, Walim reported that in Egypt the death sentence on Morsi had been upheld. The Public Prosecutor was assassinated last week. There was a letter to sign on behalf of Azza Suleyman who lost her first appeal but now has another one. Two women were arrested in Morocco accused of 'dressing immodestly'.

6.  Stop Torture campaign:  the vigil outside the cathedral on 4 July went well. John Byrne from PZ group came with 5 other performers and attracted a lot of attention. Wailim had got a reporter from the West Briton and he gave out leaflets and talked to the public. We thus got a lot of good publicity both before and after the event. He will contact other groups to get ideas about other actions they are doing which we might also do.

7. My body my rights campaign: Lucky was not present, so it was agreed that Margaret would contact her to see which meeting she might like to do an input on this subject.

8. Mayor's coffee morning: This made £61.18 + a donation of £10 from Shirley. The Mayor Mrs Lorrie Eathorne Gibbons was very helpful and urged the public to come it but it was hard to interest the public generally. It was agreed to thank the Mayor and to invite her to the bookstall.

9. Future events:

1. 8 Aug bookstall in Lemon Street market. We must be careful not to block access to the shops there and there should be no more that 2 people on the stall at any one time. It was agreed to meet up at Robin's at 10.00 on 3 Aug to sort the books, and on the 8th to set up the stall from 9.00am. Georgie has the rota. Margaret will contact people to ask for books and for help on the day.
2. Cornwall Pride. 29 August in Victoria Gardens. Margaret will contact Hanna Toms to ask for details.
3. walk - details to be sorted at a future date.
4. 10 Oct street collection in Falmouth.
5. Xmas stalls: 28 Nov, 12 Dec, and Mayor's charity event on 5 Dec where we have a permit to sell goods. Georgie has contacted Archie Brown's about having a table for card-signing there and had a positive response. Details to be finalised.

10.   Treasurer's report:  Linnea sent a report that we have £1263.18 in the bank before the money raised at the mayor's coffee morning.

11. AOB:

1. Georgie had brought a letter to sign for Geoffrey Stirling, a former CIA officer imprisoned for 3½ years for whistleblowing. He has just started the sentence.

12. Next meeting: this will be on 9th Sept and will include the AGM.