Brief report on Regional Conference 2019

The Conference began with Rengin Arslan, a former BBC journalist, talking about the dire human rights situation in Turkey. The question of freedom of expression is in very sharp focus there, as no doubt you know. Her first-hand account was so powerful and was followed by a lively discussion.

This was followed by Ruth Breddal talking about Amnesty International in general about AiUK in particular. The key phrase for me in her speech was "We need more people like us".

At lunchtime the Chidren's Network had a stall that was kept busy and the display of a painting by Paul Piercy of Azimjan Askarov led to some campaigning for him, including a number of photographs.

In the afternoon Steve Newman, Peter Sagar and Salah Uddin talked about the Rohingya people, the latter as one, and very movingly.

The Conference finished with two actions, as shown in the photographs below.