Wales to host international human rights activists as Amnesty AGM comes to Swansea
Some 450 human rights activists will visit Swansea this weekend to attend the United Kingdom AGM of Amnesty International. Hosted by Swansea University, grass roots activists from across the UK will come together to celebrate and debate human rights. Taking part in workshops and panel discussions, delegates will also hear from human rights activists from around the world, including Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Canada, Peru and Kenya.
At a special event today (3rd April), Wales TUC President Vaughan Gething will join members to celebrate the strong links between Amnesty International and the Trades Union movement in the UK.
Delegates will also take part in a demonstration to raise awareness of forced evictions in the Deep Sea settlement in Kenya. A resident of this Nairobi shanty town, where people live under constant threat of illegal forced eviction as private companies attempt to gain land for development, will join the delegates at Swansea.
Cathy Owens, Programme Director for Wales, Amnesty International said:
“We are thrilled that the AGM is coming to Wales, and members here will be able to take part in the global movement for human rights. We will be able to share the experiences of other people directly, and it will help galvanise our commitment to taking action for people who are facing human rights abuses.”
Other keynote speakers and international visitors include:
Jenni Williams: the national co-coordinator of Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a human rights organisation that Amnesty has been supporting for some time. She has been arrested more than 30 times for her human rights activism.
Ed Husain: formerly an activist of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jamat-e-Islami front organisations in the UK, Ed has now become a strong critic of extremism and an advocate of Muslim engagement in mainstream politics.
Mahendra: a student activist from Indonesia who was sentenced to three years for ‘insulting the President’ following a demonstration against an increase in fuel prices.