Year 8 Amnesty International Group sent Cards of Hope

November 2009

During Academic Tutorial day, year eight students were given the opportunity to attend a speech regarding human rights; which was given by an Amnesty International representative. Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation which acts to end abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.The speech was highly informative and greatly increased our

knowledge and understanding of human rights. Many of us were astounded when we were informed about the exposure of innocent civilians, significantly children, to torture, exploitation and imprisonment around the world. We were told unspeakable stories concerning young children being physically abused for thefts they did not commit, and innocent people sentenced to death. However, the focal point of the speech was the story of Eynulla Fətullayev, who is a prisoner of conscience and journalist in Azerbaijan. He was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment; Amnesty International believes that this is an effort to prevent his reporting, which was critical of the government. This organisation regularly delivers messages of hope to prisoners; therefore we made and decorated some house-shaped cards of our own, which contained good luck messages and other messages of hope. We genuinely hope that they will have a positive effect when they arrive in Azerbaijan. By Nazenin Kucukcan 8H.