Amnesty International Activists to Gather in Richmond for Human Rights
Conference; AI's Global Leader Irene Khan Brings National Book Tour and New
Anti-Poverty Campaign to City
The Demand Dignity Campaign Arrives in Richmond, Focusing on the City's High
Rate of Poverty
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of Amnesty
International USA (AIUSA) activists and members from the mid-Atlantic region
will convene in Richmond for the AIUSA regional conference, beginning tonight
and running through Sunday afternoon. Amnesty International Secretary General
Irene Khan will keynote the event and highlight her new book, The Unheard
Truth: Poverty and Human Rights.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081014/AILOGO)
Secretary General Khan will also discuss the urgent need for Amnesty
International's new groundbreaking campaign Demand Dignity, which fights for
everyone's human rights to essential health care and housing, as well as clean
water, food, education and decent work. The Dignity Campaign also works to
ensure that all people have the right to security, both physical and economic;
to freedom from discrimination; and to participate in the decisions that
affect their lives.
"With the health care debate at the forefront of Washington politics and the
recession's impact on people across America, the conference's focus on AI's
Demand Dignity Campaign is timely and important," said Folabi Olagbaju,
Amnesty International USA's mid-Atlantic Regional Director.
Holding the conference in Richmond adds significance to the new campaign's
anti-poverty work. In Richmond, 22.9% of the city's population lives below the
poverty line, double the state average. In addition racial injustice
perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inadequate health care.
Addressing the issues of poverty on the local level, conference workshops will
focus on maternal mortality in the United States as well as grassroots
organizing and activism. Workshop leaders and human rights defenders speaking
at the conference, like Virginia Death Penalty Abolition Campaign coordinator
John Thorpe and Demand Dignity Campaign Director Sameer Dossani, will present
on issues that connect local activism to international campaigns and advocacy
work.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist
organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers
in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The
organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the
public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and
dignity are denied.
For more information, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org.
SOURCE Amnesty International
AIUSA media office, +1-202-544-0200 x494, DCmedia2intern@aiusa.org
