Livewire

By Christine Heller, a Sri Lanka Coordinator for Amnesty International in Switzerland. I’ve just come back from our Sri Lanka action in Berne. The sun was out and there were about 40 activists handing out solidarity buttons reading “unlock the camps” in Tamil, as well as postcards featuring the poem “Broken Pottu” by Mahesh Munasinghe, inspired [...]

By Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s researcher on Sri Lanka. Six months ago the Government of Sri Lanka announced that war in Sri Lanka was finally over. Victory seemed sweet to ordinary Sri Lankans in the south. The deliberate killing of civilians by Tamil Tiger suicide bombers polarized communities and bred real fear that conflict could leak [...]

By Tim Molyneux, a volunteer working in Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka team. On Monday night I took part in a big event to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka currently confined in mass detention camps. This marked the first day of an international week of action in support of [...]

By Fernanda Doz Costa, Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Americas Last Friday, I participated in a very interesting hearing about maternal mortality, where four experts from the Americas gave testimony before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights  in Washington DC. It was great working in partnership with them; each brought different experience and expertise. Mario [...]

Amnesty International is launching a bus tour, together with partner organisations the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and the Bhopal Medical Appeal, which will travel throughout Europe for eight weeks starting on 17 October until 2 December – the day of the 25th anniversary. The tour will stop in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, [...]

By Colby Goodman, Amnesty International’s Control Arms Campaign October 7, 2009 – On a day the New York Times exposed more details about Guinean security forces recent use of weapons against thousands of peaceful protestors, Amnesty International participated in what turned out to be an electrified briefing at the United Nations (UN) about preventing the use [...]

Today was the final day of the caravan. We drove from Bo to Waterloo, a town on the outskirts of Freetown. After a quick radio interview for the musicians, we assembled in the field and prepared for the event. The hot sun was beaming down on the caravan stage and the crowd was scattered on the [...]

This morning, we went to the Kenema government hospital and showed the Amnesty International film in the maternity ward. During the discussion after the film, people shared a number of their experiences. One of the women, Jenny N.C. Valli, spoke of the poor road networks and challenge to gain access to the hospital. Some of the [...]

We split up today and did a number of different things in Bo. This morning, I went to a local radio station with Solomon, the section campaigner and the musicians. The musicians were interviewed about their involvement in Amnesty International’s campaign on maternal mortality and why they think maternal mortality is an important issue to focus [...]

We arrived in Kenema on Tuesday evening after an eight-hour drive from Kambia. Kenema is one of the main diamond trading posts in Sierra Leone and was one of the areas most affected during the war. Many people in the surrounding areas still live in former camps for Liberian refugees who fled during the war. I [...]

Kabala is a mountainous town in Koinadugu district – the largest district in Sierra Leone with the roughest terrain and according to the available statistics the highest maternal mortality rates. Most people use motorcycle taxis to manoeuvre around the mountains, but in an emergency it isn’t easy. When we were discussing the fact that one in [...]

The drive back from Kambia to Makeni was beautiful. There is green grass for miles, with tropical trees and rushing rivers. We passed many villages on the way with people selling snacks. A heavily pregnant woman sold me some bananas when we stopped – we were still miles away from Makeni, where the main hospital is. [...]

We departed at 6.30am today for the long bumpy ride to Kambia. After a courtesy visit to the paramount chief, I spoke to a group of volunteers about Amnesty’s maternal mortality campaign and caravan. I also asked them to help collect petition signatures during the launch in the afternoon. So far, we have an estimated [...]

On our second day in Makeni, Irene and some of the mission delegates departed for Freetown. In the morning, a few of the delegates set off to Kamambai, a village 30 minutes outside Makeni. The village has a history of women’s empowerment. In 2002, the “Mami Queen” (woman chief) was denied the right to vote in [...]

We arrived in Makeni at midday yesterday and started setting up for the launch. Makeni is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and the atmosphere was much more relaxed than Freetown. The launch ran smoothly and the highlight of the day was when Irene was crowned Paramount Chief of Bombali District! She is the first [...]

The rain came down like iron rods for hours. Not an auspicious start for the launch of Amnesty International’s campaign to end maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. However, by early afternoon, the sun was beginning to peep through the dark grey clouds and steam rose from Freetown’s roads, as the puddles dried. By 4pm, thousands of Sierra [...]

We are in the car, on the way to Makeni. The campaign launch went well yesterday – despite the looming rain clouds, it managed not to rain during the event. There was a great vibe, with everyone enjoying the music being blasted from the caravan stage. The event started with an introduction from Violet, the Sierra [...]

Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, visited Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) in Freetown on Sunday to understand the problems the Sierra Leone healthcare system faces in fighting death during childbirth. A woman faces a higher risk of dying in child birth in Sierra Leone than almost anywhere in the world. This is not just a [...]

Khairunissa Dhala is a campaigner in Amnesty International’s Africa team. After days, weeks and months of planning, the first day of the caravan and campaign launch on maternal mortality in Sierra Leone has arrived! The event is being held at Bishop Johnson Memorial School, which is next door to Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) and one of [...]

By Tim Molyneux, a volunteer working in Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka team. On Wednesday 1 September, the Sri Lanka Team at Amnesty International’s International Secretariat organised a vigil outside Parliament Square in London. We gathered to protest against the sentencing of Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam, known as Tissa to his friends and family, to 20 years ‘vigorous [...]