Amnesty blows out the candles

A UNIVERSALLY recognised human rights authority is celebrating 60 years of fighting to protect worldwide injustices.

Since 1961 Amnesty International has campaigned for refugees, indigenous justice, women’s rights, to end the death penalty and more.

Convener of the Group Jan Govett said celebrations will be happening all around the world.

“It’s been a remarkable organisation growing from one man’s idea through to being in 150 countries around the world with 10 million members and supporters, it’s quite spectacular,” she said.

“It’d be really nice if we didn’t need Amnesty but considering what goes on in the world, we need people to speak up and stand up for those who can’t.”

Bendigo Amnesty will celebrate its 45th anniversary with a members’ dinner, a month-long display in Bendigo Library, and a stall at the Moonlight Market on Saturday, 8 May.

“This year we’ve got four new young members so it’s still growing, it evolves all the time as people move on with their lives and out of the town and other people move in,” Ms Govett said.

“We do a lot of letter writing; as the group got older, we became less active on the streets but we’re back on the streets as you can see now.”

Ms Govett said she is excited to set up at the Moonlight Market.

“I haven’t been to the Moonlight Market before but on Facebook it looks like quite the event,” she said.

“We thought it’d be really good publicity for us to be involved in that, we’ve produced a lot of material, a petition for people to sign as well.”

But Amnesty is more than setting up stalls and rallies, with members believing it has a real power to protect human rights.

“They talk to government; this is an organisation that doesn’t just talk to people on the street,” Ms Govett. “I think the organisation behind what we do is so good, so strong and so reliable. There’s an integrity to it.

“Freedom is a fundamental right, and it’s so badly treated around the round in so many places where if we did what we’re doing we’d be locked up.”