A UNIVERSALLY recognised human rights authority is celebrating 60 years of fighting to protect worldwide injustices.<\/p>\n
Since 1961 Amnesty International has campaigned for refugees, indigenous justice, women\u2019s rights, to end the death penalty and more.<\/p>\n
Convener of the Group Jan Govett said celebrations will be happening all around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a remarkable organisation growing from one man\u2019s idea through to being in 150 countries around the world with 10 million members and supporters, it\u2019s quite spectacular,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be really nice if we didn\u2019t need Amnesty but considering what goes on in the world, we need people to speak up and stand up for those who can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bendigo Amnesty will celebrate its 45th anniversary with a members\u2019 dinner, a month-long display in Bendigo Library, and a stall at the Moonlight Market on Saturday, 8 May.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we\u2019ve got four new young members so it\u2019s still growing, it evolves all the time as people move on with their lives and out of the town and other people move in,\u201d Ms Govett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do a lot of letter writing; as the group got older, we became less active on the streets but we\u2019re back on the streets as you can see now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Govett said she is excited to set up at the Moonlight Market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been to the Moonlight Market before but on Facebook it looks like quite the event,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it\u2019d be really good publicity for us to be involved in that, we\u2019ve produced a lot of material, a petition for people to sign as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Amnesty is more than setting up stalls and rallies, with members believing it has a real power to protect human rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey talk to government; this is an organisation that doesn\u2019t just talk to people on the street,\u201d Ms Govett. \u201cI think the organisation behind what we do is so good, so strong and so reliable. There\u2019s an integrity to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreedom is a fundamental right, and it\u2019s so badly treated around the round in so many places where if we did what we\u2019re doing we\u2019d be locked up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s rights, to end the death penalty and more. Convener of the Group Jan Govett said celebrations will be happening all around the world. \u201cIt\u2019s been a remarkable organisation […]<\/p>\n