MEDIA RELEASE 30 July 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Activism to the fore during Amnesty International’s Freedom Week

Amnesty International is all about members and supporters taking action for human rights.

This week, Freedom Week (July 28 – August 2), Amnesty International members will be hitting the streets seeking donations to help Amnesty’s work in preventing grievous human rights abuses.

“We’re asking Kiwis to use their freedom to support millions of vulnerable and voiceless individuals in China, Zimbabwe, Darfur and elsewhere, who are detained, tortured, or killed for their identities or beliefs,” says Margaret Taylor, Amnesty International Aotearoa spokesperson.

Events are also being held in Wellington to raise awareness for Amnesty and the issues it works on.

Key events include:

Wellington Girls College in Thorndon have organized numerous events as part of Freedom Challenge this year, including their very own mini-Olympics. The Amnesty Olympics, to be held from 12:45 will 1:40 pm on Thursday August 31st, will include an obstacle course, where students have to climb under nets and over fences that represent the obstacles to achieving universal human rights letters available. Also planned is a three-legged race and a ping-pong and spoon race.

“We really just want to get heaps on people involved and having fun,”explains Wellington Girls Amnesty student coordinator Kate Kan-Shaw.

“But we also want to highlight to people around school that there are serious human rights issues in China, and that they need to be aware about these during the Olympics.”

Contact: Amnesty Wellington Girls College teacher coordinator Lisa McKelvey on 04 472 5743 (8:30-3:30pm weekdays) or 027 457 7517.

Wellington Batucada, the Brazilian percussion group, will be playing on Friday 1 August at the Old Bank Arcade, 233 - 237 Lambton Quay, from 5:15pm onwards.

Wellington Batucada is a community based percussion group which brings the flamboyant world of samba from Brazil to Wellington and endeavours to replicate the authentic samba sound playing a variety of Brazilian rhythms including samba batucada, partido alto, samba reggae, samba funk, and baion.

Thousands of volunteers will be collecting donations around the country on Friday 1 August and Saturday 2 August for Freedom Week, Amnesty’s annual fundraising and human rights awareness week.

An automatic $20 donation can also be made by phoning 0900 AMNESTY.

ENDS

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