Turn the Tide of the Immigration Debate

A fever of anti-immigrant sentiment is sweeping the nation and it is up to us to turn the tide. We all worried that this would happen as soon as Arizona's openly discriminatory and unfair SB1070 immigration bill was signed into law-- a bill which in effect makes racial profiling legal. Now, our worst fears have been confirmed.

In three days, SB1070 will go into effect, but the tragedy does not end there. Nine other U.S. states are considering similar policies. Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia all have anti-immigrant bills up for consideration, and many other states and smaller localities are poised to follow suit.

As soon as one state was able to sign discrimination into law, anti-immigrant forces everywhere were encouraged by this dubious "success." We have to act now to make sure the insanity ends here. Let the world know that immigrants too have human rights and that these rights are non-negotiable. You can take action online here. Take the time. Make the difference.

Sri lanka Event a Success

Today, Thursday July 22nd, the Amnesty International Midwest Office took a trip to Federal Plaza to raise awareness about war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has been racked for almost three decades by a bloody civil war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil Tigers-- a separatist group seeking an independent state for the island's Tamil minority. The civil war finally came to an end last year, but at the cost of thousands of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. The internally displaced have been subjected to poor living conditions and had their freedom of movement restricted by the authorities for most of last year. What is more, many victims of past crimes have been left without recourse to justice.

Amnesty International is calling on the international community and the United Nations to support an independent, impartial investigation into past atrocities and war crimes in Sri Lanka-- to demand accountability and to ensure that no one's human rights in Sri Lanka will be violated again. The Sri Lankan government is currently conducting its own investigation into the history of the civil war, but as one of the parties to the conflict, it can hardly be expected to be impartial-- it also has a poor record of investigating abuses in the past and holding those guilty accountable.

We must end impunity for war criminals and take a step toward righting past wrongs. Amnesty does not favor one side or the other in the Sri Lankan civil war-- both sides have committed gross atrocities, including bombing civilians, using human shields, and conscripting child soldiers. Accountability means holding both sides to the higher standard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The interns at the Amnesty Midwest office held signs, distributed literature, and explained to the passers-by what is taking place in Sri Lanka and what needs to change. Our most important task of the day, however, was to collect signatures for a petition to President Obama, demanding that the United States provide international support and leadership on this issue. We received numerous positive responses from those who visited with us, and we thank the people of Chicago for their interest.

Help us keep the struggle for human rights in Sri Lanka alive. You can take action online here and here. Make your voice heard.

Tribal Law and Order Act passes!

Another victory for Amnesty International and for women's rights! The Tribal Law and Order Act has passed the House of Representatives and will soon be signed into law by president Obama. Thank you for your support and hard work making this bill a political reality.

Support the Tribal Law and Order Act

An important bill is about to come before the House and it is essential that it be passed. This bill could mean an end to arbitrary violence against Native American and Native Alaskan women. These women face truly horrific rates of rape, abuse, and sexual violence-- far higher than any other group of women. In interviews conducted by Amnesty, some indigenous women reported that every woman they knew in their community had experienced sexual violence at some point in their past. Most such cases are never reported to the authorities-- fewer still are brought to a just conclusion.

Statistics gathered by Amnesty report that nearly 86% of reported rapes against indigenous women are committed by non-Native men-- a brutal reminder of this country's ghastly history of cruelty and violence against the continent's original inhabitants.

The Tribal Law and Order Act will put an end to what Amnesty has called a "maze of injustice"-- meaning the nebulous legal zone between state, federal, and tribal law in which abused Native women find themselves. In this legal grey area, indigenous women are often stranded without any recourse to higher authorities. Make sure that the House passes this bill as soon as possible and helps put a stop to sexual violence. Take action now.

Sri Lanka Event Thursday 22

The Amnesty Midwest Regional office is hosting an event on Thursday in downtown Chicago to raise awareness about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. The event will be held in Federal Plaza from 12-1PM and will include petitions and a membership drive.

Sri Lanka's decades-old civil war has finally come to an end, but the reign of terror and impunity has not. The perpetrators of much of the violence and abuse of the war years remain unpunished and accountability is far from being restored. Perhaps more importantly, Sri Lanka is home to 12,000 displaced persons who live in a horrifying, rights-free condition. They are subject to poverty, arbitrary arrest, and frequent unfounded accusations of involvement with the defeated LTTE (Tamil Tigers)-- the radical separatist group which fought the Sri Lankan government during the civil war.

Those within Sri Lanka who seek to draw attention to thse issues-- including journalists, writers, and couraeous iondividuals, often face detention and abuse for their willingness to speak out.

Help us bring these injustices to an end. Join us Thursday for a day of awareness and activism.

Release Filep Karma

Amnesty is pleased to announce the release of Yusak Pakage, an Indonesian prisoner of conscience and Amnesty International priority case. Pakage was arrested for raising the flag of his native Papua, the symbol of that province's independence from the Indonesian state. He has spent the last six years of his life in prison for exercising his right to free expression and political dissent.

We celebrate his release-- however, another Amnesty priority case, Filep Karma, who was arrested with Pakage for the same crime, remains behind bars. What is worse, Karma's health is failing and he may not live to see the day of his release. Help us support Filep Karma and call on the Indonesian state to free him at once. You could help us save a life.

Stop the Iranian Government's Revolving Door of Death

The Iranian Government maintains what Amnesty has described as an "assembly line of execution"-- not an unfair characterization of a "justice" system in which a mother of two may face death for the crime of adultery.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is accused of engaging in an "illicit relationship outside of marriage"-- for this, she was scheduled to be stoned to death. This horrifying procedure involves being buried up to one's waist and having heavy stones hurled at one's head until one dies. Stoning is one of the most cruel and painful methods of execution in the world, which is why many organizations committed to abolishing the death penalty give its abolition particular emphasis.

Thankfully, the international outcry from Amnesty and its allies in the human rights community prevented the execution from taking place. However, Ashtiani remains behind bars and the Iranian government is refusing to say what fate awaits her. We absolutely must keep the pressure on if we are to save this woman's life and ensure that her two children do not lose a mother.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government has plans to execute countless other individuals-- get it right, execution and capital punishment are inexcusable, whatever the means used.

Take action to save lives. Ensure that the Iranian government does not get away with its crimes. Stop the revolving door of death.

Bring War Criminals to Justice

Amnesty International is calling on the United States government and the international community to steps toward global cooperation and support the International Criminal Court.

Currently, a wall of impunity surrounds the war criminals responsible for the atrocities in Darfur-- very few have been brought to justice and the most ruthless perpetrators roam free, often committing the same crimes they have been engaged in for the past seven years. We need international accountability. We demand justice for the victims of the war crimes in Darfur.

This is why we must strengthen the International Criminal Court. Do your part. Take action now!

An Amnesty success story-- and another reason to keep up the fight

We are pleased to announce the release from Guantanamo Bay of Mohammed al-Odaini, a young man who was detained without charge or trial for eight years-- from the age of 18 to 26. He will be returning to his home country of Yemen after spending a good part of his young life in jail for no legitimate reason.

We would like to thank the many Amnesty supporters who sent letters and postcards demanding Odaini's release and standing up for the human rights of all. We would also like to congratualte those who organized events, screenings and vigils. Finally, we at the Midwest Regional Office, located in Chicago, can take personal pride in the fact that two local groups in our region-- Local Group 50 in Chicago and Local Group 139 in Wisconsin-- took up Odaini's case with particular instistence.

Amnesty members and supporters like you make the difference. Your letters and acts of solidarity may well have saved a life.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Chicago Local Group Meeting

After a long hiatus, the Chicago city local group is starting up once more! If you are interesting in joining and in having a long-term impact on the direction and future growth of the group, please come by our office on July 22nd at 6:30 PM.

Our address, for those who don't know, is 53 W Jackson-- suite 731 on the 7th floor.