Note from Naomi

Thought 2016 wasn’t worth celebrating? Think again:

• Myanmar student activist Phyoe Phyoe Aung was released in April as part of a prisoner amnesty

in Myanmar. Phyoe Phyoe Aung had been detained in March 2015 after helping organise

peaceful student protests.

• The Australian Government began an inquiry into the abuse of kids in prisons in the Northern

Territory (fingers crossed we’ll see some good results once the inquiry is finished).

• In the US, Albert Woodfox was released from prison, after more than four decades in solitary

confinement.

• Pro-democracy activist Father Nguyen Van Ly was released from prison in Vietnam, months

before the end of his sentence.

• In Iran, teenager Alireza Tajiki was saved from hanging after a global outcry against his death

sentence.

• The Queensland Government announced plans to introduce a Human Rights Act.

• 10 anti-slavery activists were released in Mauritania, after initially being sentenced to between

three and 15 years in prison for their activism.

• María Teresa Rivera, jailed in 2011 and sentenced to 40 years in prison for “aggravated

homicide” after having a miscarriage, walked free.

• All up in 2016, Amnesty supporters helped free over 650 people unfairly imprisoned!

Thank you for all that you did last year – your commitment and passion has helped change lives

and protect the rights of people and communities throughout the world.

And now that 2017 is well underway – we’ve got work to do. In your Semester 1 Campus Bulletin

you’ll find:

• Everything you need to know to get your O-Week activities up and running.

• Key dates for Semester 1 and opportunities to get more involved with Amnesty.

• Some great ideas and tips for your group after O-Week.

This is just a small guide to help you and your campus group have a great year. Check in with your

local Community Organiser and Activism Support Coordinator for other opportunities and resources.

Find contact details at: www.amnesty.org.au/groups/centre

Have a really great O-Week and enjoy Semester 1.

All the best,

Naomi

National Youth Coordinator

Amnesty International Australia

CAMPUS BULLETIN SEMESTER 1, 2017

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that this land was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

KEY DATES: SEMESTER 1

8 MARCH: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

20 MARCH: HARMONY DAY

16 MARCH: CLOSE THE GAP DAY

3 MAY: WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

26 MAY: NATIONAL SORRY DAY

27 MAY: 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1967 REFERENDUM

27 MAY- 3 JUNE: NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK

28 MAY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S BIRTHDAY

3 JUNE: MABO DAY

2 JULY-9 JULY: NAIDOC WEEK

Activism Planner:

Head to the online Activism Planner for the next six months ahead, our priority campaigns and suggestions for activities to get involved in. You can also print it if you need copies on the go.

MAR

MAY

JUNE

Key dates for 2017 to build events and partnerships around:

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

“To be finally recognised as equal members of our society and to be respected and accepted would

mean the world to us.” Cass and Lara, Sydney

WHY MARRIAGE EQUALITY?

Because love is love. Simple as that.

The right of adults to enter into consensual marriage is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 16). No-one should be denied the right to marry the person they love because of their gender or sexuality.

We need marriage equality:

1. For fairness. Fairness and equality is the bedrock of who Australians are and what we stand for. Everyone should be treated equally under the law and given the same rights. It’s time our Marriage Act was updated to reflect the values we’re most proud of.

2. For love and commitment. Marriage is a powerful way for couples to celebrate their love and commitment to one another. It provides security, dignity and joy to the couple and their family. Updating the Marriage Act will mean that everyone will have the opportunity to commit to the person they love under the law.

• For progress. Most Australians agree it’s time for our LGBTQI neighbours, friends and family members to have the same rights as everyone else. It won’t make any difference to the majority of Australians but it will make a huge difference to our LGBTQI community.

O-WEEK 2017: MARRIAGE EQUALITY

WHY NOW?

It’s time: Australians are coming together like never before to ensure every couple is treated fairly under the law. Two-thirds of Australians, as well as a majority of parliamentarians, agree with marriage equality. The leaders of both major parties support marriage equality. As a nation we are lagging behind so many of our global neighbours.

We’re so close to making this happen. 2017 can be the year we celebrate and recognise the love and commitment of all Australians wanting to get married – if we show our MPs and Senators that we’re not giving up.

The fight for marriage equality is about the people we love. Our friends, our families, our colleagues and communities. This is about love and commitment.

And best of all – it’s easy. This is all easily fixed with a vote in parliament.

We’re so close. Let’s keep going.

No one gets it done alone …

We’re really proud to be a part of the Equality Campaign and to be partnering with Australian Marriage Equality. Over 1000 state and national NGOs, business and community groups are a part of this campaign including Human Rights Watch, GetUp, Greenpeace and Australian Progress.

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

O-WEEK ACTIONSSo many ways to take action for Marriage Equality this O-Week ….

1. LOVE LETTERS: • Send love letters to your Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators.

• Ask people on campus to share a few thoughts with parliamentarians about why marriage equality matters to them. The letters don’t need to be lengthy or heavy on the human rights front – what will have the biggest impact is sharing personal stories and thoughts about the people we love, talking about mates, family members, and colleagues. We want to demonstrate a groundswell of support so that our MPs will be confident to support marriage equality.

• Once O-Week is done, you’ll need to get these letters to your local MP or Senator pretty quickly – more about that later. :-)

• Download love letter templates and cards here

Dear Malcolm...

“ One of the most powerful actions that people can take to make marriage equality happen is to share their stories and the reasons why this reform is important to them with others,” Dr Shirleene Robinson, Equality Campaign

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

#EQUALITYNOW

2. MARRIAGE EQUALITY PETITION:

O-Week is a busy time and not everyone is going to be able to write a love letter … but they can still take action by signing Amnesty International’s Marriage equality petition. The petition calls on the major political parties to pave the way for the parliament to legislate for marriage equality.

The petition asks the leaders of the major parties to:

• Put together a cross party working group which includes members of the LGBTQI community tasked with developing a plan to achieve marriage equality.

• Proactively work on and support a cross party bill for marriage equality.

• Hold a parliamentary vote on the cross party bill.

• Marriage Equality petitions are available here.

3. EQUALITY NOW PHOTO ACTION

Make sure your message of marriage equality gets seen. Photo actions are a great way to keep the conversation going at your O-Week event, have a bit of fun and build digital content to share and use going forward. While people are writing their love letters, invite them to take an Equality Now photo. Make sure you’ve got multiple copies of Amnesty’s Equality Now poster and get them laminated to keep them nice.

Photos can be individuals, couple, groups - whatever. Laughs, hugs and kisses welcome! The end result: great photos of happy people keen to see marriage equality in Australia.

Sharing it on your social media? Add one of the following hashtags:

We’re keen to use these photos on the website and social media -- keep your hands steady and check ‘Taking Photos At Events’

#LOVEISLOVE#LOVEISAHUMANRIGHT

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

4. COVER THE CAMPUS:

Brighten up your campus in the lead up to O-Week 2017 and make sure that messages of love, commitment and marriage equality are impossible to miss!

There are three poster designs waiting to be taped to doors, bollards, bars and tutorial rooms across your campus (be mindful to put them where they won’t get ripped down immediately; think of the trees!)

RESOURCES:

• Amnesty's Marriage Equality posters and petitions

• The Equality Campaign also have some sweet posters here!

TIPS:

O-Week is the best opportunity you’ll have all year to get new people involved in Amnesty on campus - so it’s really important to make your stall, event or O-Week activity as engaging, bright and fun as possible. Some important basics to remember:

• Have fun: It might seem obvious but be sure to have fun! It can be daunting for new students to approach a stall. If they see you smiling, laughing and generally being the awesome people that you are - they are more likely to want to be a part of your group

• Roles and responsibilities: make sure you and your group know what is going on. Who is taking photos?”, who is looking after the sign-up sheet?, who is in charge of handing out freebies and who is making sure everyone has sunblock on? Teamwork is essential!!

• Theme it: Marriage Equality means lots of bright colours for your stall.

GIVEAWAYS:

No O-Week stall would be complete without a freebie here or there. Tried and tested freebies include:

• Food! Cupcakes, lollies and other goodies are always a hit (be sure to mention what contains nuts/gluten/dairy etc)

• Merchandise: who doesn’t love a good Amnesty totebag, highlighter, or stickers These are things that students will use throughout the year and remind them that your group exists! Ask your community organiser to hook you up.

• Music: though not actually a giveaway, a killer upbeat spotify playlist is a must

• Info: be sure to include a pamphlet/handout that has all your details on it. Email, social media details, convener name and even time and day of meetup if you have that established

• Have a sign-up sheet for people interested in joining your group.

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

After an amazing O-Week your next (and pretty urgent) step is to make sure your MP and Senator get your amazing letters.

MPs and Senators need to receive letters by mid-March. You have a couple of options for delivery.

Signed. Sealed. Delivered: posting your love letters

You can bundle up your actions and send them directly to your MP with a cover letter explaining what the letters of love are and what you want your MP to do.

Writing a cover letter is super easy:

1. Salutation (look it up online, it’ll be different for MPs, senators and ministers)

2. Keep it positive and constructive. Use the points covered off on the second page about why we need marraige equality (for fairness, for love and commitment, for progress and because it’s easy!)

3. Ask for a response.

Don’t forget! Before sending the love letters, cut off the action slips with people's details on the love letters and send them to your action centre. We use this to keep action takers engaged with our campaigns and to get them to take other actions and step up actions to increase our impact.

Delivering your love letters in personGet a meeting. Call your MP's local electorate office. Tell them your name, that you’re a constituent of the MP and that you represent a group (ie convenor of XXX Uni Group). Ask for a meeting with your MP to discuss marriage equality.

Prepare your three main points. Meetings often last between 10 and 20 minutes, and sometimes the MP will be called away. This means you should have a think about what you want to say before you go in. Three main points should be enough. You can use the points on page 2 as a starting point. You may also be given a meeting with a staffer; this is still great because they’ll pass the details of your meeting onto the MP.

Decide who to take along. Pollies are most influenced by their constituents and people directly affected by an issue. You may have a person in your group who identifies as LGBTQI, or a working relationship with an LGBTQI group on campus. If you can, take these people along and help raise their voice.

Let us know how you went. Call or email your organiser and tell us how your meeting went. This information helps us keep our strategy fresh and up to date so we can maximise our human rights impact.

Want to even more info to prepare for your meeting? Check out the marriage equality question and response guide in the Equality Toolkit and the Amnesty Advocacy Guide and webinars for more detail on best practice for lobby meetings with MPs.

DELIVERING YOUR ACTIONS

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

O-Week is just the start of your exciting year of activism. Being a Campus Group Convener is a challenging and rewarding way to contribute to Amnesty's human rights campaigns.

These basic steps can help you start Semester 1 on the right foot!

Before your first meeting:

Spread the word

• Decide on a date for your first group meeting of the year! A doodle poll is a great way to select a date: just list 2 or 3 dates and times in the poll, then ask your members to vote. The most popular date is when you host your first meeting!

• O-Week provided your group with the opportunity to find new members. Now you can divide the phone numbers from the ‘sign-up’ sheet you had at your stall between existing group members. Ask your current group members to call or text an invite to each person on their list about your upcoming meeting.

• Think of some other ways to promote your group – is there a bulletin board on campus? Let people know they are welcome to join you for a meet and greet!

• Make sure you save all your contact details of your members somewhere, including any new faces at your meetings, so you can let them know when the next one is happening.

Plan for Semester 1

• Working on one campaign per semester might be better than focusing on two or three. Think about tactics that could help further that campaign – maybe your group is interested in MP engagement or hosting an event.

• Are there there things you need to do to make sure your Amnesty Group is affiliated to the Students’ Association or Clubs Association? Make sure you know what is expected of clubs on your campus.

• Know someone else involved in a club on campus? Have a chat to them about tips and tricks they ave for a successful club on campus.

Host an awesome first meeting!• Stick to your agenda – Be mindful of the time and keeping to it. It is important to respect

people’s time and also your own. Nominate a timekeeper if necessary.

• Let people know what the meeting is about – provide clarity and keep to your agenda.

• Get to know people, their strengths and interests. People are skilled in so many ways and these could be an asset to your group. Use this to delegate roles: social media, secretary etc.

• Establish group norms – how do you want to work as a group, how will you communicate, what is expected of members?

• Familiarise everyone with Amnesty and what it means to be a part of a uni group. Your initial meeting should act as a meet and greet, as well as an opportunity to map out the semester.

• Confirm next meeting date, time and location – get a commitment from people to attend.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

THREE WAYS TO STEP UP YOUR IMPACT...

ARTillery Creative? Think arts and human rights is a great way to change the world? Join ARTillery. ARTillery uses art and creative practice to engage with the local community to create awareness, open up a dialogue and encourage people to take action on different national and international human rights issues. This can be through spoken word and poetry nights, live music events, art exhibitions and public installation projects that touch on campaigns close to the heart of Amnesty International’s work.

Be a part of your action centre Need a space to run a planning or training session? Need to make banners and materials for an event? Use the action centre. It is a great space to utilise for your Campus Group. Get to know other activists and volunteers, make a time to catch up with your Community Organiser and Activism Support Coordinator or just pop in to say hi. This is your space.

Head to your 2017 Branch Annual General Meeting Branch Annual General Meeting (BAGM) is your opportunity to tell us your thoughts and take part in the conversation that shapes the future of the Amnesty movement in your region.

It's a chance to engage more deeply with human rights protection, meet other Amnesty activists, get the low-down on our campaigns and successes over the past year and learn about Amnesty in your community. Watch out for details and make sure you head along to BAGM this May.

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

CAMPUS GROUP PROFILE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY

Convener: Ruby Wawn

What made you want to get involved with Amnesty International Australia?When I started at university, began to think more critically and understand my own privilege I felt empowered and inspired to take action on the issues I care about, namely human rights. I got involved with Amnesty as I found it to be a really accessible entry point to human rights activism as there are so many amazing training opportunities and so much support but you're also encouraged to take ownership of the work you are doing and learn by doing it yourself. There's that saying that people come for the cause but stay for the relationships and that's so true of the famnesty, they won't be getting rid of me any time soon!

Tell us about your campus group? What did you get up to in 2016?Amnesty UTS is a small group of committed activists on campus. Although we are a small group, one of our strengths is that we are able to collaborate really effectively with other groups and units on campus. We had a really strong year in 2016 with a number of events and achievements that we are really proud of. Some of the highlights include:

• A celebration of current and former students of UTS of refugee background in collaboration with the Society of Communications.

• A speaker night reflecting on 25 years of reconciliation with speakers from Jumbunna UTS.

• A screening of 'Cast from the Storm'.

• A sold out screening of 'Chasing Asylum' in collaboration with Equity and Diversity for Diversity Week attended by over 160 people where we raised close to $900 for Gifts for Manus and Nauru, an organisation that provides phone credit and care packages to people in offshore detention.

• An article featuring Amnesty UTS published in U:Magazine.

• A stall at the inaugural 'Social Justice Markets' with information about Amnesty's refugee campaign.

• And to top if all off we were nominated for the Elizabeth Hastings Memorial Award for Student Community Contribution at the 2016 UTS Human Rights Awards.

We finished off the year in the spirit of giving by organising a care package to send to a man living on Manus Island who is experiencing mental health issues and is in serious need of some creature comforts and distractions.

What do you want to achieve in 2017 as a group?In 2017 Amnesty UTS wants to transition to a campaigns based focus. Currently our main focus is to put on awareness raising events about issues we think might be of interest to the UTS student community however we are hoping next year to have a semester long campaign focus and do a number of events and activities relating to that campaign. We are also hoping to continue our collaborations with other groups and units at UTS and grow our core and committed group members.

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

AGENDA TEMPLATE

1. Meeting start

––Discuss the agenda and add any new items.

––Welcome new members.

2.Discuss forthcoming activities

––Planning for future campaign events and recruitment initiatives.

3.Discuss other possible future events

––Brainstorm new ideas and report back on research on feasibility ofother ideas.

4.Campaign updates

––Group members update each other on important campaign initiativesor new materials available.

5.New items

6.Parked items

7.Next meeting

8.Action points

9.Urgent Action appeal

Amnesty International Australia February 2017

1. Meeting start

– We welcomed our new member James.

– Rual was assigned to be James’ buddy to answer his questions.

– Snezana added the agenda item: ‘what to do with funds raised fromthe movie night?’

2.Discuss forthcoming activities

––Discussion about upcoming letter marathon. Rual has booked a stallfor us at Footscray market.

––Possibility of splitting into two groups on the day and having asecond stall at the actual university for recruitment was brought up. Members asked to make commitment about if they could attend both by next meeting.

––Convenor (Snezana) has volunteered to organise printing with theVictorian action centre.

3.Discuss other possible future events

––Quinn reported back on her research about holding a candlelit vigil atFederation Square for recent events in Iran.

––Apparently Victorian action centre wants to do something too. Quinnwill attend meeting this week with VAC & LaTrobe Uni who also want to do something then report back.

––Quinn also told us that if situation worsens we’d do a crisis responsewith groups from all over Victoria.

––Mica said he thought we should only do it if it’s a crisis response because otherwise we might double up if crisis response later declared.

––General consensus on Mica’s proposition.

4.Campaign updates

––Snezana informed us of updates.

––Margot requested that we order more demand dignity leaflets in advance of the letter-writing marathon. Snezana will do this.

––James asked about current campaigns. Rual will update him over coffee next week.

5.New items

––Margot informed Snezana that funds need to go to the action centre. Mica lives near there so he will deliver them.

6.Parked items

––We constantly discuss the need for space to store our materials for all events. James has volunteered to talk to the student union about a locker.

7.Next meeting

––Because of all the stuff happening, we’ll have next meeting in a week(same time and place).

––Margot to advertise meeting via Facebook.

8.Action points

––Snezana to organise printing for letter marathon with action centre

––(All) can you commit to two stalls for letter marathon?

––Snezana to order more demand dignity leaflets from the action centre

––Quinn to attend meeting on Iran and report back.

––Mica to deliver funds to action centre.

––James to investigate possibility of a locker.

––Margot to advertise meeting on Facebook.

MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE

CHECKLISTS FOR YOUR GROUPIn a hurry and want to double-check that you’ve thought of everything? Here’s some quick checklists to help you.

1 START UP

Held a stall, event etc

Advertised a first meeting

Held a first meeting

Affiliated to your university

Set goals for the year

3 MEETINGS

Agenda

Action plan

Next meeting date decided

Someone put in charge to publicise the next meeting

Letter writing action done

Sent letter writing actions to the action centre

2 STALLS

Got council permission

Told action centre

Got sign-up sheet

Got petition or letter action

Have a banner

Contacted all sign ups afterwards

Passed all relevant letters, petitions and contact details onto the action centre

4 HANDOVER

Passed over contact details of action centre

Given action centre details of the new convenor

Explained university affiliation process

Deadline guide for O Week stalls

EVENT CHECKLIST

EVENT PROPOSAL Completed event proposal and sent to community organiser.

CAMPAIGN FOCUS Discussed with community organiser. Prepared focus materials.

EVENT PLAN Developed an event plan with details of activities and speakers. The chosen campaign will often determine what you do.

SITE/VENUE Venue confirmed and booked.

SPEAKERS/MC Are speakers required? Have they been confirmed? Do we need an MC? MC confirmed

BUDGET Drafted budget. Checked how much we’re able to spend. Decided on entry tickets or free event. Spoke to community organiser about any problems. Kept track of budget/expenditure.

CATERING Is catering required? Catering confirmed with venue.

ATTENDEES/ ADVERTISEMENT

Potential attendees notified (branch committee etc) by email. Facebook event/Twitter/website/newsletter. Flyers, posters etc. posted around university campus. Assistance from other campus groups. Assistance from university guild or union. Media team notified. Media release sent.

VOLUNTEERS Decided on volunteer roles for the event. Contacted group to confirm numbers.

EQUIPMENT Checked what equipment is required – audio/visual, stalls, marquees etc. Obtained three quotes for hire equipment. Booked hire equipment. Paid for hire equipment. Checked what material the action centre has before hiring equipment.