Human Rights Day and Amnesty International Write for Rights Campaign

The motion

That the Parliament supports Human Rights Day on 10 December 2017; supports the annual Human Rights Day Amnesty International campaign, Write for Rights; believes that the campaign consists of a letter-writing marathon involving millions of people around the globe; invites all Members and staff to participate in Write for Rights at a lunchtime event in the Parliament on 7 December; recognises that, as a result of the international call to action, victims of torture, prisoners of conscience and people facing the death penalty or other human rights violations receive messages of solidarity from thousands of people in far-off corners of the globe, and that those suffering the violations know that their cases are being brought to public attention and they are not forgotten; highlights various success stories from previous Write for Rights campaigns, such as Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower pardoned by Barack Obama, the Palestinian circus performer, Mohammad Abu Sakha, who was released from an Israeli jail in August 2017, the 69-year-old Albert Woodfox, who walked free after 43 years in a Louisiana prison, Maxima Acuna, a Peruvian farmer defying a gold company, criminal charges against whom were dropped, and Muhammad Bekzhanov, one of the longest-imprisoned journalists in the world, freed in February 2017 after spending 17 years behind bars; notes the 2017 campaign cases, including those of the Jamaican, Shackelia Jackson, seeking justice for the unlawful death of her brother Nakeia, Sakris Kupila, a transgender rights activist in Finland, Azza Soliman, a women’s rights lawyer in Egypt facing what it believes are trumped-up charges, immigration detainees held indefinitely in the UK, and the Istanbul 10, including Amnesty International staff, still at risk of re-imprisonment in Turkey; encourages the people of Scotland to send a message of solidarity, and calls on all those with the platform to do so to defend freedom of expression in defence of human rights.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 17 Lab 2 Green 1 LD 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S5M-09390 by reference.