Anthony Graves speaking in Zürich

Anthony Graves will be telling us his story of spending 18 years behind bars, including 12 on death row, for murders that prosecutors now say he didn't commit.

Anthony Graves thus became the 138th Death row inmate, wrongfully accused, and exonerated since 1973 - an interesting reflection of the justice system. Just months after his release, Anthony Graves comes to Switzerland to report on the death penalty and life on death row.

Date and time:
12 May · 12:30 - 14:00

Location:
Universität Zürich - Ko2-F-174
Rämistrasse 71

Nothilfe / Emergency Assistance Campaign

Amnesty International and several other groups launched a campaign on 3 February 2011 to criticize the "emergency assistance" (or "Nothilfe" in German) system in Switzerland for asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected. Amnesty International believes that the emergency assistance system violates the human rights and human dignity of failed asylum seekers.

The main objectives of the campaign are as follows:

- to force the cantons to review the emergency assistance program

- to ensure that particularly vulnerable persons, such as the traumatized, ill, pregnant women, unaccompanied minors, families with children and unmarried women, won't fall within the emergency assistance system and could instead benefit from ordinary social assistance

- to guarantee that children have the right to go to school and receive access to proper nutrition

On 7 February, a "Container Action" was organized in Zurich and which ran for one full week, until 13 February. The container symbolized the loneliness and isolation experienced by asylum seekers. It also demonstrated the inadequate space that asylum seekers live in, as well as the lack of any privacy. The container had photos and information about the emergency assistance system. Members of the Amnesty International English Speaking Group in Zurich participated in the action, collected signatures for a petition and distributed "Nothilfe" sets.

Below are a few photos from the container action in Zurich.

Cool video about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

End the segregation of Romani children in Slovakia’s schools

The Amnesty International Zurich English Group is taking action on behalf of the thousands of Romani children across Slovakia who remain trapped in substandard education as a result of widespread discrimination and a school system that keeps failing them.

What we did

We sent a letter to the Slovak authorities, urging them to take the necessary measures to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education free from discrimination for all children and to end racial segregation in education.

We also signed colourful keys, which we have sent to the Slovak authorities. These keys symbolize the following:

- They remind the government that it holds the key to allow the Roma in Slovakia full participation in Slovak and European society.

- We want them to unlock and open up the doors in situations in which Romani children from kindergarten onwards are sometimes locked into separate classrooms, corridors or buildings, separated even at lunchtimes, to prevent them from mixing with non-Romani children.

Background

Segregation of Romani children takes various forms: in several districts, Romani children attend ethnically segregated mainstream schools and classes that often operate reduced curriculums.

In regions with large Romani populations at least three out of four children in special schools designed for pupils with "mild mental disabilities" are Roma; across the country as a whole, Roma represent 85 per cent of children attending special classes. Yet, Roma comprise less than 10 per cent of Slovakia’s total population.

Slovakia’s mainstream elementary-school system is ill-equipped and education professionals are often unwilling to provide the additional support that pupils from different ethnic and social backgrounds often need.

For many Roma, Slovak is not a first language. Cultural differences and high levels of poverty among Roma mean that they often need additional language, pre-school or classroom assistance. When these needs are not met, many Romani children fall behind and are transferred out of mainstream education – either to special classes in mainstream schools or to dedicated special schools.

Romani children who are placed at special schools or classes have very little chance of being reintegrated in mainstream education. Additionally, when pupils finish elementary school under a special curriculum, they receive lower graded certificates, which restrict them to attending special-secondary school. This involves a programme of two or three years’ vocational training to become, for example, butchers, bricklayers, shoemakers, domestic workers or gardeners.

Discrimination and segregation in Slovak schools exclude Roma from full participation in society and lock them into a cycle of poverty and marginalization.

Slovakia’s 2008 Schools Act bans all forms of discrimination, particularly segregation. But it fails to clearly define segregation, or include robust guidelines and measures to help education authorities identify and monitor segregation and enforce desegregation. Effective measures to implement the ban have yet to be put in place.

The new government’s recently stated commitment to eliminate segregated schooling of Roma, included in the coalition government’s programme adopted in August 2010 is, however, a welcome development.

The Slovak government has much to do to end the segregation that has an impact on a large part of the country’s population. Segregation in education means a life-long stigma for children whose future chances are brutally limited. The choices that the government makes now will affect the lives of thousands of Romani children. The government holds the key to allow the Roma in Slovakia full participation in Slovak and European society.

AI in Pub Treasure Hunt

Friday October 22 Hanneke, Marz, Adrian, Richard and Annemiek dressed up in black, put on sunglasses and covered themselves with smileys (to have a hint of AI color). Then, they made themselves comfortable in bar Rossi sitting between the soccer posters and AI flyers.

As part of the Zürich Pub Treasure Hunt about 120 people passed by and received the following questions (among others):

1. What does 48626 744487 say? Name 2 of these you are using now.
2. Why would you contact Marz?

Do you know the answers? If not, scroll down.

Almost all of the participants successfully spent some time thinking about AI or related subjects, answered the questions right and some took the flyers home.






1. Human Rights (on your phone), e.g:
- Freedom to move
- Right to public assembly
- Right to play (/rest)
2. To have more information about the Englich AI Zürich Group

Update on Imprisoned Russian Human Rights Defender

On September 9, 2010, Aleksei Sokolov was transferred from a remand centre in Novosibirsk to Krasnovarsk Region where he is due to serve his sentence. His family does not know yet which prison colony in Krasnovarsk Region he was sent to.

Until Amnesty International knows which prison colony he has been sent to, it is not possible to send Aleksei Sokolov letters of support. However, our support is very important for Aleksei Sokolov. His wife told an Amnesty International activist:

‘Every member of Amnesty International is a friend to Aleksei. He could only hold on during this year and a half thanks to your words of support, your letters, cards and your actions.’

As Aleksei Sokolov is at imminent risk of torture and other ill-treatment, Amnesty International Zurich English Speaking group is continuing to write to the authorities, asking them to bring about the following:

• to ensure Aleksei Sokolov's second appeal is given a full and fair hearing
• to ensure he is not subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment while in custody
• to ensure that he is given daily exercise and nutritious food, and is given his correspondence while in custody
• to transfer him to a detention centre closer to his home in the city of Yekateringburg where it is easier for his family and legal team to maintain close contact with him
• to conduct a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into allegations that he has been beaten by prison guards while being held in a remand centre in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia, and to bring those responsible to justice

Amnesty International continues to believe that Aleksei Sokolov is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression in the course of his lawful human rights activities in Russia. He should be allowed to pursue his lawful activities as a human rights defender in Russia without fear of repercussions.

UPDATE: Russian human rights defender beaten

Russian human rights defender Aleksei Sokolov is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. He is currently held in a remand centre in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia, where he has allegedly been beaten by prison guards. In the coming days he is due to be transferred to a prison in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, thousands of kilometres from his home. He remains at risk of further torture and ill-treatment.

Aleksei Sokolov, the head of a Russian human rights organization, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in May 2010 for theft and robbery. His sentence, which was imposed after a trial held with several reported violations of fair trial standards, was reduced to three years' imprisonment on appeal. His lawyers are planning a further appeal. Amnesty International is concerned that Aleksei Sokolov may be a prisoner of conscience, targeted for his human rights work.

According to his lawyers, Aleksei Sokolov has been ordered to serve his sentence in Krasnoyarsk, more than 2,000 kilometres from the city of Yekaterinburg, where he lives and where he has been held until 25 August. On 26 August, he was transferred to the FGU IZ-54/1 remand centre in Novosibirsk, located between Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk. Local sources have reported to Amnesty International that shortly after his arrival in Novosibirsk, he was beaten up by prison guards and that he has also been placed in solitary confinement for several hours. Amnesty International is concerned that Aleksei Sokolov could face similar treatment in Krasnoyarsk.

Amnesty International is concerned that sending Aleksei Sokolov to serve his sentence far from his home does not comply with international human rights standards requiring that prisoners should serve their sentence close to their home whenever possible, in particular to allow for family visits. Aleksei Sokolov’s transfer to Krasnoyarsk prison colony also makes communication with his lawyers more difficult, which might violate his right to receive a fair hearing of his intended second appeal. The decision to send him to Krasnoyarsk was allegedly given in a special directive from the Russian Prison Service received by the prison authorities in Yekaterinburg shortly after his sentence was reduced on appeal.

For further information, please see: Russian Federation: Further information: Russian human rights defender beaten: Aleksei Sokolov (EUR 46/031/2010), September 2010.