Annual General Meeting (AGM)
THE 2007 AGM HOST HOTEL
March 23 - March 25, 2007| 9:00 am - 6:00 pm | Registration Open |
| 10:00 am - 7:30 pm | Ideas Fair Open |
| 8:00 am - 4:00 pm | Country Specialist Regency |
| 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm | SIF Committee MacArthur |
| 8:00 am - 4:00 pm | OutFront Steering Committee Founders |
| 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Strategic Planning Advisory Committee Oak |
| 8:00 am - 4:00 pm | Refugee Steering Committee Juneau |
| 9:00 am - 12:00 pm | Area Coordinator Steering Committee MacArthur |
| 12:30 am - 2:00 pm | Area Coordinator lunch MacArthur |
| 8:30 am - 11:00 pm | National Resolutions Committee Miller |
| 9:00 am - 2:00 pm | MSP Working Group Walker |
| 9:00 am - 4:00 pm | Women's Human Rights Program Schlitz |
| 8:00 am - 4:00 pm | National Youth Advisory Committee Usinger |
| Multi-Cultural Assessment & Advisory Committee Oak | |
| 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Individuals At Risk Task Force Pabst |
| 9:00 am - 1:00 pm | National Training Program Steering Committee Pabst |
| 2:00pm - 5:00 pm | Business & Human Rights Steering Committee Walker |
| 8:00 am - 5:00 pm | HRE Curriculum for Change |
| 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Special Training Opportunities |
| 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Make Some Noise for Darfur Rally |
| 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm | Town Hall Meeting with the Board of Directors |
| 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm | Welcoming Plenary The AGM official kick-off begins with welcoming messages from AIUSA's Board Chair, Rick Halperin and the IEC Chair, Lillian Gon çalves-Ho Kang You. Hear from your Executive Director Larry Cox as he precedes the keynote speaker Carol Anderson. The Welcoming Plenary will close on a high note, as we honor this year's Ginetta Sagan Award recipient, Lydia Cacho. |
| 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm | Welcoming Reception |
| 9:00 am - 6:00 pm | AGM Services Registration, Voting Cards, Ideas Fair, Bookstore and Group Sales |
| 7:30 am - 9:30 am | ICM Breakfast Roundtables |
| 9:00 am - 10:45 am | Saturday Program Session I • Torture: The History, the Treatment and the Survivors • Poverty, Human Rights, and Haiti: Affecting Change through Grassroots Advocacy • Online Organizing 1.0 - An interactive workshop on YouTube, social networking sites, blogging and activism • Sri Lanka and Darfur in Distress: Humanitarian Needs in Conflict Zones • Getting a Handle on AI's Policy and Work on Sexual and Reproductive Rights |
| Focus Plenary
Wisconsin's 4th District Congresswoman Gwen Moore will welcome our guests as we thank her formally for her strides in Congress to protect human rights. Board Member Aniket Shah will emcee the Plenary which includes a special presentation to human rights defenders Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift and Neal Katyal for their significant contributions to human rights victories obtained through the courts. Both Swift and Neal were counsel on the Salim Ahmad Hamdan case. To further exemplify the extraordinary change that can be made through activism, POCs Jennifer Latheef and Saad Ibrahim will share their stories about how their life has been impacting by the extraordinary efforts of ordinary people. | |
| 2:00 pm - 3:45 pm | Saturday Program Session II • Beyond Wisconsin: Challenges and Opportunities within the Abolition Movement • Individuals at Risk: How Amnesty's Work on Individuals Makes Big Social Changes • Ending Sexual Assault Against Native American and Alaska Native Women • Scarcity in the Midst of Plenty: Indigenous Rights to Water and Health in the Andes • Youth as Pawns of War: Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo • Human Rights at the Border |
| 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm | Student Networking Lunch |
| 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm | Local Group Caucus Lunch |
| 4:00 pm - 5:00pm | AIUSA New Member Orientation Is this your first Amnesty International conference? Don't know much about Resolutions, AIUSA Policymaking and Voting? If so, this is your opportunity to learn about the organization. Get an introduction to your many opportunities for action and meet grassroots activist from Milwaukee and around the country! |
| 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Resolutions Working Parties |
| 8:30 pm | Slamming for Human Rights |
| 7:30 am - 8:45 am | Board Candidates Forum - Continental Breakfast |
| 9:30 am - 12:30 pm | Resolutions Voting Parties |
| 9:00 am - 9:30 am | Closing Remarks |
HRE Curriculum for Change
The Curriculum for Change seminar will explore the multifaceted complexities regarding violence and discrimination against indigenous peoples, specifically against Native Americans and Alaska Native Women.
In addition to attending portions of the AGM, attendees and educators who participate in the Curriculum for Change seminar are eligible to receive 1 Continuing Education Credit (CEC). The fee for the CEC component will be available soon. Breakfast and lunch will be provided and all participants will leave with a full set of AIUSA Human Rights Education materials. Advance registration for the seminar is required along with a nominal fee of $25.
Special Training Opportunities
Amplify Your Activism: Community Media Outreach Made Simple
C Wright Room
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
If human rights activists hold a protest and no media outlets cover it, does it make a sound? This workshop will prepare activists to amplify their human rights activism by securing media coverage of their events. Participants will get tips on identifying activities that should generate media coverage, shaping the events to make them enticing to the media and reaching out to local journalists to generate media coverage. All media outreach activities are framed in a way to educate the public, enlist new activists and accelerate achievement of AI's human rights goals.
It's a Sound Byte World: Delivering Powerful Human Rights Messages
C Wright Room
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
This workshop will give participants skills in crafting concise, clear human rights messages that are designed to be quotable, break through the noise and inspire people to action. Participants will be given guidance on conducting interviews and will have the opportunity to practice serving as an AIUSA spokesperson in several typical scenarios.
You, Me, Amnesty, Society: Building a Diverse Human Rights Movement (Please note: This workshop holds a maximum of 25 people)
B Wright Room - Fourth Floor
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
In order to build a strong movement for human rights, we must understand how identity and culture affects us as activists working in an increasingly diverse country. How do we identify personally? How do others identify? What assumptions or biases do we carry? Beginning to explore these issues is key to our ability to work cross-culturally, build diversity within AI, and address the root causes of the human rights violations against which we campaign. Come learn about AI's commitment to "MCOD" (Multicultural Organizational Development).
Campaigning to Hold America Accountable
A Wright Room - Fourth Floor
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Are you fed up with human rights abuses in the War on Terror? Maybe you've already taken action on-line, contacted your legislators or even hosted a teach-in or two. If you or your group is thinking of joining AI's campaign calling for a restoration to the America We Believe in, now is the time to get involved! Through this campaign you can involve your entire school, city, town or state in stopping human rights abuses globally. Attend this workshop to learn about the campaign and how to make it work in your school or community, whether you're in a big city, local suburb or rural area. This is a full participation workshop. Come to work and learn, and you will leave with a plan and sharper tools to do your human rights work.
Make Some Noise for Darfur Rally
The Make Some Noise Rally for Darfur takes place on Friday, March 23 from 4:00 pm to 5 pm at the Pere Marquette Park in downtown Milwaukee about 6 blocks from the conference hotel (Corner of N. Old World 3rd street and W Kilbourn, on the west bank of the Milwaukee River).
The rally is the AIUSA National Kick off Rally for the National Week of Student Action and is part of the AGM program.
The rally is free and open to the public.
- We are encouraging the rally participants to:
- * wear blue or something blue to symbolize Amnesty International's appeal to have more peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur.
- * wear boots as your "rally footwear" to the rally
- *to bring noise makers, especially whistles to the rally
- * to bring digital cameras and submit photos of the rally to agm07rally4darfur@yahoo.com
Co-sponsoring local organizations include the Wisconsin Darfur Coalition and Wisconsin Peace Action.
Carol Anderson is an associate professor of history at the University of Missouri and has recently completed a fellowship at Harvard University's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History.
Professor Anderson's research focus is public policy; particularly the ways that domestic and international policies intersect through the issues of race, justice and equality in the United States. She is the author of Eyes off the Prize: The United Nations and the African-American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944 1955, which was published by Cambridge University Press and awarded both the Gustavus Myers and Myrna Bernath Book Awards. In her forthcoming book, Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941 1960, Professor Anderson resurrects the role of the African-American political center and its decades-long fight for the political and economic liberation of peoples of color in Africa and Asia.
Professor Anderson serves as a member of the U.S. State Department's Historical Advisory Committee and is on the Board of Directors of the Harry S. Truman Institute for National and International Affairs.
She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Miami University, where she earned bachelors and master's degrees in Political Science, International Relations, and History. She earned her Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University.
Lydia Cacho is one of Mexico's leading defenders of children's and women's rights. An investigative journalist and a specialist on gender-based violence, Ms. Cacho founded and directs the Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM) in Cancún, a crisis center and shelter for victims of sex crimes, gender-based violence, and trafficking. CIAM provides free services to anyone seeking assistance and protection. Many of these women and girls who seek shelter are often fleeing from violent criminals. Consequently, protecting them endangers Ms. Cacho's own life on a daily basis. Throughout the course of her advocacy work, Ms. Cacho has received numerous death threats, and in 1999, was raped in an attempt to intimidate her. This particular incident emboldened her even further to protect and advance the rights of women and children in a country where impunity is widespread and commonly accepted as a part of daily life.
The U.S. Department of State cites Mexico as a source, transit, and destination country for trafficked persons for sexual exploitation and labor. A considerable number of these victims are children. Many of them, exploited by organized crimes, are forced to perform sexual and pornographic acts. The Mexican government's estimate of child victims is as high as 20,000. Tourist destinations such as Cancún become popular destinations for child sex tourism. To expose these crimes against children, Ms. Cacho published a book in 2004 entitled Los Demonios del Eden: El poder detrás de la pornografía infantil (The Demons of Eden: The power behind child pornography). Her work has resulted in repeated threats against her life and judicial harassment to silence her effort to give voice to the victims. On December 16, 2005, Ms. Cacho was arrested and denied access to her lawyer and medicine. She spent the night in prison and was then released on bail of US $9900. In response to these intimidating tactics, Ms. Cacho filed a successful counter-suit for corruption and for violation of her human rights. In this regard, Ms. Cacho is the first woman in Mexico who has ever filed a federal suit against a Governor, a District Attorney, and a judge for corruption and attempted rape in prison. Furthermore, in May 2007, she will be the first woman in Mexican history to take a woman's rights case to the Mexican Supreme Court.
Ms. Cacho believes in a holistic approach to addressing the violations against society's most vulnerable population. In addition to advocacy work and direct service for victims, she also believes that educational endeavors are important for healing and building a more peaceful society. In this regard, Ms. Cacho also initiated an innovative educational project to help children deal with the emotional and psychological impacts of abuse. The Center for Women's Assistance, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Oasis Foundation, and others established Escuelas para la Paz (Schools for Peace), which is a series of schools throughout Mexico dedicated to promoting non-violent conflict resolution methodologies to help stop the cycle of violence in society.
Ms. Cacho has put her life on the line on behalf of children and women in Mexico. As a consequence of her unwavering defense of human rights and journalistic freedom, her own life is repeatedly threatened. Despite these dangers, she continues to champion the advancement of human rights for all children and women because she believes that every single person deserves to live a life of dignity.
9:00 am - 10:45 am
• Torture: The History, the Treatment and the Survivors
B Wright - Fourth Floor
Amnesty International activists have been fighting to end torture since our inception more than 45 years ago. In the name of "national security" and the "war on terror," the United States government has endorsed what it calls "enhanced interrogation techniques," claiming that those techniques do not amount to torture. The history of these techniques and their physical and psychological effect on torture survivors tell a different survivors. Hear experts and survivors speak about these tactics, and learn how to take action to end their use by US agents.
• Poverty, Human Rights, and Haiti: Affecting Change through Grassroots Advocacy
Mitchell - Fourth Floor
This panel will explore the two-way relationship between violations of economic, social and cultural (ESC) human rights in Haiti and policies set in Washington and in the capitols of other powerful countries. Advocates from the U.S. and Haiti, all working on the front line of the struggle for ESC rights in Haiti, will discuss: 1) how the international community contributes to the misery of the most impoverished country in the Americas, and 2) how grassroots activists in wealthy countries can hold their governments accountable for this.
This panel is particularly timely as AI prepares for its upcoming Global Campaign Against Poverty. The panelists all work on the Global Campaign's two thematic strands- ill-health and homelessness/displacement, and are pioneering ways to address the Campaign's three principle objectives of agency, accountability and access.
Panelists: Moderator: Meg Satterthwaite, Brian Concannon Jr., Mario Joseph, Monika Kalra Varma, Loune Viaud
• Online Organizing 1.0 - An interactive workshop on YouTube, social networking sites, blogging and activism
A Wright - Fourth Floor
The 4-1-1 on Web 2.0
What is all the hype around Web 2.0? What does social networking, blogs and bookmarks have to do with human rights? Take your online advocacy to the cutting edge by participating in this hands-on workshop. All skill levels welcome. We'll discuss all the top social networking sites and tools out there: MySpace, YouTube, Blogger, Digg and Del.icio.us to name a few. Come prepared to make a difference!
Panelists: Steve Daigneault, Corey Glenn, Njambi Good
• Sri Lanka and Darfur in Distress: Humanitarian Needs in Conflict Zones
MacArthur - Fourth Floor
During times of conflict, what are the needs of civilian populations, the hurdles in meeting those needs, and the obligations of the state in addressing them? How are international laws and covenants the barometer for measuring a government's response and enforcement? This panel explores the intersection of human rights principles and humanitarian needs in real-life situations - the ongoing conflicts in Sri Lanka and Darfur, Sudan. The discussion will place the right to food, water, and medicine in the context of the battlefield - what happens to civilians caught in the crossfire and what is the response of states and the international community. The panel concludes with a discussion of how to get involved in the National Week of Student Action (NWSA), from March 26 - 30, which focuses on Darfur and how to take action on the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka
Panelists: Laura Moye, Gwen Fitzgerald, Daryl Grisgraber
• Getting a Handle on AI's Policy and Work on Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Embracing Opportunities and Overcoming Challenges As AI's Policy on Sexual and Reproductive Rights Moves Forward
C Wright - Fourth Floor
As part of our evolving work on sexual and reproductive rights, Amnesty International is expected this year to adopt policies related to some aspects of abortion. Recognizing the contentious nature of public debate on abortion, this panel will serve to initiate a dialogue on AIUSA's shift to this new policy.
The panel will begin by discussing the new policy in the context of international human rights standards, and anticipating the challenges and opportunities that might arise as a result. Guided by scenarios that have actually unfolded, participants will work in small groups to develop and share strategies for responding to new opportunities and challenges as we make the first steps in transition to this new aspect of AI's policy on sexual and reproductive rights.
Panelists: Shayna Plaut (moderator), Jeanne Bergman, Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, David Weissbrodt
2:00 pm - 3:45 pm
• Beyond Wisconsin: Challenges and Opportunities within the Abolition Movement
A Wright - Fourth Floor
Participants will gain an understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the abolition movement, including the recent advisory death penalty reinstatement referendum in WI and the expansion of the federal death penalty. There will also be a "lessons-learned" component for activists so that they can implement this in their respective states. This section will be led by an AI grassroots activist who was integrally involved in the 2006 campaign to oppose death penalty reinstatement in WI.
Panelists: Martina Correia (moderator), Senator Spencer Coggs, Richard Dieter, Angie Hougas
• Individuals at Risk: How Amnesty's Work on Individuals Makes Big Social Changes
C Wright - Fourth Floor
Amnesty International is world-renowned for four and a half decades of championing the cases of individuals at risk, and for mobilizing a global grassroots activist base to effect meaningful change. Hear from Amnesty activists, staff, and two former prisoners of conscience - recognized Egyptian scholar Saad Eddin Ibrahim, and political opposition activist and journalist Jennifer Latheef from the Republic of Maldives - on how Amnesty's work has created space for these inspirational human rights leaders as they continue to speak out, advocating greater democracy, freedom of speech, and human rights in their countries. Learn how you can become involved in AI's urgent and long-term work on behalf of individuals at risk, kindling extraordinary social and political change around the world.
Panelists: Rasheedah Mullings (moderator), Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Jennifer Latheef, Geoffrey Mock, Emily Nevins, Michael O'Reilly
• Ending Sexual Assault Against Native American and Alaska Native Women
B Wright - Fourth Floor
As AIUSA moves toward the launch of the campaign, we present a panel of Native American and Alaska Native advocates with many years of experience working for safety and justice for Indigenous women survivors of sexual assault in the US. The panelists will discuss how the US is failing to protect Indigenous women in the USA from sexual violence in their own community as well as in the US in general. Panelists will also discuss best practices for AIUSA activists in establishing working relationships during this campaign with Native American and Alaska Native advocates and organizations. There will be an opportunity for dialogue between panelists and audience.
Panelists:
• Scarcity in the Midst of Plenty: Indigenous Rights to Water and Health in the Andes
Oak - Fifth Floor
Advancing economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) is a core part of AI's human rights and organizational strategies for the next six years. While AI's global ESCR campaign is still being developed, it is known that one of the pillars upon which it will rest will be the human right to health. Given the intimate connection between health and water, this panel explores how and why these should be considered human rights in the context of the Andean Region, where there is an abundance of the latter yet a deplorable scarcity of access to potable water and health services among the region's indigenous and marginalized communities.
Panelists: Ouida Chichester (moderator), Rafael Colmenares, Bret Thiele, Alicia Ely Yamin, J.D., M.P.H.
• Youth as Pawns of War: Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Mitchell - Fourth Floor
The exploitation of children as soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda has caught the attention of the international community. Despite overwhelming support for current cases before the International Criminal Court addressing these crimes, children in the DRC & Uganda continue to be victimized.
Join former Ugandan child soldier Charles Bongomin, AIUSA DRC country specialist Tom Turner, and international justice expert Sita Balthazar in learning about the use of child soldiers in these countries, what international justice mechanisms are currently in use, and what each of us can do to ensure accountability for these crimes.
Panelists: Hannah Dunphy (moderator), Sita Balthazar, Charles Bongonin, Tom Turner
• Human Rights Have no Borders: Immigration Rights in the US
MacArthur - Fourth Floor
Human Rights belong to each person no matter who you are, where you live, or how you came to be there. Government policies and practices should protect the human rights of all immigrants. This includes upholding the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to medical care, and the right to fair employment and working conditions. Across the globe, Amnesty International is launching campaigns focused on the human rights of migrants and AIUSA will be a part of that movement! Please join us for an exciting, interactive, multimedia discussion about our upcoming immigrants rights campaign focused on human rights issues at the border and in the workplace.
Slamming for Human Rights
This year's Slamming for Human Rights is a production of AIUSA's Annual General Meeting Set in the backdrop of Milwaukee's Marquette University ultra cool 2040 Lofts, the Saturday Night Event will feature legendary slam artist and comedian Big Poppa E.
Hot poets and SPot alumni will rock the mic in classic slam fashion in hopes of impressing the crowd and winning the crown AIUSA Poet of Conscience 2007. With HBO Def Poetry Jam poets, 2006 slam contenders, and hot rookie slamists all striving for the title, this competition promises to educate, entertain and leave the taste of "wow" on your lips.
Don't miss the AIUSA's AGM Slam Poet Mixer @ 2040 Lofts immediately before slam show down. Early entrance includes free appetizers and beverages. Register now for the AGM and don't miss this exciting event.
2040 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
Date: March 24, 2007
Time: Mixer 8:00pm Slam Showdown 8:30pm
The 2006 AIUSA Annual General Meeting will take place at the The Hilton Milwaukee City Center March 23 - March 25, 2007 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
AGM Program Committee: aiusa-agm@aiusa.org. Contact: AIUSA-AGM, 600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20003; Tel.: 202.544.0200; Fax: 202.546.7142