National Priorities
What are National Priorities?
National Priorities are areas in which AIUSA concentrates action and resources to make a direct impact. Our strategic plan, which guides AIUSA in fulfilling our mission to prevent and end grave abuses and to promote all human rights, states that AIUSA will establish National Priorities every two years. With the array of human rights violations that Amnesty activists tackle each day, it is helpful to identify specific priority areas that inform how we collaborate with each other and organize our work.
The AIUSA Board of Directors is responsible for selecting the section's National Priorities. The selection process is informed by key global trends; Amnesty International's Integrated Strategic Plan; the International Secretariat's Operational Plan; the AIUSA Strategic Plan; as well as the valuable input of activists and staff about the gravest human rights concerns upon which AIUSA can have the greatest impact. To guide our work, a strategy for mobilizing activists, staff and other resources is formed around each Priority. These strategies are then operationalized through an organization-wide effort involving all AIUSA activists and staff.
All members and groups are asked to devote some of their time, energy and resources to working on the Priorities.
Our current Priorities include:
(View the complete list of the current National Priorities.)
After one year, the Board of Directors will undertake a mid-course evaluation of our progress in advancing our National Priorities strategies.
Death Penalty
Amnesty International believes that the death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights. By working toward the abolition of the death penalty both in the United States and worldwide, AIUSA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign seeks to end the cycle of violence created by a system riddled with economic and racial bias and tainted by human error.
Campaign Goals:
- Prevent executions of people like Troy Davis who have strong claims of innocence.
- Highlight death penalty cases that expose the flaws in capital punishment, both in the United States and around the world.
- Support legislation that restricts use of the death penalty or exposes its flaws.
- Support abolition movements, particularly in those U.S. states that are close to abolishing the death penalty.
Additional Action Materials and More Info:
Visit www.amnestyusa.org/abolish to find up-to-date fact sheets, a death penalty curriculum guide, a list of scheduled executions and information about anti-death penalty coalitions that work closely with Amnesty International in almost every state. Contact us at jcohn@aiusa.org or call 202-544-0200 ext. 244
Violence Against Women
In the United States, a woman is battered every 15 seconds; a woman is raped every six minutes. And Native American and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in the country. Around the world, trafficking of women has become a violent global phenomenon, and rape is widespread in armed conflicts such as those in Colombia and Darfur. AIUSA works to change these realities by passing legislations that addresses the issue of abuses of women both globally and in tribal communities. When we stop violence, we empower women.
Campaign Goals:
- Educate communities on I-VAWA. We encourage groups to host community forums on the International Violence Against Women Act to build congressional support for the bill—a critical tool that, if passed, will empower millions of women and girls around the world.
- Build partnerships to promote I-VAWA and MAZE of Injustice. Collaborate with business organizations, immigrant's rights groups, Indigenous communities and other local groups to form I-VAWA and MAZE of Injustice coalitions.
- Take action against gender-based violence. Join the international 16 Days of Activism campaign, from November 25 to December 10, and help Amnesty International create safe, secure shelters for women fleeing violence.
- Support Senate Bill 2279 and House Bill 5927. Contact your field organizer for strategies to persuade key senators and representatives to become initial co-sponsors of the legislation.
Additional Action Materials and More Info:
Visit http://www.amnestyusa.org/women for resources, petitions, letters-to-the-editor talking points, 16 Days information and more. To learn more about I-VAWA legislation, contact Sheila Dauer at sdauer@aiusa.org; for information on the MAZE of Injustice project, contact Zaynab Nawaz at znawaz@aiusa.org.
Individuals at Risk
Protecting individuals at risk of human rights violations lies at the heart of Amnesty International's work. By coming to the aid of people who are jailed, threatened, tortured or harassed because of who they are or what they believe, we provide hope and saves lives. Since 1961, more than 40,000 prisoners have been released following action by AI, and this potential to concretely improve the life of another person remains a key reason people join and stay active in Amnesty International.
Campaign Goals:
- Act effectively for individuals at risk. AI activists work on a range of cases, including intensive campaigns for regional Special Focus Cases and individualized group work on specific Case Dossiers.
- Grow the IAR campaign. To increase our ability to help individuals at risk around the globe, we must engage more people than ever before in the Urgent Action Network and the annual Global Write-A-Thon on December 10.
- Raise the profile of our IAR work. Student and local groups are particularly well positioned to increase publicity and outreach efforts at the local level.
Additional Action Materials and More Info:
Visit Individuals at Risk to find many types of IAR case actions, as well as information about the Global Write-A-Thon, the Urgent Action Network and priority cases (including Special Focus Cases). Contact us at iar@aiusa.org or call 202-544-0200 ext. 407.
Darfur
Darfur remains one of the world's worst human rights and humanitarian catastrophes. Since 2003, the people of Darfur have suffered killings, torture, rape and the destruction of hundreds of villages. More than 2.5 million Darfur civilians have been uprooted from their homes, and many more depend on international aid to survive. With the passage of U.N. Security Council resolutions in summer 2007 that authorized two peacekeeping forces for the conflict region, the international community has an important opportunity to help stop the violence—but both forces must be immediately and fully deployed.
Campaign Goals:
- Security. AIUSA is committed to ending the violence against civilians, including refugees and internally displaced persons, in the Darfur conflict region, which includes Darfur, eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic.
- Access. Humanitarian NGOs serving the region's civilians must be given sufficient funding for their work and unimpeded access to civilians in all areas of the conflict region.
- Accountability. Impunity must end for human rights crimes committed in Darfur conflict region.
Additional Action Materials and More Info:
Visit www.amnestyusa.org/Darfur for more information and to join our online Darfur list. Also check out www.instantkarma.org and www.eyesondarfur.org. Contact us at darfurteam@aiusa.org.
War on Terror
AIUSA's Counter Terror with Justice campaign works to end human rights abuses committed by the U.S. government and contractors in the "war on terror." Guantanamo, a symbol of injustice, must be closed. Detainees held there and at other facilities, like Bagram in Afghanistan, must be charged and given fair trials, or be released. Torture and attacks on civilians must stop. We call for an independent commission of inquiry to conduct a thorough investigation into torture and other abuses conducted in the "War on Terror" and for those responsible to be held accountable. The U.S. government must protect human rights and counter terror with justice.
Campaign Goals:
- Close Guantanamo. Detainees held at Guantanamo and other facilities, like Bagram in Afghanistan, must be charged and given fair trials, or be released to countries where they will not be at risk of human rights abuse.
- Investigate abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable. AIUSA is calling for an independent commission of inquiry to conduct a thorough investigation into torture and other abuses conducted in the U.S. "war on terror" and for those responsible to be held accountable.
Additional Action Materials and More Info:
Visit www.amnestyusa.org/ctwj for more information. Contact us at ctwj@aiusa.org or call 212-633-4256.
