Amnesty International USA

WHEREAS Amnesty International will launch a world-wide campaign on economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights;

WHEREAS Amnesty International’s strength is empowering individual activists to help individual victims of grave human rights abuses, and working for ESC rights activists is a primary way to advance such rights by assuring that human rights defenders and other Prisoners of Conscience (POCs) are free to lobby for ESC rights in their own countries;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that a significant proportion of the actions in the upcoming global ESC rights campaign shall be devoted to campaigning for freeing and/or protecting Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), other POCs, and other individual victims;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board shall (1) write, by July 31, 2006, to the International Executive Committee (IEC) and the International Secretariat (IS) seeking a commitment to the above, copying the boards of all sections/structures, and (2) absent such a commitment, submit a resolution to the 2007 International Council Meeting (ICM) to accomplish this goal.