Contact: Elaine Monaghan, West End Strategy Team, [email protected], 202.776.7700, c: 202.805.3463
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Amnesty International’s 2014 Human Rights Conference, themed “Bring Human Rights Home,” will take place in Chicago April 4-6 and focus on strengthening the links between the local and the global aspects of the human rights movement. Glenn Greenwald will join the conference via video link from Brazil for a discussion about the U.S. government’s use of mass surveillance, as well as its persecution of whistleblowers who seek to tell the truth about human rights violations.
“When Amnesty International USA brings its membership to Chicago, we’ll be demonstrating how our activism is based on the principle that to have impact globally, we must also forge change at home,” said Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “From mass surveillance to mass incarceration, human rights must be restored, and Mr. Greenwald represents a commitment to justice that Amnesty shares.”
Amnesty International campaigns to end mass surveillance by the United States government, urging the Obama administration to respect the right to privacy of people everywhere, regardless of nationality or other discriminatory factors. Amnesty is also calling on Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, a bipartisan bill that would help to end the dragnet collection of information about personal communications and require greater transparency from the administration. Amnesty believes that any use of surveillance must be narrow in scope, subject to judicial review, and necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim.
Greenwald, a journalist, constitutional lawyer, commentator, and author of three New York Times best-selling books on politics and law is set to release his fifth book No Place to Hide, about the U.S. surveillance state and his experiences reporting on the documents disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, next month.
Said Greenwald, “I am honored to be asked to speak at Amnesty International USA’s annual conference. Amnesty’s work is vital in a world where human rights are constantly under threat.”
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.