As Amnesty International marks its 50th anniversary this year, longtime member Nadine Poznanski is pleased with what has been accomplished but sees there is still so much to be done.
In 1961, a British lawyer was incensed to read about two Portuguese men who had been jailed for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom. He wondered what ordinary people could do help this injustice and wrote an article which was published in the London Observer and reprinted around the world. Encouraged by the letters and money that poured in, he started what was intended to last one year. It got the Portuguese freed and the group, now named Amnesty International, focused on helping other prisoners of conscience.
Over the years, many prisoners have been released and the conditions of others improved. Amnesty International, based in London, has a team of researchers who find out the information about the prisoners, and works only on behalf of prisoners whose human rights have been violated, never those who have been involved in violent activities or advocated violence.
Former staff member J.K. Rowling talked about her Amnesty experiences in a commencement address at Harvard University in 2008.
“[It was] One of the greatest formative experiences of my life….The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life,” she said.
Poznanski’s first experience with injustice came when she was a teenager in German-occupied Belgium and saw a friend who was a conscientious objector jailed while his wife and several young children were left helpless.
She married Wojciech Poznanski, a medical student who was a member of the Polish Army and was a prisoner of war for five years. They came to Canada in 1951 where he practised medicine and she was a medical researcher. When they retired in 1982, they moved to Hazelton in Northern B.C. to do medical missions work. There they founded a chapter of Amnesty International which is still active.
In 1985, they came to Vernon and started another Amnesty International chapter. Poznanski is the field worker for the Okanagan.
“Our work is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948. We use the freedom we have to help people who are being abused. We work on two levels. The grassroots level writes letters and the upper level works at international government level,” said Poznanski. “The reward is to know that I may have helped someone. Sometimes we do have a personal connection. We just got a thank-you letter from someone in Russia we had written letters for. He knew we had been instrumental in his release.”
Amnesty International has three million members around the world and 70,000 members in Canada. The chairman of the Vernon chapter is Cindy Bouthellier and there are about 20 active members with a total of 200 members in the area.
“It’s good to be part of a group because we encourage each other. It is not easy to learn about the worst human rights abuse. I heard someone say that she did not want to read about it, that it is too much and someone else replied to her, that it’s just because it is too much that we have to do something about it,” said Poznanski.
“We are grateful that so many prisoners have been released and so many lives made better thanks to Amnesty. The work is not finished, unfortunately. We need as many people as possible to join us.”
Amnesty International partners with other groups as necessary. A new area of concern is the rights of women, particularly those in Nicaragua who are being raped at high rates, and maternal/newborn health around the world.
There will be an open house at the Schubert Centre June 15 at 7 p.m. with information and a chance to have a toast to freedom.
For more information see www.amnestyvernon.ca.
