Milpitas Amnesty hosted Write for Rights from Nov. 15 to Dec. 10. In the event, participants write letters about different global issues, President Nima Bhavansikar said.
In all, there are nine different cases participants can choose to write about, each case focusing on a different country, Bhavansikar added.
“People get the chance to write letters either to the person who’s being unjustly detained or the person who’s being a victim of some climate crisis, the government, or both,” Bhavansikar said. “Each letter is one hour of community service, and it’s just campaigning for the rights of these individuals.”
Freshman Isabella Liu heard about the event through the school’s emails, she said.
“I saw you could get community service hours by signing petitions or writing letters,” Liu said. “I thought it was pretty easy, and I could show some support.”
Workshops were held throughout the duration of the event, on Monday after school at the library, and on Tuesday during the club’s general meeting, in E13.
One of the cases Liu read about was called ‘Mother Nature Cambodia’, she said. Liu found the story interesting, as it followed an activist group advocating for environmental challenges, she added.
“But they said that many of them got arrested for six to eight years,” Liu said. “I thought that was crazy, because they’re trying to help our world, but they’re getting arrested for it. So that really inspired me to look into the other ones, too.”
“We have 27 total submissions in our form so far, totaling up to, I would estimate upwards of 90 letters,” Bavansikar said. “I’m really happy with how many letters we’ve gotten. I just wish that more people came to the workshops.”
The club itself focuses on a wide variety of humanitarian issues, Treasurer Joyce Xu said.
“The reason why some of these (letters) are getting written about is because they’re not getting attention,” Xu said. “It’s definitely on the news, but people aren’t paying attention. It’s an issue, but people aren’t paying attention to the issue. That’s why we’re writing.”
Participants also get the opportunity to enter a raffle and win prizes for participating in Write for Rights.
“So if you submit five or more letters, we enter you into a $15 raffle,” Bavansikar said. “Nine– you get entered into a $25 raffle, and then again, into the $15 one. Depending on how many letters you submit, you can get entered multiple times.”
Overall, hosting this event is a way to bring more attention to different human rights issues around the world, but also to the club as a whole, Xu said.
“And even if we had more people, it obviously won’t be as much as if everyone writes,” Xu said. “The more attention it gets, the more likely that there’s going to be a change.”
