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SIT Human Rights International Honors Program Spring 2014 Illinois Wesleyan University

Strategies for Promoting Student Engagement in Human Rights

Understanding how the implementation of Human Rights campaigns to engage youth are

affected by history, what incentives, inspiration and motivation current youth leaders have for

their involvement, and what reforms should be made to continue and increase student

involvement.

Nicole Jovicevic

Fieldwork Ethics and Comparative Research Methods ANTH 3500

Noam Schimmel

04/29/2014

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I. Introduction

As many Human Rights organizations have realized in the past and continue to verify in

the 21st century, youth are the pillars of reform and the key to creative energy when it comes to

campaigning for Human Rights. Personally, I was drawn into the work of Human Rights through

Amnesty International (AI or Amnesty) at my high school and continued to take further

responsibilities with Amnesty when given the opportunity in college. As a Student Activist

Coordinator for Amnesty Illinois in the United States, it is my responsibility to engage youth and

educate leaders on how they can get more youth to engage in their chapters; however, I found I

was just as confused an disoriented with many questions leaders would ask me such as how to

combat apathy and what events have been most successful in the past. I felt this gap could be

easily filled if more information was published on what other successful Human Rights groups

and Amnesty chapters do in order to address these concerns and create better strategies for

engaging youth. The opportunity to choose my own research, therefore, led me to try and

understand what methods successful Amnesty chapters were using to engage and keep

passionate, committed members on the Human Rights team and bring these strategies to share

to the rest of the youth community.

By interviewing with other youth activists across the globe, I have been able to

understand what the youth in Nepal, Jordan, and Chile have done to gain members into the

Human Rights movement. To understand why certain strategies have been effective or not

effective, it was also crucial to know and share the countries’ context and frameworks that

shape each groups’ movements and choices. In order to not just list different events that have

been effective and to create a sense of understanding and commonality between the different

groups, I would like to give some practical frameworks of each of the organizations, blended

with the personal perspectives of the students. I believe together that this information will give

Amnesty students, and students working on engaging any youth on Human Rights, a better

understanding of what challenges other groups are facing, and how they have dealt with their

issues. In order to do this, I will explore three pillars that work together to inform action.

1. Implementation: My research will address the implementations of Human Rights

campaigns and how they are influenced. This includes how the history of each country

influences student involvement, which campaigns are chosen, how the basic structure

enhances or doesn’t enhance student involvement, and what creative strategies have

been used by youth to work on Amnesty campaigns.

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2. Incentives, Inspiration and Motivation: What unique appeals does Amnesty or other

respective Human Rights organization have that has encouraged these student leaders

to join? What incentives do they find most effective in getting other students engaged?

3. Reforms: What reforms should Amnesty allow for in order to address certain concerns

from its members.

I would like to thank all of the incredible youth I have had the opportunity to talk to and

engage with during my research process. The credit for information goes to these individuals

who have done the work and pushed passed barriers within their communities to create a better

world for all. The way they opened up their hearts and their homes to me during these past

months is what has allowed me to write this research paper and share their incredible creativity

and compassion within every youth working on Human Rights and bring our family closer

together.

II. Research Question and Methodology

Through the process of my research, my initial question was augmented. At the start, I

was focused on combating student apathy within Amnesty because my understanding was

shaped solely by my experiences in the United States Amnesty youth groups. Upon my first few

interviews in Nepal, I realized that I was asking the wrong questions because the campaigns

chosen, the functional structure, and the historical background of each of the countries’ groups

was so different that outlining the information I received on these topics alone would give

different perspectives and methodologies to explore. I also realized that my interviews would

focus my attention on the students’ personal reasons for involvement, what work they enjoyed

doing, and their ideas for reform that would help engage youth.

With a main focus on Amnesty youth, the question I will be answering is the following:

How does the practical aspect of engaging youth in Human Rights through Amnesty play out on

the ground, and how have the methods so far been effective or ineffective within the context

they function in? How can we move forward in an educated way?

The preliminary questions I crafted include the following:

1. Why have you or haven’t you decided to use Amnesty as the vehicle for your

cause? How did you get involved?

2. What role do you see Amnesty playing in your community or in your world.

3. What motivates your action? Is it anger? An idea of justice? And how does or

doesn’t Amnesty allow you to do something about it?

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4. What is it in particular about your home community that activates you to action?

5. What do you get out of your continued involvement in Amnesty? Why do you

come back?

My additional questions developed into:

1. What other NGOs are most popular among youth? Why do you think that is?

2. What is it about AI that is particularly useful or relevant to student HR activists?

Why did you choose Amnesty to promote and advance your cause over other

groups that work on these issues?

3. How do you think AI is flawed? How have you worked around that?

4. What was your most memorable experience? What events have been most

successful?

5. Why did you personally decide to join the group?

For my main form of research, I used interviews and observation. I had the opportunity

to interview 27 youth working on Human Rights, ask extended questions related to my research

with four speakers hosted by IHP, and participate in press releases and meetings for multiple

groups. My interviews consisted of multiple one on one interviews and a couple group

interviews with multiple Amnesty leaders that proved to be very supportive and informative. The

reason interviews seemed to be the best method for my research is because the student

leaders would have more information on experiences and events dealing with my topic than any

published materials by Amnesty. The reason I chose to interview youth is because I feel they

are more free to discuss and understand the issues they face than the insight much of the

administration would be able to give me.

Most of my research is focused on the micro community of Amnesty youth, but, because

of research limitations, my interviews have extended to other organizations working on Human

Rights issues and engaging youth. In Jordan, there were no Amnesty chapters at all, and in

Chile there were no Amnesty youth groups. In Jordan, I was able to interview our staff who have

worked on Human Rights issues through other organizations as well as a group of students

from a group called Loyac that gets students to volunteer, and a Palestinian students working

with the Women’s Program Center follow administratively by UNRWA. In Chile, I was still able to

interview youth, but took into consideration that their main goal is not collegiate recruitment.

The history of each country also shaped my interviews and what information I received

from the youth. Because each country has a different political system and because Amnesty is

at a different level of development in each country, much of my research was developed in

Nepal where Amnesty has been well established. My research in Jordan addresses shortly why

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Amnesty has not been successful there, but then pushes further to student involvement in

Human Rights in Jordan in general. For Chile, since the movement is very new, I focus on the

positives of their structure, what challenges are holding them back, and what they could use to

move forward in a more positive way.

I also must acknowledge my language limitation with this research. Because I can only

speak English, I was only able to speak to those students who speak English or with those I was

able to find a translator for which includes most of the speakers I site. In Nepal, I feel this did not

limit my research much because most of the individuals spoke English from learning it in school.

In Jordan and Chile, I feel like it limited my research significantly because many did not speak

English and those who did had privileges like studying in the United States for a while, being

immigrants from European countries, or being highly educated.

My final limitation was time. Because I only stayed in each of the countries for about one

month while moving to different areas of the countries for various excursions, this limited the

amount of interviews and in-depth involvement I could engage in to further my research.

With these limitations included, I still feel I was able to attain information that would be

substantial and useful for understanding the current successes, and challenges facing youth

working on Human Rights issues.

III. Implementation

Brief Histories and Its Influence

Nepal has recently come out of a civil war fought between the Maoists and the

government. During the war, individuals could be persecuted for being on one side of the

conflict or the other. However, being affiliated with Amnesty International did not put you on one

side or another and allowed for some protections (Regmi). In 2007, after the King stepped down

from power, a temporary government was put in place. Still in the process of building their state,

Nepal is in the middle of writing a new constitution in order to create a solidified governing body

and rule of law. A few key reasons Amnesty has had such a thriving community in Nepal is due

to its neutrality in political parties, the lack of similar organizations having a presence in Nepal,

and the lack of an organized government to voice concerns. Amnesty was and continues to be

one of the few organizations in Nepal that focuses on a broad spectrum of Human Rights issues

and gives an organized forum for individuals to voice their concerns. Because Nepal has been

between Constitutions and governance in the past few years, Amnesty has given students a

platform to learn about issues, voice their concerns to their government, and additionally do

something concrete about the issues by educating their community. This influences both which

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campaigns AI Nepal chooses to work on and the large impact AI Nepal is able to make through

its youth network. AI Nepal has a tendency to choose campaigns that education and discussion

can help resolve.

Jordan is currently under a monarchy where most of the organizations working on

Human Rights issues and political reform to enhance Human Rights are founded and sponsored

by the royal family. When asking Elise Auerbach, the Jordanian Country Specialist for Amnesty

International, why there were no Amnesty chapters in Jordan, she responded that there was,

“an attempt made to set up something in Jordan many years ago, but it didn’t work out…there

was apparently a big problem with registration of non-Jordanian NGOs and it was just too

cumbersome.” Although these restrictions limit the influence of organizations such as Amnesty,

youth do have various centers and ministries they can volunteer and work at that address

Human Rights issues including a center focused specifically on Human Rights, multiple shelters

for helping women, and a family protection unit that works to help children who are being

abused. In terms of local political influence, the Arab Spring has also spurred an increase on

how much youth are willing to talk about politics. Students are beginning to have a louder voice

on issues of freedom of speech, asking about their rights, and saying louder that this is their

voice (Aloun). They are beginning to have a more critical view of the structures around them

and are actually engaging in discourse around these topics (Aloun). Some students believe that

they were voicing their concerns on these topics before, but the Arab Spring has only added a

spotlight to it (Alhaija et al.). Either way, the Arab Spring has brought a new stage and it

depends on the youth how this spotlight will influence future opportunities to speak out.

Students have the opportunity to build a foundation for a new platform for dialogue, or they

could push too far and have the government create harsher restrictions. Because the political

climate is still sensitive and very conservative, if students decide to try and jump to complete

freedoms and liberation they will ultimately be shut down and fail in their goals (Aloun). Because

of the current situation, taking small, step by step victories towards larger goals will help with a

smooth transition that can be maintained and continue on past the era of the Arab Spring

(Aloun).

In Chile on September 11th 1973, General Augusto Pinochet and his army hosted a

coup on the Socialist regime of Salvador Allende. Pinochet’s dictatorship was themed by fear,

mass disappearances, and torture. When international pressure forced Pinochet to create a

referendum to decide whether the dictatorship would stay of go, Chile voted in 1990 that the

dictatorship had to end. The years up until now have been filled by both conservative and liberal

elected officials slowly working to amend the constitution put into place during the Pinochet era.

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The resistance to the dictatorship was colored by violent protests, and occupations that gave

the Human Rights movement a very left leaning label and a negative reputation. Currently,

many of the protests being organized by students are focused on creating joyful and fun

protests that would not seem appropriate to shut down with violence in order to wipe away the

stigma of protests from the past decades (Alywin). Amnesty in Chile is also fighting to gain a

positive and well known reputation. Students working with Amnesty Chile have noted that,

“there is a difference between AI worldwide and Chile. In the world, they are much more well

known and respected (Bertschik).” This is partially due to the already politically engaged youth.

Increasingly in high schools and universities, many of the students will get involved with their

student governments, but unlike students governments in the United States, these groups plan

protests to make quality education available to all along with the usual democratic elections.

Choosing Campaigns: International versus Domestic Focus

In Nepal, the main campaigns are currently about migrant workers, sexual and

reproductive rights, and demand dignity (Budhathoki). The campaigns chosen by AI Nepal and

student groups are influenced by a country wide focus and belief in the right to education, the

right to health, the right to information, and the right to marry (Joshi et al.). Amnesty’s recent

research report launch discussed the issue of uterin prolapse. This is a physical issue for

women where their uterus begins to fall out of the vagina and can become a painful and deadly

health hazard. Working on uterin prolapse is an issue very specific to Nepal. The campaign is

very controversial because it has a clear focus on health rights rather than civil and political

rights as most Amnesty campaigns are focused on. Amnesty Nepal believes that uterin prolapse

is a campaign Amnesty should work on because it is directly linked to gender discrimination and

the government does not yet have regulations to address this issue yet (Amnesty). During the

report launch, there were tensions and criticisms for working on this issue because the

international support that Amnesty focuses on is not enough to solve the problem. The support

for this problem has to come from within Nepal and that is not something Amnesty usually

facilitates with its funding. In addition to this campaign, AI Nepal also works on raising

awareness for those disappeared by the Maoists during the previous civil war, discrimination of

women, and other health concerns including AIDs awareness. The focus on campaigns that are

solvable or fixable through youth education and informations such as health and gender are the

ones Nepal chooses to focus on at this time. It is my assumption that this is due to the

unproductive nature of legal reform in Nepal when the legal structure has no method of

implementation at this time.

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Although there is no Amnesty in Jordan, there were a few commentaries made during

my interviews that informed me as to what campaigns are really a focus in Jordan. Through the

direction of the monarchy, students very much focus on volunteerism and helping through

monetary terms. This limits much of the involvement in Jordan to the upper class, and does not

allow for the youth to take initiatives and creative activism on behalf of a cause they choose.

The campaigns are limited to issues that the government deems as acceptable to work on, as

well as opportunities to help with issues abroad concerning health and medical issues.

The international campaigns Chile has chosen to focus on in 2014-2015 are My Body

My Rights and the Stop Torture campaign (Carmona). Although these are international

campaigns, they break down into smaller, domestic campaigns. One of such campaign is a

legal reform to change police protocol when maintaining order during protests and mobilization.

Currently, this information is kept private, and Amnesty believes this information is the property

of the public (Carmona). Similarly to Nepal, AI Chile has a focus on reparations and justice for

those disappeared during the Pinochet dictatorship (Bertschik). In addition to these issues, they

have a focus on reforming the strict abortion laws, and working on LGBT issues. This can be

seen through the teams that AI Chile is broken up into including migration, sexual diversity,

priority countries, and education in Human Rights. Many of the programs work on specifically

reforming laws or getting legal retribution for losses within Chile.

One of the choices each Amnesty headquarters must make is what domestic issues to

work on and what international issues to work on. Amnesty in the United States has found

difficulties with balancing the two focusing much of its energy on international campaigns. In

comparison, many of the groups I visited in these three countries focus almost solely on

domestic issues and only peripherally focus on international issues. When asked to speak on

choosing between international and domestic issues, Nepalese activist Pasang Sherpa noted,

“It is much harder to do issues abroad because people don’t connect. They don’t have the

emotional attachment. But I think telling a specific story of a specific other person helps [bridge

that connection] and we are teaching the importance of humanity and human responsibility.”

Other Nepal groups noted that focusing on domestic issues, “makes us smile because we are a

part of helping our country,” and “we can give them our moral support with signature but we

have our own problems” (Joshi et al.). Similarly, Chilean Coordinator of Activism, Pamela

Carmona, agrees that, “[m]ost of the time, they choose to do campaigns that focus on Chilean

laws they can influence. If they do choose an international campaign, it is mostly for Mexico and

Columbia because those two country are more receptive to Chile who is known for its diplomacy

in Latin America.” Carmona believes, “international solidarity is vital, but it is very difficult

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because people don’t care. That’s why keeping the campaigns at least in Latin America makes

things seem relevant.” A similar theme is addressed in all the Amnesty chapters I have had the

opportunity to talk to during my work in Illinois.

Amnesty USA has been working on adjusting their international versus domestic focuses

in recent campaigns that have been sent out to Amnesty USA leaders. This includes the

Amnesty 2014 Pride Tool kit to address the issue of LGBT rights. The campaign highlights one

law, ENDA, in the US that needs backing and one International case that needs international

support in order to put pressure on authorities not to violently suppress the marches for LGBT

rights in Belgrade. It would benefit all Amnesty headquarters to take the statements from the

students into considerations when creating and packaging campaigns because the same issues

are prevalent in every chapter, and addressing one domestic issue and one international issues

would be the best way to combat this aversion to international politics and focus on domestic

policy while still creating international solidarity.

How does the basic structure enhances or not enhance student involvement?

Across my research, the most effective way to engage youth is to get them engaged

within their own school. Having student led school groups has been fairly successful in

continuously engaging youth and should be strived for by those sections that do not have

chapters in their high schools or colleges. Activists Roshan Budhathoki noted that, “[i]n school,

it is easy because you come to school everyday and you see and talk to them everyday even

just for five min. And that time is a chance to inspire them to get involved.” Dwaipayan Regmi

highlighted the necessity of, “[g]et[ing] into the high school and teach[ing] them about what the

UDHR is.” Human Rights groups that failed to use youth engagement were shown to be able to

make respectable policy change, but limited cultural change and put a great risk to their

sustainability (Various). A common rule to follow if one does engage students is to now host any

events near or during exam times.

Nepal has many structural frameworks in place to increase and sustain the validity of

Amnesty’s work. This includes that groups are required to have 50 members in order to be

considered as a legitimate group and have a youth coordinator. All the youths involved who are

part of Amnesty are dues paying members paying a minimum of 75 rupees per member.

However, for many student groups, the funding allocated by AI Nepal is not enough to create

their posters and host their events so the students will charge 100-200 rupees extra per person

in order to raise funds to create their campaigns (Regmi, AI Nepal). In order to help structure

student groups, AI Nepal has made strict positions for the students groups. Before this, there

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was only a President and a Vice President but now there are seven different titles all serving

two year terms on the board. After the first year of serving, the group decides who will be voted

in and those individuals shadow the current board for a year until they replace them (Regmi).

The youth leaders can also get support from the five students on the Youth Network Advisory

Panel. They do not have Student Activist Coordinators like the United States because Nepal is

small enough that adding this position would add too many leaders (Regmi). The students are

given specific campaigns that they are required to do signature and informational events on.

This limits how students are able to shape their campaigns. Some students have wanted to

work on the Sri Lanka campaigns organized by USA member Jim McDonald, however, given

that AI Nepal does not spend resources on these campaigns, the events are a lot less effective

and the groups do not have incentives to continue with these events. There is also a large

difference between how members are measured in Nepal versus the United States. In Nepal, if

a student pays dues, they are considered a member, whereas in the United states, there are

many youth who do not pay the dues but are considered members. I realized this when I was

getting distorted figures of membership of 200-300 members in one school. For these groups,

although that many students pay membership to Amnesty, only about 5-20 students are actually

active members of the student groups (Joshi et al., Razen). The reason I believe these groups

are more effective structurally is because they include multiple schools in one youth network in

order to promote collaboration and make the groups larger. The other strong asset AI Nepal

contributes to the youth that even the US cannot compare to is trainings. AI Nepal has about 5-6

informational trainings a year that are themed to different campaigns like My Body, My Rights.

Groups are allowed to send two students for every one hundred members they have. These

students come back and educate their group on the issue and begin to plan the campaign

(Budhathoki). These trainings, such as the Youthmila, are able to inspire students and keep

them involved. Pasang Sherpa praised the Youthmila stating, “I was not so concerned about

HR, but this taught me how to run campaigns and why we do our campaigns. Then I shared info

with my friends. The question for me became how to bring a youth network into existence.” If we

are able to give more trainings and educational tools to students, this will greatly increase

student engagement and education. Below, I have outlined how a successful student group at

Kathmandu University has structured their mission as a student group that I would propose to

be the mission for every Amnesty youth chapter.

Goals for AI Universities

1. Get members: At the beginning of the semester, we need to really focus on meeting new

people and motivation them to realize what opportunities they have as AI members. AI

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members leads other clubs in our school. You become familiar (friends) with people. We do

this by advertising what we have done, what Amnesty is, what are Youth Networks, and

what you get from being involved.

2. Trainings: In the first semester, we try and have 2-3 workshops and only those first year

members who are really involved get to go. They are usually on campaigns like My Body My

Rights. Because we have over 300 members, we get to send up to 6 from our network a

minimum of one boy and one girl. For every 100 students you get two members who can

attend the training. Occasionally the coordinator will go. In the second semester, we prep for

the Training of the Trainers. Here students get an introduction to what Human Rights are,

what campaigns we are working on, how do we run a campaign. The NYAP gets to teach a

bit. You really get to learn how the youth can make a difference. Then there is the

Youthmila, which literally translates to Youth Fate. Others get to present and share what

their group is doing and how others can implement the events that why put on.

3. Events and meetings: We try to do 3 signatures campaigns a year, a letter writing campaign,

have a training once a semester, and 3-4 out of the box ideas a year. We have about 4-5

meetings a month, but if there is no campaign we have no meeting. A different person

organizes each of the campaigns. Most of our events are at the beginning of the semester

because exams take up time at the end of the semester.

In Jordan, since there is no Amnesty structure, the one suggestion I received to help

engage students in university as to create a system of credits give out by the university for being

involved in Human Rights work. Currently at Yarmouk University, students are required to do 15

hours in different majors so having three hours to community work to introduce them to this

would educate individuals (Alhaija et al.). Similarly to Nepal, trainings and workshops through

universities have been an effective method of recruitment in other Human Rights groups as well

(Aloun).

In Chile, they do not specifically have groups at Universities or even for sections of

Universities. Instead, they have working groups that students can be assigned to. These include

the activism group, migration, sexual diversity, priority countries and education in Human Rights

section. The Activism group is the only one that does not work on a specific topic but works to

help design and plan street activities. The Director of Campaigns receives all of the campaigns

from the International Secretariat and together with the Chile staff decides which campaigns are

appropriate for Chile. The groups receive their respective campaigns or work together if they

cross over and decide what actions they want to take. They map out the cost and put a request

in for the money they need. Because of funding AI Chile staff is very small and only includes

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about 12-15 people and the rest of the roles are filled by volunteers (Bertschik). Because most

of the funding comes from London, they are usually left with limited funds to actually create the

events they envision (Bertschik). The separate groups will generally have two hour weekly

meetings coordinated by student leaders. For example, the group on sexual minorities is

comprised of about 10 individuals. The meetings are led by Monse Das Sepulveda and about 5

usual attend to help plan the activities and help design the campaign (Bertschik). Asking new

members to help design campaign has proven very effective. This is why giving students the

leverage to design campaigns on their campus is vital. Trainings in Chile are exceptional,

hosting about one or two on international campaign. However, given the current reputation of

Amnesty and AI Chile’s resources, dividing the roles of responsibilities by activism group,

specific topic groups, cyber activists, specialists group, and the activist network is a great

utilization of resources and an effective way to keep people feeling committed to a specific topic.

I would encourage student groups to use this separation of responsibilities especially when it

comes to the activist network which is comprised of people who want to be a part of the

movement but cannot make meeting so they are only contacted for big events. Additionally,

every third tuesday of the month Amnesty Chile hosts a Welcoming Workshop to talk about

which activities they are hosting in the near future and to assign those who would like to be

involved to working committees (Carmona).

Creative Youth Initiated Engagement Strategies

Because students have so much that is taking their attention away from Human Rights

issues, many of the leaders involved in Human Rights campaigns focus on making Human

Rights seem fun. This is why I have included a list of the creative strategies youth have been

using to gain members. This way, other groups can use these successful platforms to initiate

campaigns at their respective universities.

By far, Nepal had some of the most uniquely creative strategies I have seen in students

groups to date. Ideas included:

• Speech, Debate, or Poetry competition on various campaigns between multiple schools. Each

school sends two students, and the best speech gets a medal, certificate, and a book that

deals with Human Rights. Usually these are hosted in honor of various holidays like

International Children’s Day. This way, at least two students become very educated on the

issue, and the students and parents watching get to educate themselves on the Human Rights

issues as well. (Joshi et al., Regmi, Sherpa)

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• Interaction Program where youth talk to people of top influence around an issue and they give

solutions to the individuals. It gives youth an opportunity to get involved with government

community leaders and inspire government actors to make further change.

• Marathon race or playoffs to encourage and attract the multitude of youth that really like

sports. Rampur Youth Network had over 100 students involved and had 30 more students

pledge to Amnesty. (Ankur)

• Flower campaign on Women’s Day were flowers are to every woman on behalf of Amnesty.

(Joshi et al.)

• T-shirt sales are effective because all college students love t-shirts. The group designs the

shirts, has them printed, and sells them for a three dollar profit to help fund their activities and

advertisements. (Joshi et al.)

• One Rupee campaign during the month of May which is Amnesty month, one rupee is

collected from every student and used for a better cause. Collectively, the money is used to

help fund scholarships for children workers to go to school for a year without working. (Joshi

et al.)

• Children’s Day clothes drive

• Freshman recruitment is key to continuing the movement and getting new energy onto your

team

• Consulting with a women’s organization in a rural area where we started a health campaign.

We go to the rural village about 4 hours from Kathmandu and distribute medicine from the

government and bring gynecologists there. We try to use the local radio there to advertise

what we are doing. (Joshi et al.)

• Online My Body My Rights campaign where you share a picture of yourself with a board that

describes your thoughts about your body. (Joshi et al.)

• Doing visual demonstration in the center of Kathmandu where it is visible

• Day of the Disappeared candle lighting and signature campaign

• Arial Act We that spell out words such as “Where are the disappeared?”

• Conduct meetings in open spaces with Amnesty t-shirts and flags. This at leasts gets people

to start asking questions about what is going on. (Joshi et al.)

• International AIDS day campaign where youth are handed fliers, exposed to posters, and

brought to presentations to expose them to causes and prevention of AIDS. (Budhathoki)

• Creating a radio show story of a boy who is in college, gets in an armed group, and how he

gets out of that. It makes students think about what enabled the character to get in and to get

out, it helps theme with starting community dialogue, and creates an engagement space for

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youth to get involved so they don’t feel like they are just being told not to join armed groups.

The students would then facilitate a discussion after listening to the story and they would get

to shape how the drama unfolded in the next episode. They use student media to show that

something else is possible (Mulmi)

• Seed grants for students who can come up with the most creative strategies for Peace

Transformation (Mulmi)

• Dohara impromptu karaoke where the two in conflict discuss their issues through these

personalized karaoke dialogues (Mulmi)

From what my research showed, Jordan had a lot more of a business and analytical

approach to Human Rights engagement. Many of the great ideas included trainings and

workshops rather than one day events. However, creativity was seen when looking at how youth

tried to change culture and confidence within their communities.

• Every semester students with talents gather to perform and are allowed to express what they

are feeling through these different mediums (Alhaija et al.)

• Flash mob of students wearing the same t-shrt in the street where they pose in a position of

violence. Students would then go around asking spectators how they feel about the situation,

how it can be prevented, and, if the student gives them a smile or laugh, they get an apple.

The key was getting TV coverage, being featured in university news, and online Scoops. Each

person had a 10 person team after that and each person had a specific part to play. This way,

the next time they see that person, they will smile and think about how to prevent the violent

situation. (Alhaija et al.)

• Painting houses for poor people, hosting a clothing drive, and hosting blood drives are

common ways for youth to engage in helping society (Alhaija et al.)

• Trainings where those participating had to show a presentation at the end of the training. For

those, the volunteers are normally 20-30 years old. One of these trainings gave her two weeks

to go volunteer in her community. They were trained on how to observe the government on

how they run elections and then they were required to publish reports on that. The trainings

have an open door policy so anyone who wants to volunteer can volunteer. The volunteers

don’t get paid, but transportation is paid for and you become a messenger for them to other

students. The next time, they will ask you to bring your friends or colleagues because they

want people to know their rights. (Aloun)

• International Training Experience where 11 different countries send three representatives

each to participate. Each talk about the same issues like women, labor laws, refugees. The

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goal is to make it a comparative training so you can compare the Middle East on these issues

to the other countries (Aloun)

• A group of secondary girls coming to a women’s center to take a workshop about self-

confidence and how to stand up for themselves and talk about any topic in front of others. A

lot of the girls return to the center to take more workshops related to different topics (Msallam)

• Innovation training hosted in Jeresh for three days where they try to make students into

innovators. The workshop goes from 8 am to 11 pm and the last day students present two

companies that have a problem and what the student would suggest as a solution to these

problems (Alhaija et al.)

In Chile, much of the creativity has been through the way the organizations are

structured in allowing students to feel important to the cause as well as the regularly creative

ideas that can be use for specific events.

• Advertising at demonstration in Plaza Italia gives an opportunity to speak to protesters there.

Not only will the students already be interested in the issue, but because the demonstrations

usually start late, they want to talk (Bertschik)

• Hosting a 1,000 person debate to decide which actions should be taken to promote a cause

everyone at the discussion believes in. It allows for participation, arguments, and the practice

of collaboration (Alywin)

• Thriller flash mob where a huge group of students were dancing thriller and dressing up in

front of the government palace.

• We shouldn't highlight the leaders because the leaders are a problem to the movement.

Leaders are important, but it is more important that students don't delegate their decisions to

their leaders, but that we get there together. For this reason, progress is slower, but we get

there together (Alywin)

• Frequent, formal, democratic elections to exercise democracy encourages continued exercise

of the democratic process, and harbors a skill of politically solving problems together through

democracy (Alywin)

I was only able to talk to a few students in the US to discuss what strategies they use,

however, I wished to include them in my research because they are an inspiration when it

comes to youth event planning.

• Mock arrest, and mock execution where students can involved a police officer and the Dean to

come in and arrest a student. After being read their Miranda rights, a public announcement is

made that a trial and execution will follow in the courtyard (Yacoob)

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• JAmnesty is where students host a multitude of bands and between songs or acts the

students get informed on a selected Human Rights issue. There are places to show support

with your signature and write letters while listening to music as well (Yacoob)

• AmnesTea partnered with ReligiosiTea is an event where students can sit around in a relaxed

environment to discuss how religion and Human Rights cross over and work together.

IV. Incentives, Inspiration, and Motivation

What unique appeals does Amnesty or other respective Human Rights organization have that

has encouraged these student leaders to join? What has been affective in helping other

members join?

According to the students I have interviewed, the most desirable and unique appeals of

Amnesty in comparison to other Human Rights organizations is that the brand names brings a

credibility familiarity to all of the campaigns worked on, Amnesty dedication to multiplying

voices, the international shared funding to help support chapters with lower funds, its non-

violent letter writing strategy, the leadership opportunities, the clear roles and responsibilities

that comes with Amnesty, and, of course, the family.

Amnesty credibility and familiarity is something countless students stated as the big

appeal of Amnesty. In Nepal, activist Dwaipayan Regmi stated that, “everyone accepts Amnesty

facts as true” (Regmi). Because of Amnesty’s credibility, students do not have to convince

people that their information is correct and verified. They can focus more on simply informing. In

the Rampur Youth Network, individuals were so familiar with Amnesty’s acronym, AI, that at one

point, there was a lecture called Lifestyles and AI at a school and everyone mistook it for

Amnesty International because that is what they knew. People were really confused when the

lecture was about Lifestyles and Artificial Insemination (Balga et al.). Being able to achieve this

familiarity within networks allows for smoother campaigns, less time spent on defending the

organization, and more time informing the people. Part of the reason this is so effective is

because of Amnesty politically neutral stance. Backing Human Rights rather than a particular

political party attracts many youths that desire to make a change but not be roped into the

drudgery of politics.

Amnesty’s role in multiplying unheard voices was also noted as an inspiration to

dedicating time and energy to Amnesty. Statements such as, “one drop, one drop, big ocean”

and “AI matches and raises voices” (Budhathoki, Regmi) defend Amnesty’s core ideal of

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creating a voice for those who are being denied theirs. Within the leaders I spoke to there is an

strong belief that this methodology is important and vital to enhancing a global community.

The international shared funding was also a factor of importance. In Nepal, 10% of the

funds were from Nepal members and the rest was funded by London (Regmi). In Chile,

Amnesty International Norway donated $5,000 in order for AI Chile work on an Education,

Empowerment and Justice campaign focusing on reaching young people to teach them about

sexual and reproductive rights. In this way, Amnesty is fully utilizing the international funding it

received to properly support those countries where Amnesty is not as prevalent or the countries

capital is not complimentary to the funding needed. This encourages even lower income

countries to participate in defending their own Human Rights rather than solely relying on

London to come in and say what is necessary.

AI uses the unique concept of letter wiring. It is non-violent. And in Nepal, citizens

frequently address their concerns to government authorities but through methods of violence

and strikes that affect the whole community. In this way, Amnesty give a public and non-violent

platform for people to address their concerns and raise their voices (Sherpa). The letter writing

method was continuously praised as something that works when thousands come together, a

method of reform that has power, and something that bring people together (Balga et al.,

Budhathoki, Regmi). In this way, the letter writing campaigns which started Amnesty continue to

bring compassion, and power to the movement and the students do realize this.

As was evidenced in the previous sections, leadership opportunities are a key asset in

appealing to youth. Amnesty gives a unique opportunity to transform campaigns and strategies

and experiment with organizing leadership. Amir Joshi decided to join Amnesty when he

realized that the leadership positions in the Red Cross organizations were planned out and well-

functioning. The flexibility and creativity he could use to improve the Amnesty chapter at his

school encouraged him to join and led to him helping create one of the most innovative chapters

in Nepal. There is a evident way to progress to leadership from coming to events, to joining

meeting, to helping plan events, and then being the person who walks around with Amnesty

papers at all times. (Sherpa). Having the opportunity to feel empowered and important is one

unique aspect of Amnesty that attracts youth.

Amnesty chapters that have a clear definition of what responsibilities are required of

each position create a sense of duty and give a mission to those unsure of what they should do.

Amnesty has already or is on its way to defining all of its leadership roles and creating a special

responsibility for each of the roles. This is unique because the roles are defined by goals and

allow for freedom and flexibility on how one chooses to accomplish those goals. This also

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translates to having specific accomplishments on your resume and certificates that validate your

work for Amnesty. In Nepal, this encourages many to join because the more certificates a

student collects, the higher your chances of being allowed to study in schools abroad. This is

why these specific roles and placards of accomplishments must be continued.

The family, or as I and many of my friends have lovingly coined it, the FAmnesty, is a

key unique quality of the Amnesty brand in Human Rights youth work. Every single individual I

talked to stressed how inspired they were by the people who they are surrounded by in

Amnesty. Each of the individuals stressed how Amnesty allowed them to do something for

someone else, to reach peace, to resolve conflicts, and to feel like you are making change

(Sherpa, Regmi, Joshi et al.). When one joins an Amnesty youth network, they are adopted into

a sort of fraternity or religious following that wants to create a better world. This is a key factor of

why some Amnesty chapters work and others don’t. Creating a sense of family is created

through the qualities listed above and making everyone feel welcomed. If a chapter fails to do

this, it creates animosity within the group and discourages many members from continuing

participation (Kinns, Jones).

V. Reforms

What reforms should Amnesty allow for in order to address certain concerns from its members?

Sometimes the best ideas for creating a better network can come from those who give

up their time for free. While talking to the students, I wanted to give a platform to suggest new

ideas to help create better solidarity and better work amongst youth.

For starters, Amnesty Chile should continue to build its student movement. The best way

of doing this is to begin building their individual university groups that can being to function as

separate entities and reach more individuals. In order to create incentive for a student to build

an Amnesty chapter at their school, official volunteer positions or internship positions should be

allotted for every university. By using the youth volunteers you currently have to scout the

universities for a dedicated candidate or group, they can begin to guide the university leaders in

their mission and goals. If the leaders do a good job, they should receive a recommendation

letter that they can send along with their applications and have a defined title to put on their

resume.

Although the youth have been fairly strong in their own networks, they do not feel a part

of the global community. When discussing this issue with Dwaipayan Regmi we decided it

would be beneficial if Amnesty youth chapters were matched with Amnesty chapters outside of

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their countries. This would help create support, accountability, and stimulate creativity among

the groups. This would be a plan that is easily implemented and strengthens the networking

appeal of Amnesty.

Having a specific description and layout for the responsibilities of university groups is

ideal to keeping students accountable and on task. Framing this around the outlined goals that

Kathmandu University has would be an ideal for every university to strive to. Other than sharing

this outline of responsibilities, sending out group starter kits as has been done in the United

States has proven to be motivational and effective at empowering and energizing students to

create their own movements.

Amnesty USA should also give importance and priority to gaining monetary members.

Although this is not the goal, being able to say that your campus has 200 Amnesty dues paying

members is a way to advertise and begin to make people feel responsible towards the university

chapter. If students begin to learn when they are younger to priorities Human Rights work, they

will search out the opportunities themselves rather than Amnesty sending out more resources to

attain members.

In addition to the large focus on university groups, there is a great importance in

collegiate members motivating and training high school members. The earlier Amnesty is able

to reach out to students, the more likely students will be involved going further in life.

Combining international campaigns with local campaigns is vital to keeping Amnesty

intentionally international framework of support relevant to the organization. If countries continue

to only focus on domestic campaigns, the international movement will cease to be important. If

the groups choose to only work on international issues, Amnesty will begin to lose supporters

and be putting too much effort into policies that are much harder to change outside of the

borders.

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