In October 2011, several representatives from Asia Pacific Youth Network went to Amnesty International’s Human Rights Conference in Australia. Below is a message from one them about how he felt and shared his insights with all of YOU(th)!
Brisbane “Change the World” Conference
By Asher Preston
In 2009, the Chinese government called on the Melbourne International Film Festival (in my hometown) to withdraw a documentary entitled ‘The 10 Conditions of Love’. Other Chinese film-makers withdrew their films and the film festival’s website was hacked. The movie was about Rebiya Kadeer and her commitment to speaking out about oppression against the Uyghur people. Fortunately, despite all attempts, the film festival would not be silenced; instead they aired the film to record crowds drawn by the controversial silencing attempts.
Rebiya Kadeer
Like the festival, Rebiya Kadeer herself will not be silenced. Speaking in Brisbane last month for Amnesty International’s “Change the World” Human Rights Conference, Kadeer spoke of her imprisonment, threats against her family and the brutal oppression of her people. Her speech was part of three full days of talks and workshops by prominent human rights experts from around the world, all of which – like Kadeer’s – encouraged inspiring discussion among conference participants.
Many of the topics covered would be of particular interest to APYN members, relating to either human rights issues in the Asia Pacific, or young people’s engagement with human rights activism. Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, spoke about the current human rights situation in the Asia Pacific. I have detailed some of what she spoke about here.
Another speaker of particular relevance to APYN members was Nick Allardice from change.org which, according to Nick’s website, is “the fastest growing platform for social change in the world, empowering millions of members (growing at 400,000 per month) to start and join thousands of campaigns every day with the best online tools in the world.” Sadly, I couldn’t attend Nick’s talk, because I was attending another terrific talk that was on at the same time, but I’d encourage any APYN members who are interested to visit both his own blog and change.org to see the outstanding work that young people all over the world are doing to bring about social change.
