Saturday, June 27, 2009

FREEDOM WEEK - Celebrate Yours...

Tree Tops Presents... is to organise a charity fundraiser for and in conjunction with Amnesty Internationals fundraising team.
The show at an as yet undisclosed West Auckland venue is a chance to put together some of the finest talent that West Auckland has to offer. We will also be providing a bar and food for your delectation.
We are hoping to offer e-tickets for sale via this very blog site and or via the Amnesty International NZ site.
The show is likely to be on Saturday the 15th August although this is yet to be confirmed.
Below we have included the 'low-down' on why we need to get out and show our support for this event from Amnesty's Fundraising manager Sam Healey-Cunningham.

Freedom Week Act for their Freedom. Celebrate yours!
Freedom Week is the public appeal week of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. This year’s theme is about celebrating our Freedom of Expression. Amnesty relies 100% on donations of time, expertise or money from the public because we accept no funding from governments. This means Amnesty will never be pressured into silence.
Amnesty International is a global movement defending human rights and human dignity worldwide. We campaign against the most serious human rights violations and abuses. See www.amnesty.org.nz
Current priorities:
People imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs: Amnesty supporters around the world have been responsible for both freeing and saving the lives of many of thousands of people imprisoned for their beliefs or because they were courageous enough to speak out against injustice.

Stop Violence against Women: Amnesty has long worked on this basic human right that everyone has the ‘right to a life free of violence”. Unfortunately this is an issue of great concern in both NZ and our region, the Pacific. We will continue to work in this area promoting good legislation and initiatives which protect women who are vulnerable to violence.

Sri Lanka and Gaza: We have been researching and reporting these human rights crises and reporting back to the UN and Governments on the human rights violations which occurred. Solid evidence gathered on location and from eye witnesses is vital if those responsible are to face justice.
Fiji: We have been putting pressure on the Fijian interim government to restore the constitution and the human rights which it has violated by limiting people’s basic freedoms including freedom of expression.

Zimbabwe – is another country of interest for NZ. Over the years we have continued to monitor and report on the human rights violations which occur in this country where people are still being imprisoned and tortured for speaking out about state sponsored human rights violations.

We hope this has given you some food for thought and that you will consider coming out to support this show which will mark the end of two weeks of fundraising events.