ACTivate

In this episode Catherine speaks with Dylan Chand, winner of the 2025 Gary Ware Legacy Award, an Amnesty NZ award supporting people under 25 who are passionate about protecting and promoting human rights. With the support of the award, Dylan will develop and host the Girmitiya Exhibition, a project sharing the experiences of Indian indentured labourers who were taken to Fiji under the British colonial system between 1879 and 1916. Known as Girmitiya these communities played a significant role in shaping Fiji’s culture and history, yet many of their stories have remained unheard. For Dylan this project is about identity, belonging, and creating opportunities for future generations to better understand where they come from.

Learn about Madrasas, the Taliban Religious Schools Radicalising Boys and Girls and Why the West isn't Doing More to Stop the Worst Women's Rights Situation in the World.
Tune into Part 2 of Catherine's interview with Dr Lauryn Oates (PhD Language Literacy Education), Executive Director of the Canadian Human Rights organisation, Right to Learn. Listen to Dr Oates talk about; how poverty is severely reducing access to education for women and girls, the large-scale uptake of Taliban religious education across Afghanistan and why the West should be worried, and why there isn't more outrage and action. Read more and donate at rightolearn.ca, Use your freedom and sign Amnesty’s petition at https://amnesty.org.nz/break-the-silence/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/06/gender-apartheid-must-be-recognized-international-law/

Afghanistan: The Taliban Must Immediately Revoke the Criminal Procedure Regulation of the Courts - Amnesty International

This month Catherine speaks with Dr Lauryn Oates, Executive Director of Right to Learn Afghanistan, a charity that for twenty-five years has championed education programs and made the right to education for women and girls a reality. With the Taliban in power, the current system of ‘gender apartheid’ sees girls over the age of 12 banned from education, resulting in at least 2.5 million school-aged girls out of school. Women are also banned from universities and a now-closed loophole that exempted health care training, to which many students switched their studies, has cut off training for new female nurses, doctors and midwives. Yet, Right to Learn Afghanistan continues to push back with online schools, grants and scholarships. Dr Oates (PhD Language & Literacy Education) explains there are significant risks for participants but, as the female suicide rate surges, female students tell them, "The biggest risk is having no education at all." Listen out for Part 2 of this interview next month. Read more at rightolearn.ca, Use your freedom and sign Amnesty’s petition at https://amnesty.org.nz/break-the-silence/

After years of false starts, Labour and National have teamed up to co-sponsor a bill requiring companies to investigate their supply chains for risks of forced labour. Listen to Rebekah Armstrong, Head of Advocacy and Justice at World Vision New Zealand explain why this political cooperation is momentous, how the new law will work, and the difference it will make to businesses, consumers and victims/survivors. Also, Take Action re Iran protests. Sign a petition calling on the international community to urgently act to stop further protest bloodshed in Iran: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-protest-massacres-in-iran/

This month Campaigns Manager, David Vega dicusses Amnesty Aotearoa's new report titled: “Navigating injustice: Climate displacement from the Pacific Islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati to Aotearoa New Zealand".  David outlines how existing migration pathways don’t provide well for the humanitarian needs of people seeking safety from the impacts of climate change and disasters as they’re labour-focussed, making them arbitrary and discriminatory. Amnesty Aoteroa calls on the NZ Government to establish a special rights-based humanitarian visa to allow Pacific People most impacted by climate change to move to or continue living in NZ. This matters because, as a Pacific nation we are “all in this together” – he waka eke noa.