With a new chapter at Marquette, Amnesty International demonstrates how simply writing a letter can make all the difference when it comes to human rights issues.

"This is a good way to help out an organization that knows what it's doing and has a great record of producing results," said Zach Corey, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Corey, along with other students, decided to establish an Amnesty chapter last semester and set up a group on the Facebook to recruit members. The chapter first met at the end of February.

"A lot of results and actions have been taken by college students. Amnesty really appreciates college groups and provides them with a lot of the materials needed to get a chapter started," Corey said.

Corey plans on having a short presentation during each meeting to educate students on human rights violations occurring around the world. After the presentation, students will begin to write letters.

"We would like members to learn something at each meeting and take a positive step to end human rights violations," Corey said.

Corey said Peter Benenson, a British lawyer, founded Amnesty International in 1961 after he had encouraged letter writing to release two students unjustly imprisoned in Portugal.

Amnesty International now has 2 million members in 150 countries. Its purpose, Corey said, is to help make sure the United Nations Declaration of Rights is enforced and followed around in the United States and around the world.

"It is important to increase awareness of the international community and human rights issues," said Greg Jackson, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

"Amnesty will be a place to go for students to become involved in international activism," he said.

Jackson said other student activist groups like Jesuit University Students Together In Concerned Empowerment focus more on local rather than international issues.

Corey said the chapter will write letters in effort to release prisoners of conscience who express certain political and religious not accepted by that person's government.

Jackson said the Marquette chapter plans on adopting a prisoner, possibly from Southeast Asia. This entails writing letters of moral support to the prisoner and to the prisoner's government to request the prisoner's freedom.

"We want to narrow down our focus and make sure to not spread ourselves too thin," said Matt Manning, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

They will also write letters to stop the alleged genocide in the Dafur region of Sudan.

"This genocide is under the radar," Manning said. "People would be all over this if it was happening stateside or in Europe."

Anna Titulaer, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said the chapter hopes to spread awareness around campus.

"There's a lot of issues that people are not aware of. Not only around the world, but in Milwaukee too," Titulaer said. "Hopefully students will pitch in and realize they're making a difference."

Titulaer said the chapter aims to create a strong organization that will stick around campus.

"Right now we're just learning to be members of Amnesty International and how to create a strong chapter," Manning said.

Manning said the chapter planned to set up a table to get people to sign petitions at the Duran Duran and Rusted Root concerts in Milwaukee March 19.

"The issues we're fighting for are things most people would agree with … that all humans have certain inalienable rights," Corey said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on March 31 2005.