Nashville Amnesty Chapter Hosts Third Annual Human Rights Conference

Online, March 22, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Amnesty International is known worldwide for its ability to help "prisoners of conscience"-people imprisoned for speaking their mind or exercising other basic rights. It does this by encouraging members to write letters which force leaders to confront the abuses perpetrated in their country. Often this will result in the prisoners' successful release.

The Nashville chapter of Amnesty International holds an annual conference where people are invited to hear about various human rights issues throughout the day, including its main area of focus: prisoners of conscience. This year promises to be a great event, beginning with a brunch at 11am, on April 7th.

There will be several workshops throughout the day, including a presentation on immigrant rights, human trafficking abuses and how to spot victims, prisoners of conscience and Amnesty International's letter writing campaigns, and alternatives to the death penalty.

"We have a fantastic array of topics and great speakers for each," says Ed Meyers who is the Nashville organizer. "The final workshop of the day will be about activation-how to take the knowledge we now have and put it to work to really help people." Meyers says the chapter is adding a new component to its conference this year, inviting other human rights organizations to set up information booths outside of the main event hall.

Speakers throughout the event include Cecilia Gomez, outreach worker for human rights organization Free for Life International, and Caroline Blackwell, Executive Director of the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission, who will deliver the closing workshop. Human rights organizations that plan to set up information tables include the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, Free for Life International, Exodus Inc., W.O.M.E.N., My Global Voice, United for Human Rights and others.

The event is April 7, 2012 from 11am-5pm with a free brunch and workshops throughout the day. It will be held in the community room at the Church of Scientology. Pre-registration is requested. For more information or to register, email [email protected].