Amnesty International club raises awareness through photo event

The Amnesty International Club took pictures of Cherry Hill East students holding a sign that says “I support the International Violence Against Women Act” on Oct. 30 2014.

The International Violence Against Women Act (also known as IVAWA) is a bill that, if passed, would make ending violence against women and girls around the world a top diplomatic priority of the US. In 2012, the US released a strategy that would help prevent violence against women around the world. This strategy is a core component of the IVAWA and it requires federal agencies to take steps in aiding the prevention and response to gender based violence. Amnesty International is a human rights organization that some students have brought to East. Amnesty International is pushing for this bill to be passed.

The Cherry Hill East Amnesty International club went around Cherry Hill East explaining to students what the act was and asking them to sign a petition to get the International Violence Against Women Act passed. The club also took pictures of these students holding a sign saying they support the IVAWA which were then posted on Facebook with the hashtag “ivawa” to raise awareness for the act.

The club president, Miku Fujita (’16) said that the reason for the pictures “was to raise awareness and also to gain support from people so that [the bill] is more likely to get passed.”

The club also plans on raising awareness through their Facebook page, “Cherry Hill East Amnesty International.”

The club also has many events planned throughout the year in support of other issues that are currently affecting the world.

“Overall throughout the year, Amnesty International [club] is going to be doing in school events and out of school events for different things,” said Fujita.

During December, the club focused on ten cases to get prisoners of conscience out of jail. Prisoners of conscience are people who were arrested for protesting against human rights violations or protesting peacefully.