Amnesty International raises awareness of human rights

USC Aiken graduate and activist David Matos returned to his alma mater to inform students of the school of Americas located at Fort Benning, GA.

Speakers such as these are just an example of the kind of awareness of human rights issues the group Amnesty International brings to the campus. Amnesty International is a national non-government organization that strives to educate people about human right cases and bring about action.

Amnesty International is fairly new; the group was started last semester. Lam Le, a coordinator for Amnesty International said that she likes working in the field of human rights.

" It's great that you get to experience what people go through, you can't help but want to do something about the injustices that you hear about," said Le. 

The program Wednesday evening was highlighted by the screening of a film about the School of the Americas and the protest held there yearly. This year a few members of the Amnesty group plan to make a trip to the protest in Fort Benning, GA.

The School of Americas is a training ground for soldiers from Latin America. Activists such as Matos believe that the School of Americas should be closed due to the way the soldiers use their training when they return to their native country. Soldiers trained at the school are said to have been responsible for thousands of deaths in Latin American countries.

Amnesty International held an event on Monday, Nov. 1. In this forum, they informed students about organ harvesting. Dr. Xie, an assistant professor at USCA, who is a native of the country, spoked on the issue.

Many of the members of Amnesty International feel that it is a great opportunity for students on campus to join. Students can email the group at amnesty@usca.edu or find them on Facebook.

Le urges students who are interested in joining Amnesty International to come to one of their weekly meetings.