Students participate in global write-a-thon

Members of Douglas High School's Amnesty International Club spent the week of Dec. 7 writing letters to governments worldwide, asking them to protect and release victims of human rights abuses.

"The actions of people in our community and thousands of others around the world will help bring freedom and justice to an individual being denied their basic human rights," said Douglas High teacher and club advisor Dena Jensen-Dugan.

Amnesty International's global write-a-thon commemorates the rights enshrined more than 60 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted on Dec. 10, 1948.

Every year, thousands of participants from more than 30 countries take action on behalf of prisoners of conscience and other individuals at risk.

"We have so many rights in this country," club president Gina Sipin, who shares the position with classmate Kena Longabaugh, said in a previous story.

"We can fight for the rights of others as well."

For more information, visit www.amnestyusa.org.