By India R, Year 12

On November the 22nd, senior members of NHEHS’ Amnesty Youth Group had the exciting opportunity to go to the UK Amnesty International 2024 Youth Conference at Amnesty UK Headquarters. When we first arrived we participated in a round of human rights bingo, but sadly none of us won the chocolate coin prize! After this, we attended a very informative session focusing on Women’s Rights, during which we looked at case studies of Afghanistan and Congo, both places which violate women’s rights. Once that session ended, we were treated to a delicious Caribbean meal and a chance to share ideas and campaigns with representatives from other schools.

After lunch, we next attended a session on the topic of refugees, which educated us on the ongoing problems that refugees face and the oppressive policies many governments  around the world impose upon them. Afterwards, we were taught many ways to conduct a campaign, providing us with case study, in which we had to find the root causes of the problem and ways to solve it. Later on, we were given the chance to hear a guest speaker perform her poetry that was inspired by the ‘ Words That Burn’ challenge. Her poetry filled the room with awe as her words resonated deeply within all of us.  The speaker then gave us the task of writing at the top of a piece of paper the words, I am going to…. From this we filled the sentence and passed it round the table until our collaborative poem was complete with everyone’s words: such an engaging activity!

In conclusion, the experience was both enjoyable and eye-opening. The activities equipped us all with indispensable skills, established new links with other youth groups and energised us in our continued endeavour to champion human rights and justice in the world.  We extend our thanks to Ebony, Youth Organiser, who organised the day.  Further information about our current support of the 2024 Write for Rights Campaign can be found here.

Our NHEHS Amnesty Youth Group are busy at the Amnesty Youth Conference learning about Women’s Rights in DRC and unleashing their creativity to support the Write for Rights Campaign. #amnestyinternational @nhehssparksglobaleducation pic.twitter.com/NF05srwdv7

— NottingHill&Ealing (@nhehs) November 22, 2024