Chadwick International School’s Amnesty International club recently raised awareness of the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines with another of its well-known letter writing campaigns. It was just the latest in a string of campaigns engineered by Chadwick students. Some of Chadwick AI's recent noteworthy achievements include highlighting the exploitation and abuse of workers in Qatar for the World Cup in 2022; petitioning the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's hardline policies over Syrian refugees, which actually elicited a personal response from the Prime Minister; and joining the movement to secure the release of PhyoePhyoeAung, a student activist in Myanmar, who eventually won her freedom in April of 2016.
As with previous events, Chadwick's Amnesty International club hopes that a similarly positive outcome can result from its latest letter writing campaign to the Philippine government. They are currently waiting for a response from the government.
An interview was conducted with Brianna Lee, one of the leaders of this club, to ask about the process, hardships, and lessons learned from hosting awareness-raising events such as these.
What factors prompted you to choose this specific case?
We always choose as a club. Each member would find a case that interests him or her the most, then we share them with each other. Eventually, we vote to decide on a topic. Cases that didn’t get chosen are often dealt in the future.
What were some hardships you faced, and how did you overcome them?
One of the hardest things I have to say is raising awareness of issues regarding human rights violation among the upper school students. Everyone would agree the violation of human rights is wrong. However, what we don’t realize is how often these violations occur, and consequently the need for staying proactive in maintaining those rights. The Amnesty International club tries to conduct very thorough research on the cases so that we can talk about them to anyone at school. Also, we try to think of the various ways we can deliver what we know to the student body at Chadwick International. Some of our efforts include presentations at Upper School assemblies and putting up posters that we made regarding the issue.
What was something you learned through this event?
I learned the power of awareness and how even little things can change the world. Learning about different countries’ political backgrounds and various situations of human rights violations were a given through the process of researching our cases. However, one big thing that I learned is how even the slightest attention given toward human rights violations can actually mean a lot. For example, we sent off of about 120 signatures from the Chadwick International student body and faculty for the case of an imprisoned student activist in Myanmar. The student activist was actually freed a month after we sent off our signatures; the accumulation of signatures from schools and organizations like Chadwick brought about change.
What is the club’s overall goal? What will you do in the future to achieve this?
Our goal is to continue to stay active in fighting for human rights in different parts of the world as high school students. We will continue to host awareness-raising events in order to achieve our goal.
As such, awareness-raising events such as these not only help the targeted group, but also the individuals who host the events because it helps them learn and mature as they prepare for college and beyond. “We host these events because we know that the power of awareness can change the world,” Lee stated, “just like how PhyoePhyoeAung was freed after signatures from schools all over the world accumulated.” Hopefully, activities like these will continue to be held for the growth of students and for the benefit of the world as a whole.
Yenah Jang
Grade 11
Chadwick International School