Due to limitations related to stay-at-home orders, we’re making the Postcard Brigade a virtual effort. Each month we’ll be posting a page on our website with actions you can take from the safety and comfort of your home.
APRIL’S ACTIONS
ACTION #1 - Ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 6094 - The Sudan Democratic Transition, Accountability, and Financial Transparency Act of 2020. Introduced by Representatives Eliot L, Engel (D-NY), Michael McCaul (R-TX); Karen Bass (D-CA); and Chris Smith (R-NJ), the bill seeks to support a civilian-led democratic transition, promote accountability for human-rights abuses, and encourage fiscal transparency in Sudan.
April 11 marked the one year anniversary of the overthrow of President Bashir. Sudan is at a watershed moment and many questions lay ahead. This a vitally important time for Congress to help to ensure that Sudan continues on a path towards a just and free society for all. Jim McGovern, Barbara Lee, Dan Kildee, and Ilhan Omar have also cosponsored the legislation. Now we need to ask our own Reps to do the same!
Click on the button below for your Representative. Not an Oregon resident? That’s okay. Click the last button below for steps to ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 6094. The deadline to sign on is April 23!
ACTION #2 - Tell the State Department: Human rights must be protected for all. In July 2019, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the Commission on Unalienable Rights to review the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy and which rights should be “honored.” Never Again Coalition was among the over 400 elected officials, human rights advocates and national organizations that signed a letter condemning the Trump administration’s Commission and calling for its immediate disbanding. Secretary Pompeo’s attempt to evaluate and create a hierarchy of fundamental human rights is not only concerning, but also illegal. A number of human rights organizations sued claiming that the Commission, led by LGBTQ and women’s rights opponents with strong leanings towards religious freedom over other rights, is operating illegally.
The Commission is expected to issue a report in July of it's findings. We are working with others to flood the inbox of the Commission with letters of concern, to demonstrate the widespread opposition of the human rights community to this politicized, harmful, and legally dubious effort. For further background info, we recommend this coverage by PRI. Here are two ways you can help:
Write your own email to the Commission and send to their public comment inbox as commission@state.gov
Sign on to our letter to the Commission. The deadline to sign on is April 23.
ACTION #3 - Tell companies to stop doing business with the Burmese military. The Burmese military (Tatmadaw) has committed serious human rights violations on ethnic minority groups in Burma, including genocidal acts against the Rohingya. Burma Campaign UK and the International Campaign for the Rohingya are both working to break the ties between international companies and the Burmese military.
“The actions of the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States, in particular in the context of the ‘clearance operations’ in northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017, have so seriously violated international law that any engagement in any form with the Tatmadaw, its current leadership, and its businesses, is indefensible.” - United Nations Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, September 2018
SUPPORT - In the wake of the COVID19 pandemic, here are some simple ways to help provide essential items to refugees and displaced people in Bangladesh, DRC and Chad.