Annual Conference 2020

Join Amnesty International Ireland for Annual Conference 2020.

Join Amnesty International Ireland for Annual Conference 2020, December 9th to 11th. We will send out meeting details to all registrants by December 9th.

You can view a copy of our Annual Report for 2019 here and view the agenda for Annual Conference 2020 here.

To view the Agenda, National Board member biographies and Motions to Conference please read the Annual Conference 2020 Papers here

Notification of Annual Conference 2020

As agreed at the Extraordinary General Meeting of 24 July 2020 where the Amnesty Ireland Constitution was amended to permit the Section to hold it’s Annual Conference online, we are now delighted to inform our members and supporters that Annual Conference 2020 will be held as a virtual event on Wednesday 09 December, Thursday 10 December and Friday 11 December 2020.

This on-line Annual Conference will consist of three 90-minute sessions over the three days.

We are pleased to announce Special Guests, Darragh Mackin, Human Rights Lawyer and Talia Kahattack.

Darragh Mackin is a solicitor with Phoneix Law, a Belfast based firm which specialises in human rights and accountability related issues. Darragh has worked on a number of significant human rights cases. He represented Ibrahim Halawa, the Irish Prisoner of Conscience who was detained for more than three years in Egypt. He also represented Sara Ewart and Amnesty International in the seminal judicial review challenge brought against the abortion laws in Northern Ireland. Darragh acted for a number of the Hooded Men in the application for revision of the Ireland v United Kingdom 1978 decision by the European Court of Human Rights on torture. Most recently Darragh has acted for the families of the victims of The Stardust fire, successfully advocating for a new inquest into their deaths.

Colm O’Gorman, will explore with Darragh his experience in working on these cases and others, discussing how lawyers and activists can work together to defend human rights.

As part of the annual Write for Rights Campaign, Annual Conference partners with Failte Amnesty, to highlight the case of Idris Khattak

Journalist and National Board member Razan Ibraheem, will be speaking to Talia Khattak, the daughter of Idris, about Talia’s campaign to get justice for her father.

Talia describes her father as selfless, loving and generous. The 55-year-old was often found in his backyard, tending to his garden and talking to his chickens. But he is also a dedicated human rights
researcher, investigating enforced disappearances in Pakistan for organisations like Amnesty International.
In a cruel twist of fate, he too was disappeared in November 2019.

Annual Conference 2020 will take place online via Zoom on all three dates. All members are invited to register, and each local, college and youth group is asked to ensure that they have at least one delegate in attendance. Log in details and other technical information will be provided following registration.

Annual Conference Voting Entitlements

As per the Section Constitution, each member has one vote – provided that they been in continuous membership of the Section for at least six months before the EGM. Affiliated organisations of at least six months standing have one vote. A school, college or youth support structure of at least six months standing shall have one vote and one additional vote for every 200 members of that group up to a maximum of four additional votes. Voting rights for all delegates will be confirmed following registration.

Submitting Constitutional Amendments and Motions

Proposing a motion or a constitutional amendment to the Annual Conference both follow the same format and are subject to the same guidelines.

The definitions for motions and amendments are below.

Constitutional Amendments seek to change, repeal or add to the Amnesty International Ireland Constitution, as it currently exists. Motions* seek to steer the work programme of the Irish Section

To submit a motion or constitutional amendment, please be advised of the following guidelines:

Amendments/motions must be submitted to the Conference Agenda Committee (CAC) in writing no later than 11 November 2020.

Please send motions/amendments to the CAC care of Bernadette Morris by email to annualconference(at)amnesty.ie Please note due to the public health measures to minimise the spread of COVID-19 we are unable to accept proposals for constitutional amendments or motions by post for Annual Conference 2020.

Amendments/motions may be submitted by any Amnesty International Ireland member who has been a member for a minimum of six months and whose membership is paid in full.

Additional details on submitting motions and amendments can be found here. The AI Ireland Constitution can also be found here.

If you wish to register, please email annualconference(at)amnesty.ie by 12:00 noon on Friday 11 December.