Amnesty International holds Human Rights week

Presenters Sergio Maraboli (left) and Efrain Trujillo, Jr. speak as part of Student Rights Week.

The school hosted a Rights Week during the week of Monday, December 7. The week was primarily organized by the school’s Amnesty International Club using a $1,000 grant from Los Altos Voices for Peace.

Amnesty designed the events to inform students about human rights abuses throughout the world and hopefully inspire compassion and action from the student body.

“When we talk about human rights, we’re talking about very basic rights that apply to all of our students and their families,” Amnesty International co-adviser Seth Donnelly said. “High school [students] have historically been at the forefront of [social and revolutionary] change.”

The week’s main events were held on Monday and included a presentation from guest speaker Mark Kimbler who spoke about the death penalty.

Kimber talked about issues related to the penalty such as racism, execution of innocents and unequal access to court representation.

There was also a second presentation at 7 p.m. in the Eagle Theatre featuring a panel discussion about immigration rights and an analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy.

There were three main presentations, each of which focused on a different area of human rights abuse. Speakers included Sergio Maraboli, a Chilean political prisoner, Pierre Labossiere, founder of the Haiti Action Committee and members of SIREN (Services, Immigrants Rights and Education Network).

The rest of the week focused on spreading an awareness of human rights through the use of announcements and posters which were located around parts of the school.

“The most important thing students can do is [be] educated,“ Amnesty International Club President senior Zach Garcia said.