New Tactics | WK 214 Mobile Phones: Communicating for Action

WK 214 Mobile Phones: Communicating for Action

Mobile phones have spread quickly as a relatively affordable means of communication worldwide and as a way of protecting human rights. They make it possible for Amnesty International’s networks to respond even more rapidly to abuses; they help prevent violence in Northern Ireland; and they help caregivers reach torture survivors in Palestine.

Panelists

Featured Tactic: Anneke Bosman, Amnesty International, The Netherlands Complementary Presentations:

Callie Persic, Interaction Belfast, Northern Ireland
Salma Jarbawi, Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, Palestine

Featured Tactic

Using text messaging to engage younger constituents in urgent-action appeals Anneke Bosman, Amnesty International, The Netherlands

Amnesty International–The Netherlands used text-messaging technology (short-message service or SMS) to attract new members (especially young people), build awareness of the campaign against torture and encourage people to respond quickly to urgent-action appeals. About 520 new members joined as a direct result of the campaign and over 5,000 more responded to the SMS urgent-action appeals. The SMS technique was originally developed in 2001, within the framework of Amnesty International’s Campaign Against Torture. When immediate action was required to protect someone from being tortured, the Dutch section of Amnesty International sent an SMS to the mobile phones of thousands of participants, who had taken a voluntary and free subscription to the SMS campaign network. Within hours, Amnesty International collected many thousands of protests "signatures". The organization then forwarded these protests by fax or e-mail to the authorities. In about one-third of AI’s Urgent-Action appeals, some positive result occurs: death sentences are commuted, "disappeared" people reappear, the whereabouts of detained people are disclosed or seriously ill prisoners are given medical attention.

Complementary Presentation

Callie Persic, Interaction Belfast, Northern Ireland

Interaction Belfast created a mobile phone network to prevent outbreaks of violence between volatile neighborhoods. Volunteers in both Catholic and Protestant communities are given mobile phones to communicate with their counterparts when potentially violent crowds gather or when rumors of violence start to spread. Volunteers from both sides meet weekly and their phones are always on. During events that are likely to cause violence the network plans ahead to monitor key areas.