WRITE FOR RIGHTS AND CHALLENGE INJUSTICE
When we promote and defend human rights, we can create a better world for ourselves and others.
Over 20 years of writing for rights
Write for Rights is the world’s biggest human rights event. It brings millions of people together as one to take action and stand up for freedom, justice and equality.
Every year in the lead up to World Human Rights Day (10 December), Amnesty supporters and activists from 170 countries take action – writing letters, signing petitions, and much more – telling governments to challenge injustice and right wrongs.
People power works
Real positive change takes place because of those actions: people under attack are protected, people wrongfully imprisoned are released, torturers are brought to justice and people in prison are treated more humanely.
We run Write for Rights every year because it works – your words have freed people from human rights abuses and changed lives.
Rocky Myers
Rocky, a Black man with an intellectual disability, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1994. A nearly all-white jury found him guilty of the murder of his white neighbour, despite the lack of any forensic evidence directly linking him to the crime. In a practice that is now outlawed in Alabama, the judge overrode the jury’s decision of life in prison and condemned Rocky Myers to death.
As part of Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign in 2023, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world signed a petition asking Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to commute his death sentence. Here in Australia, we handed over more than 30,000 of your signatures. Our voices were heard, and in February 2025 Rocky’s death sentence was commuted.
Rita Karasartova
In October 2023, Human rights defender Rita Karasartova was arrested for publicly opposing a new border agreement and charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government”. Over 400,000 actions were taken for Rita during Write for Rights 2023 and on 14 June 2024, Rita was acquitted!
Joanah Mamombe and Cecillia Chimbiri
Joanah Mamombe and Cecillia Chimbiri were abducted and tortured after leading an anti-government protest in Zimbabwe and charged with various crimes including that they had faked their abduction. Supporters wrote over half a million messages on behalf of the women and on 5 July 2022, they were acquitted of “communicating falsehoods and obstructing the course of justice” by the High Court.
How Write for Rights has changed lives
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