Long term supporter, activist and former Amnesty President, Georgina Perry chats to Charles Rozario about what inspires her continued support. Georgina shares how it all started from her days as a secondary school student to life today as a mum and community lawyer.

When did it all begin for you?

I think it was during Year 9 when there was a school presentation about women’s rights by someone from Amnesty. I remember hearing about a girl the same age as me and as I listened, it just struck me: Why would someone my age who should have had the same opportunities as I did, be denied not just the same opportunities but her basic freedoms? At that moment, I wanted to do something for that girl and people like that girl everywhere.

You mentioned in conversation earlier that Amnesty is very accessible to all people who really want to make difference. Could you expand on what you mean by that?

It’s the one thing that I immediately liked about Amnesty. I was just a school student back then but I could actually do something to make a real difference. There were many activities and actions that were possible through Amnesty so I felt that I could get involved in many different ways and that it wasn’t just about donating money. That empowered me. I felt that I could make an impact.

What activities did you do?

After that presentation, I joined the Amnesty group at my high school. We got together weekly and wrote letters protesting human rights abuses around the world. We also organised mufti-days where students could donate $1 to wear plain clothes and they would get involved in letter writing in their home room class in the morning. Candle Day was also a major fundraiser at the time and I raised funds for Amnesty at school events that way.

How did your Amnesty journey continue after school?

Well I did some work experience at the Amnesty Action Centre in Sydney during Year 11. It was a fun experience as I got to meet the staff, especially the campaigners. After that I joined the Amnesty group at Sydney University and kept volunteering at the Action Centre during that time.  My main role in the Action Centre was to coordinate the NSW Schools Network that encouraged high school students across the state to support Amnesty and campaign for human rights. In a way it felt like coming full circle – I was at the other side of my own experience as a Year 9 student.

You continued to support Amnesty now that you’re in the workforce and you’re also a Mum. Tell us why and how do you support us?

Well I suppose my continuation as a supporter stems from that initial desire to make a positive contribution, after attending that presentation at school. I work as a community lawyer now and I’m also a Mum to 7 year old boy and a 1 year old girl. I’ve continued to support Amnesty in various ways from being a member of the Amnesty Australia Board, including as President, making regular donations, and volunteering to facilitate the Amnesty Annual General Meeting the past few years. I’ve also left a gift in my Will to Amnesty.

What human rights issues are you most passionate about?

I’m passionate about all human rights issues but I’m particularly passionate about the rights of Indigenous Australians, refugees and women.  While I have a passion for human rights, a lot of my work with Amnesty has been focussed on organising and governance.  My experience as a lawyer means I am able to make a contribution in this area.  I recently took the time to consider Amnesty Australia’s strategic plan and can see the vital work that Amnesty continues to do and the impact that it has.”  

You mentioned leaving a gift in your Will to Amnesty. What inspired you to do this?

Well in my view leaving a gift in your Will is a very simple thing to do. The actual organising part of getting the Will done requires a bit of effort but once you’ve done that, leaving a gift to Amnesty is just an extra line in the document. It doesn’t affect my day to day finances. After you’ve passed is a time when there could be money available that you can give to help others.  Of course, choosing who to give to is very important. For me, after providing for my family, helping to ensure Amnesty can continue to protect and promote human rights is absolutely important to me.

What would you say to others about doing same thing?

I’d say that Amnesty is an organisation that campaigns for human rights. It does this without government support so it can remain brave, independent and impartial. Amnesty enables individual people to get involved and to make a difference about the issues they care about. There are many ways to do this and leaving a gift in your Will is a way to continue your support even when you’re no longer around.

For more information about leaving a gift in your Will to Amnesty, check out our bequests page or contact Charles Rozario directly on (03) 94120730 or charles.rozario@amnesty.org.au.

It’s never too early to learn about human rights. Check out our list of inspiring books for children and young adults to take you and your family into spring.

Younger readers aged 3–7

Welcome by Barroux

This book tells the story of three polar bears adrift in the ocean after part of their ice float suddenly breaks off. It explores themes of difference, belonging and climate change, and has powerful echoes with the current refugee crisis.

I Have the Right to Be a Child by Alain Serres and illustrated by Aurélia Fronty

This beautiful book uses pictures to bring the Convention on the Rights of the Child to life and help young readers understand their rights.

There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins

Awarded the Amnesty CILIP Honour 2016, There’s a Bear on My Chair is a witty portrayal of activism and peaceful protest, told through the story of a tiny mouse attempting to move a bear from his favourite chair.

What Are You Playing At? by Marie-Sabine Roger and Anne Sol

This ‘lift-the-flap’ book aims to challenge rigid gender norms around childhood play.

My Little Book of Big Freedoms by Chris Riddell

My Little Book of Big Freedoms helps readers understand why human rights are so important for leading a free, safe and happy life.

Junior readers aged 8–12

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

Winner of the Amnesty CILIP Honour 2017, The Bone Sparrow highlights the plight of Burma’s Rohingya people and details life inside a detention centre in Australia.

Dreams of Freedom by Amnesty International

Our latest book combines the words of human rights heroes such as Nelson Mandela, Anne Frank and Malala Yousafzai, with beautiful illustrations from renowned international artists including Oliver Jeffers and Chris Riddell.

Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman

Two Weeks with the Queen follows Colin, a young boy who has a plan to break into Buckingham Palace. It is a witty and empathetic book that deals with some difficult themes, such as bereavement and homophobia.

The Journey by Francesca Sanna

This book explores the theme of migration through a child’s eyes as a mother and her two young children are forced to flee their country.

The Hypnotist by Laurence Anholt

The Hypnotist tells the tale of 13-year-old Pip who has to battle racial hatred when he goes to work as a farmhand. Set during the civil rights struggles of 1960s America, this book explores the nature of prejudice and racist violence in a thoughtful and original way.

Young adults aged 13–16

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Inspired by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, The Hate U Give follows 16-year-old Starr, whose life changes forever when she witnesses a policeman murder her childhood friend, Khalil.

Here I Stand: Stories that Speak for Freedom compiled by Amnesty International

This compelling collection of stories, poems and graphic narratives explores different aspects of our human rights.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

A coming-of-age novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves focuses on two brave young women who confront racism and homophobia to live as they choose.

The Stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard

Narrated by 15-year-old Alice Nightingale, a girl who has suffered a brain injury and struggles to express herself, The Starts at Oktober Bend explores themes of sexual assault, poverty and racism.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea follows a host of characters in Germany 1945 as they seek shelter from the Red Army aboard the Wilhelm Gustlof. This is a tragic story that has rarely been told.

By Anna Neistat, Senior Director for Research, Amnesty International

Even if you haven’t seen Game of Thrones, you know the iconic, sinister saying. In the TV show, it is muttered meaningfully as a warning not only that after a long summer a harsh winter is ahead, but that winter brings with it an existential threat to the world—an army of the dead. This threat makes all the vicious scheming, treachery and feuding look insignificant and petty.

As a human rights defender watching leaders around the world scapegoating and dividing to score political points, I can’t help thinking that winter may be coming for all of us—a dark future where protection of human rights won’t mean much anymore.

The “summer” was long and fruitful. Seventy years ago the world came together in 1948 and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stated for the first time that human rights must be protected across “all peoples and all nations.”

This unprecedented commitment to protect human rights everywhere was made by the survivors of a long night of horror that humanity had just endured. They joined forces to ensure that the gas chambers, the extermination of the entire peoples, and the suffering of civilian population at such scale never happen again.

Since then, people around the world have claimed remarkable victories: securing rights for women and LGBT communities, standing up to abusive governments, removing seemingly indestructible totalitarian regimes and bringing heads of states to account. People have created a society that would be unrecognizable to those who emerged from the darkest moments in human history determined that it should never be repeated.

Yet now it seems that we are going back in time. I have no illusions that the past 70 years were rosy. We human rights defenders have been like the brothers of the Night’s Watch, a bit closer to the chilly winds, warning, sounding the alarm and guarding against the worst abuses. The basic principle that kept the winds of winter at bay, that all governments must respect certain universal rights, has never felt more threatened than it does today. The inhabitants of Westeros may act as if summer will last forever, but we cannot afford to do the same.

We are no longer fending off attacks on the rights of individuals or communities. We are no longer dealing with a few rogue governments while relying on others as allies. We are up against the assault on the entire system of human rights protection. Like Jon Snow, we must rally everyone together for our own existential fight.

This creeping assault did not start yesterday. Within just a few recent years, xenophobia, misogyny, and dehumanisation of “others” have become the slogans that brought victories to politicians who blatantly exploited their electorates’ sense of insecurity and disenfranchisement. But not only that, it has increasingly become a call for action, leading to discrimination, hate crimes, violence and deaths, as we have just seen in Charlottesville.

Vaguely defined “security concerns” are being used as justification for deviation from human rights, such as the prohibitions of torture and summary executions, in countries as different as the United States, Russia, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, and the Philippines.

States like Russia and China, which have consistently challenged the very notion of universality of human rights, have become emboldened and manage to increasingly dominate or stall the debate at the international level.

What is worse, countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, who have been, at least in rhetoric, the champions of human rights, have dramatically changed their positions. Like Cersei Lannister, they unashamedly pursue narrow self-interests, and in doing so pedal despicable arguments that human rights should be sacrificed for national interest.

Their position makes it all too easy for other states, with less established traditions of democracy and respect for human rights, to follow this path.

There is no denying it – the system of human rights protection built in the aftermath of some of darkest times in modern history, is descending into the dusk again. And, to use another sinister Game of Thrones quote, the night, when it comes, will be “dark and full or terrors.” Anyone who hopes to stay untouched by being far from the frontlines of this battle, has simply forgotten the previous “winters” too quickly.

The only way to protect our core common human values against such powerful forces, is to unite and act: to resist the attempts to divide us along any lines; to bring our own governments to account—to speak out, loudly and persistently, using all available means of communication, from megaphones to social media, against assault on our rights and the rights of others; to open our hearts and homes to those in need of protection; and to show our support and solidarity with every individual  or community facing injustice or persecution.

In the world of Game of Thrones, a long, cold winter is quickly descending. But for human rights it does not have to be that way. If together we keep the candle of the human rights protection alight, darkness will retreat.