Last week we had the pleasure of attending the World Affairs Council’s discussion with Larry Cox, the Executive Director of Amnesty International. It was a truly enlightening and informative discussion as Larry covered both the history and future of Amnesty, tracing its roots from being the international voice for the “forgotten prisoners”, those silent voices that stood out for decades against oppression and dictatorships worldwide to now where Amnesty also fighting for elimination of poverty as a top issue on its agenda.
The event was hosted by Larry Brooks, from the World Affairs Council of Northern California, who posited a number of amazing questions both of his own and from the audience. “If you focus on a particular problem, solutions appear,” noted Mr. Cox…”We don’t have to accept a world where women die in child birth,” he added. He discussed their efforts in Sierra Leone and Brazil, which have netted huge gains in the areas of women dying in childbirth and poverty, respectively.
BetterWorld was able to field a question regarding how technology, the Internet and communications has helped Amnesty’s cause over the past few decades – to which, Mr. Cox answered that it has been critical in Amnesty’s success in many corners of the world, and continues to reap positive benefits. “Information and Communications Technology has had tremendous impact,” noted Cox – from Iran to China, they haven’t seen any measurable downsides of ICT, except where governments like Iran and China have limited access to it – but it is not enough, we must still come together and be there in person in some shape and form.
While our focus at BetterWorld is more here in America, it is great to keep an eye and ear on global impact organizations like Amnesty, and focus on how the telecom industry, as a subset of ICT can and will continue to influence the world in a positive way. For more information and to see how you can help, please visit www.amnesty.org.
In service,
Matt
Posted in: Events
