Daisy Forster
At Impact, we recognise the importance of using your voice to make the world a better place. One of the ways we can do this is by signing petitions. In order ‘be the change’ we want to see in the world in 2021, we have decided to compile a monthly list of important petitions for you to sign. Here are our January selections!
Give Rohingya refugees a voice in the decisions that affect them
Currently, there are nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing genocide in Myanmar. COVID-19 have exacerbated poor conditions in these camps and the refugees are struggling to access the healthcare that they need.
These refugees are being held in these camps against their will, surrounded by barbed wire fences and subjected to execution and punishment by the Bangladeshi government. Half a million children reside in these camps and have very little access to education.
This petition will urge the Bangladeshi government and international community to give the refugees a voice in decisions that affect them, in order to protect their human rights.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/protect-the-rights-of-the-rohingya-refugees/
Women must be at the heart of peace talks in Afghanistan
Women’s opportunities in Afghanistan have grown massively in the last two decades, despite the conflict which has plagued the country during this period. However, there is still very little female representation at all levels of government and 2.2 million Afghan girls still do not attend school.
By signing this petition, Amnesty International will call on the Peace Ministry and High Council for National Reconciliation to:
- Recognize the centrality of Afghan women’s contribution in development, peace and prosperity of Afghanistan and ensure that these gains and contribution women have made are non- negotiable during the negotiations.
- Any peace deal must not only protect the gains already made but commit to further advancing the rights of Afghan women.
No new coal
Despite the UK being the first country to declare a Climate Emergency, the government has allowed plans for Britain’s first deep coal mine in 30 years to go ahead.
If the government are serious about tackling the climate crisis, it must commit to establishing no new coal mines in this country. Sign this petition to urge them to stop these plans in their tracks:
Save bees from deadly pesticides
Bees play an integral role in pollinating many of the crops that provide us with food. However, in the last decade the UK has lost a third of its bees and populations continue to decline.
Bee-killing neonicotinoids have been banned in Europe since 2013, but the UK government have just approved the use of these deadly chemicals for use in emergencies.
Sign this petition to urge our Environment Minister to once again ban these pesticides and protect our bee populations, in the long term.
Stop the Rot! Call on supermarkets to tackle food waste in their supply chains
Every year, UK supermarkets are responsible for 7 million tonnes of food waste, which is enough to end all food poverty in the UK.
Carbon emissions from food waste are so high that if global food waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter after China and the USA.
Sign this petition to encourage UK supermarkets to take responsibility for their food waste and commit to:
– regularly publish their in-store and supply chain’s food waste data, including collaborating to measure food waste on farms by 2018 to enable targeted reduction.
– commit to ambitious targets to reduce their own stores’ and their manufacturing suppliers’ food waste by 30% by 2025
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-rot-end-supply-chain-food-waste?signed=true
Daisy Forster
Featured image courtesy of Romain Dancre on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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