Daisy Forster and Anna Friel
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 to ‘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. Requiring no more than 5 minutes of your time, here are our February selections! Follow the link in the title of each petition to sign and make an ‘impact’.
UK Supermarkets generate more than 900,000 tonnes of plastic packaging every year – packaging that ends up polluting our oceans and being dumped into landfills across the globe. Many forms of packaging in supermarkets, such as plastic wrapped fresh produce, are wholly unnecessary and have a devastating impact on the environment.
With current plastic reduction measures proving not to be enough, by signing this petition you will help call for industry-wide action across the UK to dramatically reduce the amount of single-use plastic produced.
Since 2018, Indian authorities have led a smear campaign against Amnesty International in response to its reporting on human rights violations in the country. Recently, Amnesty have been working on the death penalty, extrajudicial executions, critique of repressive laws curtailing human rights work, and oppression of minorities, women and other vulnerable groups, as well as delivering human rights education in India.
This petition calls on the Indian government to release all human rights defenders in custody and to unfreeze the bank accounts of Amnesty India so they can continue their work.
Since November 2020, there has been conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray regional government ruling party, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), leading to a humanitarian crisis. Due to Government restrictions, access into the Tigray region for relief shipments and personnel has been heavily disrupted.
An estimated 450,000 people have been displaced and there is strong evidence of civilian massacres and sexual violence against women and girls. Crops and farming equipment have been destroyed, farmers have been forced to flee, and there has been no trade with the region since November.
Join us in calling on the Ethiopian authorities to allow full humanitarian access in Tigray.
It is still legal in the UK for people to protest and video outside of abortion clinics. This means that womxn visiting the clinic, who may already be going through a very stressful and traumatic experience, can be shamed by strangers upon their entrance and exit of the building.
This petition is to make it illegal for people to protest and film in the vicinity of such clinics in order to prevent the harassment of womxn.
There is mounting evidence that Amazon has actively tried to stop workers in several countries from unionising. Methods include investing in new technologies that spy on workers and allegations that the company has been monitoring workers’ private Facebook groups – something that they haven’t denied.
Amazon’s profits have soared due to the pandemic, yet Amazon workers have struggled to get safe working conditions, and their human right to join a union is now at threat.
Protect Amazon workers and support this petition.
Fires are used as a method of deforestation by the meat industry in order to create space to grow soya, which is used to feed livestock. Many UK companies are complicit in this action as their meat supply is dependent on the soya plantations in the region.
Tesco uses more soya for animal feed than any other supermarket in the UK. Sign this petition to encourage them to use their power to stop the fires in the Amazon.
Daisy Forster and Anna Friel
Featured image courtesy of Romain Dancre on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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