Human Rights Day meeting 10/12/2011

London Chilterns Region celebrated Human Rights day on Sat 10^th December in Blackheath with members from around the region hosted by the Greater London club and the other London cluster clubs.

The morning consisted of the Open Council meeting with an interesting talk from Tom Shelton of Handicap International http://www.handicap-international.org.uk/

Handicap International is an independent international aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster especially with people with disabilities. SIGBI has been partners with them since 2003.

The afternoon session featured an overview of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 with a candle lighting ceremony involving members from different clubs. We listened to the message released by Ban Ki-moon the Secretary General of the UN as well as the message from our International President Alice Wells. This was followed by Human Rights poems and a showing of the video “Honour me” which had initially been the subject of a workshop at the Brighton conference. http://youtu.be/fQ9LQSxVDm8

Soroptimists International are working in partnership with The World Association of Girl guides & Girl scouts (WAGGS) and the afternoon was finished off with a short video on violence against women called “Stop the Violence, Join the Conversation” produced by the WAGGS. http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/take_action/violence#commentform