I started working with Amnesty International in Melbourne in July 2013.

Prior to this, I used to formulate strategic action plans to avoid those yellow and blue t-shirts armed with boards and petitions on the street. It’s much easier to ignore the elephant in the room than to start feeding it peanuts.

Since it was established in 1961, Amnesty has achieved an enormous amount of successes, from seeing thousands of prisoners of conscience released, to pushing powerful governments and corporations to account for violations of human rights. Most recently, the United Nations adopted an Arms Trade Treaty in a move which represents the culmination of over 20 years of petition signing and campaigning by Amnesty and other human rights bodies. The Treaty will prohibit states from transferring weapons to countries when they know those weapons will be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

At the start of February 2013 and as result of over 200 events being organised by action groups and volunteers, Amnesty coordinated 81,536 Australians to sign a petition supporting Afghan women’s rights. An Amnesty sign-on letter for the release of Pussy Riot singers included dozens of the most famous musicians in the world, from Adele and Coldplay to Madonna, Sting, Elton John and Yoko Ono and gained tens of thousands of signatures around the world. On 10 October 2013, Amnesty commemorated the World Day Against the Death Penalty in a spectacular candlelit vigil at Federation Square where people from all over Melbourne united and signed hundreds of actions in support of the cause.

Having been part of the organisation for four months now, I feel that I have gained a true appreciation of the concept, “with knowledge comes power”.

Whilst donor fatigue is understandable in a world dominated by charities and causes, the act of putting pen to paper or clicking a mouse requires very little time and next to no effort. Yet, the simple act of signing of a petition can help save innocent people around the world from an astonishing array of human rights abuses.

In a country as fortunate as ours, it can be extremely easy to become complacent about the plight of those less fortunate than us. It is extremely empowering however, to know that each and every individual can achieve so much by doing so little. After my experience at Amnesty, I’ll be certain to never bypass someone holding a petition again.