For Immediate Release Contact:Emily Taylor, Tel: 602-791-6080,
July 5, 2006 Email: emily.e.taylor@asu.edu
Español: Nicky Walker, Tel: 602-254-0345
Email: guatechick78@yahoo.com
Phoenix Area Amnesty Groups to Denounce Torture during First Friday Artwalk
(Phoenix, AZ) – In commemoration of Torture Awareness Month four Phoenix area Amnesty International (AI) local groups will collaborate to deliver an art project and event in effort to raise awareness about torture and torture related issues. The July First Friday happening, to be held outside of Holga’s Art Gallery, will denounce torture worldwide, including emphasis on issues of torture in Africa, Latin American, and the United States War on Terror.
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"Bringing this art project and event to the community will raise awareness about the horrors of torture and how it can cause detriment to an entire society. I hope it will inspire people to take action and demand that torture stop now," said Emily Taylor, Arizona Legislative Coordinator for Amnesty International USA.
Planned and sponsored by local Amnesty International groups with support from Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix and Holga’s Art Gallery the art project will be hosted outside of Holga’s Art Gallery on Third and Garfield Streets, South of Roosevelt in Phoenix. The event is supported by participating local AI Arizona groups include the student chapters at Phoenix College, Arizona State University’s west campus and AI Groups #489 in Tempe and #110 in Phoenix. The event is free and will be open on Friday July 7, 2006 from 6:30 pm to 1:00 am.
Artists have chosen a metal shipping container as their canvass to express the horrors of torture as hundreds of prisoners of conscience are held in similar containers in the east African country of Eritrea. Images of Eritrea will line both exterior and interior walls of the container. Viewers will be encouraged to enter the container to experience the reality of prison life inside a metal shipping container. In addition to the featured art there will be interactive art, an audio/video presentation, and opportunities for audience participation and political action.
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the legally binding UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Specific obligations related to torture and ill-treatment have been detailed in the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT). 141 countries, including the United States, have ratified the CAT. According to the 2006 Amnesty Internationals report 104 of 150
