Hello! Thanks for visiting my fundraising page and taking a couple of minutes to read why I have decided to run the Royal Parks half marathon on 6 October for Amnesty International: 

Every year hundreds of thousands of women, men and children all over the world are made homeless and destitute in a series of entirely unnatural disasters. They are forced out of their homes and off their lands, with little notice or none at all, often with the threat or use of violence.

They lose their livelihoods, their neighbourhoods and social networks, their access to basic services such as schools, medical care, water and sanitation – essential human rights that every person in this world should be entitled to.

An Amnesty International report released last year highlighted that eviction most often occurs in the name of development: to ‘regenerate’ the city, to build a road or a dam, or to create a tourist resort. The people targeted are almost always poor, and often belong to the most marginalised social groups.

In Haiti, for example, almost 1,000 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes between January and March this year on top of the 60,000 already evicted between 2010 and 2012, International Organization for Migration (IOM).

This is worsening the already terrible situation of thousands of people still living in displacement camps more than three years after the devastating earthquake of January 2010.

I am running for Amnesty International because the charity is helping to fight for an end to forced evictions and many other cases of human rights violations around the globe.

As a journalist, I also feel it is important to support Amnesty International because of the work it does to protect freedom of conscience and expression.    The charity started out 50 years ago after British lawyer Peter Benenson launched an appeal for individuals imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their beliefs – and that it still at the heart of its work today – whether that be  in Syria where journalists have been deliberately targeted by both sides in conflict or in other countries where freedom of speech has been suppressed. 

So, those are just a couple of reasons to support Amnesty - there are hundreds of others...Your donations will help Amnesty put pressure on policy makers and politicians to protect human rights- it will also help them send brave researchers out to investigate reports of torture or abuse. 

Your support will also help me keep running those 13 miles with a grin on my face! 

Thanks so much for your support - I will keep you posted on my training and fundraising events! 

Kasmira