Amnesty International to Launch 100 Days Challenge on Inauguration Day

In DC, Human Rights Organization Builds Momentum on its Challenge Agenda Urging New Administration to Create Viable Plan to Close Detention Center, Sign Executive Order Banning Torture, Develop Independent Commission to Investigate Abuses

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As millions of people descend onWashington, DC to participate in the historic inauguration of President-elect Obama, Amnesty International will use the occasion to kick off its 100 Days Challenge. The human rights organization is calling on the new administration to undertake concrete human rights reforms within its first 100 days in office. Amnesty International is using the events around the inauguration to build momentum for its action agenda.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081014/AILOGO)

During the weekend prior to the inauguration, Amnesty International ambassadors will be tabling throughout the DC metro area, including Takoma Park, Adams Morgan and Arlington, to gather signatures on its 100 Days Challenge petition. The petition calls on the new administration to undertake concrete human rights reforms, including announcing a plan for the closure of the detention center atGuantanamo Bay; issuing an executive order banning torture and other ill-treatment; and ensuring an independent commission is created to investigate abuses committed by the U.S. government in its war on terror.

On Inauguration Day, Amnesty International ambassadors and staff will be on the National Mall, along the Inaugural Parade route and attending balls and galas to increase awareness of the organization's 100 Days Challenge agenda. The nerve center for Amnesty International's Inauguration activities will be at the Inauguration Action Center in McPherson Square where members of the Activist Coalition of DC and other social justice organizations will be providing information and other items to people attending events on Inauguration Day.

What: 100 Days Challenge Kickoff

Date: Inauguration Day, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Time: 7 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where: Inauguration Action Center at McPherson Square and all over the DC metro area

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

For more information or to speak to an Amnesty International USA spokesperson, please contact the AIUSA press office at 202.544.0200 x302.

SOURCE Amnesty International

Copyright © 2009, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze, Daily News

Tags: ,POL,NPT,EXE,MAV,AIUSA-100-Days-org