4. Saving lives

What could be better? Doctors, firefighters, emergency relief workers train for years, risk their lives/sanity/marriages but the rest of us can give up a few minutes and prevent someone from dying. How cool is that?

Carrying an organ donor card

Spend your lunch-hour donating blood

People also need donated blood marrow and tissues:

Evening class - learning first aid/CPR

Yes, we can go scuba-diving in the local swimming pool, practice making sugar-spun fairies or learn Ancient Greek, but there's also the chance to learn how to save someone's life. The Red Cross runs a basic seven-hour first-aid course covering simple life-saving techniques, including resuscitation and management of bleeding. They also offer Practical First-Aid (14 hours), Standard First-Aid (24 hours) as well as courses in Emergency Life Support and First-Aid for Motorists. www.redcross.org.uk

St John Ambulance offers basic training, advanced and refresher courses in all aspects of first-aid, including first-aid for the workplace, for the public, for children and specialist courses, including defibrillator training to restart a stopped heart. www.sja.org.uk

Last resort first aid tips

There's a classic headline from Men's Health:
If you can lay your hands on a bottle of vinegar, a box of tampons or a credit card, you may yet turn out to be a lifesaver.
Find out how

Campaign against the death penalty

As the World's leading campaigner for human rights, Amnesty International is of course vigorously opposed to the death penalty. Here's what they say:

Why do we oppose the death penalty?

Amnesty International regards the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and opposes its use in all cases. The death penalty violates the right to life, one of the most fundamental human rights. One of primary defining documents in human rights is the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. Article 3 of the Declaration states:
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

We believe that no criminal act or legal proceedings can legitimate the violation of this basic right. The death penalty is simply sanctioned killing--murder by the state.

There are also practical reasons to oppose the death penalty. The death penalty is an irrevocable punishment; once sentence has been carried out, it can never be reversed. There is a serious risk that it may be inflicted on innocent people, and many cases are known where it has been; this should be intolerable. Its application also exhibits severe racial and economic bias. The main argument in favour of the death penalty is that it has a deterrent effect, but despite many studies, it has never been shown to be more effective at deterring crime than other punishments. The use of the death penalty can be psychologically damaging to all those involved, and rarely gives the victims of crime any real satisfaction or sense of closure.

What actions does Amnesty International take?

Amnesty International campaigns against the use of the death penalty in individual cases, by letter-writing campaigns which appeal to prosecuting authorities not to seek the death penalty, or seek clemency in cases where the death penalty has been imposed.

It also campaigns for moratoria on, and abolition of, the death penalty in all countries. Over half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The latest information shows that:

  • 75 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes
  • 14 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes
  • 20 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more
  • 86 other countries retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

Over 30 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes since 1990.

Amnesty International also campaigns specifically against the use of the death penalty on child offenders. International human rights treaties prohibit anyone under 18 years old at the time of the crime being sentenced to death. Most countries specifically exclude the execution of child offenders. A small number of countries, however, continue to execute child offenders.

Seven countries are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime since 1990-Congo (Democratic Republic), Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, USA and Yemen. The country which carried out the greatest number of known executions of child offenders was the USA (15 since 1990).

Further information: