In Feerass’ Own Words:

I have been learning about human rights since I was a young child and continued to develop my knowledge while in university as a drama student. Many of the plays I studied were concerned with the humanity of people, often depicted against a political backdrop marred by human rights violations.

After university, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in technology. In 2017, I completed a course on modern website development. I wanted to find a way to bridge my passion for human rights and my tech skills, so I emailed Amnesty International Toronto to see if I could help with their website.  I am now a member of the AITO Web Team and in that capacity I regularly update the site with new information as well as perform site maintenance as needed.

I participated in the 2018 AITO Regional Meeting and found it particularly inspiring. A researcher and an activist specializing in web technologies were speakers at the event. They stressed the problems of internet security and privacy for human rights activists. I believe that the dissemination of information on an increasingly closed internet will be a growing concern for human rights organizations. To see both activists and researchers speaking about this topic left me feeling more informed as well as more hopeful.

I thoroughly enjoy my time volunteering with Amnesty International as it exposes me to human rights issues not just in faraway countries but right here in Canada. I highly encourage anyone to volunteer!