"If you were imprisoned for your political beliefs, would you want people to write letters of appeal on your behalf?" This year's flyer, for Amnesty International's Write-a-thon, is asking individuals just that.

The Write-a-thon will take place today at 12 p.m. in the second-floor common room of the HUB and run until around 4:30 p.m.

Kicking off the Human Right's Day weekend, "[The Write-a-thon] is sponsored by Amnesty International, but focuses on the 'private citizen' writing on behalf of the political prisoners," said Ariela Marshall, co-coordinator of the Write-a-thon.

This event has a dual purpose, including both humanitarian and political aspects. There will be political letters focused on various spotlight cases sent to governments. The second aspect is a non-denominational holiday card action, sent to individual prisoners.

The holiday cards are less a political gesture than a humanitarian one, said Marshall, and they let prisoners know they are recognized, they're not alone and they're not forgotten.

"If a government receives one letter, they can easily ignore it; if they receive five, they can ignore it; if they receive 100 or 1,000, they can no longer ignore it," said Phil Neff, Amnesty group coordinator.

This is the impact that the Write-a-thon allows for.

"The way this will be effective is in numbers," Marshall said. "Letters can be very potent messages of recognition."

This campaign gives way for action as well as awareness.

"[Personally] I would hope that ... even if one government changed one policy for human rights and it positively affected even one prisoner's trial or incarceration, that would be effective," ––Marshall said.

Founded in 1961 by a British journalist, Amnesty International has always been an organization focused on the letter-writing campaign, Neff said.

"The whole idea is to show global solidarity through letter writing," he said. "It shows governments that there are people watching what they do and that people believe in human rights and that they should be upheld."

This is an easy way for people to get involved and show they care about international human rights, Marshall said. Everything is provided for participants, including postage.

"People just have to show up," –Marshall said.

Contributing writer Celia Hunko: development@thedaily.washington.edu