Dec. 8
USA:
MURDER VICTIMS FAMILIES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT:
Renny Cushing, MVFHR executive director
617-930-5196
2161 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140
rrcush...@earthlink.net
www.murdervictimsfamilies.org
SURVIVORS OF MURDER VICTIMS OPPOSED TO THE DEATH PENALTY TO LAUNCH NEW
GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Dec. 8, 2004 - Survivors of murder victims who oppose the death penalty
will observe the launching of a new organization at 11 a.m. Friday at the
United Nations in New York City.
The new organization, Murder Victims Families for Human Rights, will be
unveiled as part of International Human Rights Day, celebrated Dec. 10 of
every year. On hand to welcome the new organization will be leaders of the
abolition movement, both in the United States and abroad.
Renny Cushing, executive director of Murder Victims Families for Human
Rights and himself a murder victim survivor, said the decision to launch
the new organization was made at the Second World Congress Against the
Death Penalty, which was held this past October in Montreal. At that
conference, a recommendation was made to launch an international network
of family members who oppose the death penalty.
"Our organization is both pro-victim and anti-death penalty," said
Cushing, a former New Hampshire state legislator whose father was
murdered. "When I was a lawmaker, I was an advocate for laws that
benefited victims. And I also sponsored legislation to abolish the death
penalty. I believe in victims rights and I believe in human rights. Both
go hand in hand."
The new group will include relatives of murder victims as well as
relatives of those who have been executed. Among the speakers at Fridays
event will be Bud Welch, whose daughter Julie died in the Oklahoma City
bombing; Robert Meeropol, whose parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, were
executed during the McCarthy era for allegedly spying; and Bill Pelke,
chairman of the board of directors of the National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty, who lost his grandmother to murder.
At the ceremony, national abolition leaders will discuss the important
role MVFHR will play in the abolition movement as well as the importance
of bringing a national and international human-rights focus to the death
penalty debate in the United States.
NOTE TO REPORTERS: The founding ceremony will take place on the top floor
of the Church Center for the United Nations at 777 UN Plaza. To get there,
enter the building on the 44th Street side of the UN Church Center
Building, sign in with the security guard and take the elevator to the
12th floor.
Renny Cushing, Executive Director
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
617 930 5196
rrcush...@earthlink.net
www.murdervictimsfamilies.org
(source: MVFHR)
