UPDATED (3): FAC Petition for UN to investigate sex offender registry as human rights violation breaks 4,000 signatures!
The Florida Action Committee’s change.org petition asking the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations to declare the public sex offender registry a human rights violation has collected more than 4,000 signatures!
We are so happy with the response the petition has received from our members, from other advocacy groups and from their friends and families.
We need your help in getting the word out in order to get even more signatures, so here’s where we could use your help:
- If you have social media, please post this link to the petition https://chng.it/cxqGrLzqkD and mention a group or individual you would like to promote it. For example, “@UNHumanRights please support our petition: Change.org/FAC-humanrightsforall #HumanRights“. You can Google to see the most active human rights organizations or individuals on twitter and ask them to help promote the petition. If you are on Facebook, you can search for Human Rights Groups or Groups that advocate for social justice causes and which have a lot of members and as them to post the petition as well.
Here are some groups you can call out in twitter: @UN, @The_Advocates, @hrw, @UNHumanRights, @HRF, @UN_HRC, @IHRCEU, @USHRN, @rights_info, @AmnestyOnline, @EURightsAgency, @humanressay, @UoNHRLC, @JUSTICEhq, @OpenRightsGroup, @privacyint, @EHRC,
- A large number of our members do not have internet access. They may not know about this petition because they are not receiving our updates or they may not be able to use the computer to enter their signature on the online petition. If you are in a treatment group or speak to any of these people, please let them know about the petition. Write the link on a piece of paper and share it with them so they can still have their family members sign the petition.
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FAC issued a press release announcing the petition. It is available on Associated Press (AP) via this link: https://apnews.com/press-release/prcom/florida-united-states-c8f0776664387f601366264182146f1d . Please reach out to your local news outlets (in Florida, you can find them here: https://www.einpresswire.com/world-media-directory/4/florida – just click on the link with the outlet name and it should give you contact information for the editor or the news room) and let them know about the petition and that it has already garnered more than 1500 signatures. Our Board would be happy to do an interview with any news outlet willing to cover this important story.
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Any outreach you do does not need to be restricted to Florida or to the United States. This petition is directed to the UN, an international organization, and concerns a global human rights issue. If you speak Spanish, please contact the media in Spanish-speaking countries. If you are Italian, Ce la fai! The purpose here is to bring this to the world’s attention and we will not accomplish that by keeping it domestic.
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Keep on going! We greatly appreciate all that has been done to get us to 3,000 signatures in only a few days. If you’ve reached out to family or friends asking them to sign, please send a follow up to make sure they have. If you signed up but have not considered your spouse or others in your household, please ask them to sign as well. Or, if you have creative ideas to help generate more awareness, please do it and share your idea below. Whether it’s bringing your iPad to the registration office or Driver’s License Office with you, whether it’s wearing a sandwich board as you walk through Downtown Tampa, the entire premise behind this initiative is thinking outside the box and attacking the registry from a different angle, so no effort to bring awareness to our cause is a bad idea.
Next step… 5,000!!!
Great Work FAC!!!
Thank you and All!
Great work, I signed the petition.
I have been trying to find a company to suppress the negative information about me on the internet, push it back 5 or 6 pages.
One company wanted $41,000.00, another won’t help me, and yet another stopped doing that part of their business.
Not punishment, I think not! If I knew how to to suppress the information I would.
I hope this petition makes it to the UN and something positive happens for us.
I ,also, tried to suppress. I was lucky enough to have an Orlando TV news station, take down their story about me. But the best answer I found was to write an autobiography and emphasizing what I wanted the world to see. I published it on the Google Sites, for free. So if anyone did a search on me, they would find what the FDLE wants to say, AND they would also find my version of my life.
Tired, thanks for the info, sounds like a plan.
Mac
Fortunately I benefit from a really common name. Googling it will come up with a bunch of other people with my name unless you use all three names.
One more step towards abolishing the sex offender registry.
Keep up the good work FAC.
Excellent work!
Well, for all you go-getters out there, election day is this Tuesday. Perhaps, we can use an app to create a QR code to link people to the petition. Print the petition out on paper with the QR code and pass out fliers or put on windshields at election sites.
Excellent idea!
Chrome has a built in QR code sharing option:
Open Chrome Chrome.
Go to the page you want to share.
Find the address bar:
Linux computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share Share and then QR code .
Windows computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share and then QR code .
Mac computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share Share and then QR code .
Chromebooks: Click the address bar and then QR code .
You can choose to:
Copy the QR link.
Click Download to download the QR code.
Scan the QR code with another device’s camera.
Another thought is to print out the petition and link on paper, and spend a day outside the sheriff’s office where people register passing out the information for them to spread to family.
That’s a good plan!
Just hit 2000!
2200!!!!!!
The State Motto of New Hampshire comes to mind.
Live Free Or Die!
If only they lived up to their motto. Perhaps that is why the old man of the mountain is no more….
I have a question. Can we know what % of Sex offenders on the registry did had sexual contact with a child under 12? something tells me is less than 50% and what percent of sex offender did not have any physical contact or abuse but still are the registry? I think this number can show what the registry is really made of! because 90% of people believe that if you are on the sex offender list is because you rape a child or abuse a kid and that is really far from reality is a lot of cases. FAC can you find out?
Thanks
We do not have access to this information.
The registry discloses what each registrant was convicted of. Why not select a sample (say, all registrants within a 3-mile radius of your home) and check it out for yourself? It’s an excellent question.
2500 signatures doesn’t help any of us. Ex Post Facto is our only hope.
I think there should be letters sent out to offenders with details of the Petition along with a section for them to put their signatures on said paper and mail it back to the Florida Action Committee and then add those signatures to either the petition itself and/or to a physical version of the petition. In doing so it help spread more awareness of the petition, especially for those that don’t have access to the internet.
Wonderful, but we don’t have the volunteers or the resources for postage to send to enough people on the registry to make a difference.
I sent a suggestion to the FAC to work around that issue, however if that turns out not to be a possible option then maybe the FAC can work together with ACSOL, Women Against Registry and other activist groups to combined resources to help achieve this type of goal.
Diane – your suggestion was to mail a solicitation to each registrant. It is currently 60c for postage, plus another 10-15 cents for the the mailing. Even if we did 1000 registrants at a time, which you recommended, it would cost $750/mailing. it’s not a viable idea given our limited resources.
@FAC Contributor 3. To be fair, a non-profit can do bulk mailings for something like 20 cents a piece. So with supply costs included, you could send a mailing to every registrant in the United States for about something like a half million dollars (40-50 cents per letter) if enough volunteers would do the labor part of it at no cost. Bulk mailings also have to presorted in order by zip+4+2 and iMB barcoded to ensure machine sort-ability. Still not a viable idea given the limited resources but far less cost than your figures suggest.
Brilliant! a half million dollars! Great!!! and the 25K we’re trying to raise to keep our CURRENT litigation going is nowhere near funded and we’re scraping pennies, but raising half a million dollars and finding volunteers to help should be no problem, right? M C have you stepped up to volunteer? Why don’t we put you in charge of this initiative and I’m sure, to be fair, you’ll have no problem getting this done!
The answer is yes! Once again. I’ve done more than anyone in florida that is on the registry. I’ve talked more minutes on the phone, wrote more lawmakers, contacted more news stations..yes!
Do you even hear yourself? Half a million dollars? Why are we struggling to fundraise 25k when you have half a million ready to go? Please ask your accountant to transfer the funds ASAP.
I’ll tell you something else. All I’ve accomplished proving my point so many times is that it most likely pissed off a lawmaker who has made it harder on all of us single-handedly. You wanna thank me for that? Because after all this time, I’ve learned that no amount of point proving is going to make a difference when your dealing with an entity that has no formal checks and balances and non-accountability. There won’t be nothing done until someone with compassion enters office, or one’s son or daughter is convicted.
Diane, it’s a great idea. Truly a great idea. But, may I ask why you handed it to FAC as a task rather than offering to do it yourself? What is stopping you from doing it?
FAC is ran by unpaid volunteers who already sound overworked as it is. If you have an idea you feel so strongly about that you’re going to go back and forth with an FAC volunteer about how it’s easy, cheap, and possible, it would be easier just to step up and offer to pitch in the make it happen. This isn’t really directed only at you, Diane. A lot of people express their ideas, and I’m sure that’s helpful. But to then basically expect FAC to defend why they cannot do it is unhelpful and entitled. People forget that FAC lacks resources all around. Financial and human. If you have an idea you are passionate about, offer up your services and resources, tell them how you can chip in to make it happen. That should be the starting point.
I realize maybe you and others with suggestions are donating or volunteering already. If so, thank you. But my point still stands for any particular suggestion one has for “FAC to carry out”. It’s your idea, you have to start by putting some skin in the game if you’re going to insist it be done.
AMEN!!!
Diane,
I have a better idea. Write down the link to the petition, then print out some fliers or something that briefly explains what the petition is and post them on public bulletin boards and/or pass them out. Start with your friends. If you know a registrant in your neighborhood, go tell him or her about it. Do whatever you can to spread the word.
I’ve already posted it at my local State Police post after asking if it was ok.
Sometimes when we are advocating for change, we have to step up and get our own hands dirty and take action ourselves instead of relying on others.
My boss, who knows my status and does not care, has signed, along with his entire family. He has also told me he’s passed it along to some of his friends.
Great plan – here’s a template for a flyer: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Petition-Flyer-1.pdf
Put them up in Coffee Shops, bus stops, utility poles, at the driver’s license office, doctor’s office, registration office, everyone reading this should commit to printing out 10 of these and posting them someplace.
I really hope things start to get better for the movement. I’ve been somewhat introspective lately, I feel in a daze. Of course the registry is an ugly scar that I struggle with daily. I have issues from the military and this doesn’t help. Some days I feel like soon things will change and people will really see that the registry is bad law that does no good. Then others I realize I’ll die, and still be on the registry. I struggle to find another reason to not end this, so far, I’ve succeeded. There are court cases, there is the UN thing. I really hope they go in or favor. I’m not religious anymore for reasons that are my own and I will leave it at that. I can’t be alone feeling like this life isn’t what I’m here for. I hate that I’m here stuck, and there are friends who had so much more potential are gone. There is no major declaration here, of course no ultimatum. If things get much worse I’m done.
There is a bridge in Florida where more than 70 are registering their address as living under the bridge. Judges say it doesn’t punish. Hmmm, no shower under that bridge, no running water, no bedrooms, no kitchen, protection, no jobs, money, no families, no privately, no opportunity, Yup, those judges are right. It doesnt punish. It enslaves and incarcerates.
Mopehead, which bridge are you referring to? If you are talking about the Julia Tuttle Causeway, that was disbanded more than a decade ago and that encampment has been the subject of a lawsuit. If there is another one, please let us know.
I’ve gotten five more people to sign. If each of us can get just more people each we will easily get past 5000. Don’t stop!
Meant to say if we can each get 5 people to sign. Whoops 😬
But what is the UN Human Rights division doing about child sexual exploitation? As a public safety organization, we ought to be asking that question.
And following are the beginnings of a UN Human Rights policy on this issue. Notice what it does NOT include:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130817
Will FAC be posting VA copy of it’s UN Complaint on this site?
A copy of the complaint.
Petition is nearing 4,000!
4000!!!!
Now if we can just get the UN on board. Though I’d be unsurprised if our government just ignored them as usual when it doesn’t suit their narratives.
Been on that dam registry crap since 1996. In 2021, I got a new job and missed the 48hr window to report it. Yep…you guessed it, I got arrested. It didn’t matter that I haven’t been in any trouble for 25 years. I spent 5 days in jail. I had to get bailed out. I’m so so freaking tired of this.
@Orlando, this would make my head explode. These ‘civil’ reporting requirements have gone way, way too far. May I ask how LE found out? Did you report a start date for work that was more than two days in the past? May I ask which county arrested you? I hope the state decides not to prosecute.
Still wrapping my head around a “Civil” matter being arrestable. Arrests are supposed to be penal not civil. Guess they just make up stuff as they go along. Judges wear ear plugs and go LALALALA as defense attorneys speak to the wall since the judges for sure are not hearing anything we say.
It is a game to them, playing “Your it” with our lives. Every other crime allows people to change and become a better person, except, you guess it, Former Sex offenders.
What civil matter are you referring to. I just want to make sure I don’t make the same mistake. I have a situation when my job applied for me a pest spray License through the Florida Agriculture department. I got served a paper that it was denied. No criminal offense.I don’t want to get a surprise saying I violated my restrictions.
Orlando,
I’m so sorry your went thru this. There’s are more and more of us banding together each day, each week, as soon as we heard of the Florida Action Committee, we’ve gotten involved. We’re doing whatever we can to help REVERSE some of the barbaric laws and see change. #NoMoreScarletLetters!
so they have not reached 5,000 yet?
This petition has stalled, shy of 4400 as of today. We need to figure out how to get it more exposure.
there is no way it dropped off that fast, after gaining that many. I honestly don’t believe it, and why would you have to figure out a way to get more exposure with only 600 more needed?
Before the next Action Alert, we really need to find a way to fix FAC’s email notification problem.
It wont be much of an Alert if members have to go looking for it.
Btw has anyone checked on our Legal Committee Chair? They always added a lot to this forum (and to more critical efforts) and are sorely missed. Hope all is ok.
The simple answer is that we need more legal volunteers in order to continue day to day comment responses. In fact, most of our current core volunteers have carried multiple torches for many years. We need to see others stepping up if we are to sustain, let alone grow. Give that some thought and share it with everyone you can who would be of quality and reliable service. We not only need legal volunteers, but membership, authors, comment moderators, marketing, etc.
It is understandably disappointing when a service you look forward to or depend on becomes unavailable. But, consider that someone has been providing that service to you at a cost to themselves which sometimes they can afford, and sometimes they cannot. If we had a larger base of capable, reliable volunteers, this would not be an issue.
Also, notifications should be working now.