FreeThe20 campaign

FreeThe20 is a campaign to call attention to women who are political prisoners around the world.  The campaign names twenty women who are imprisoned unjustly. Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, started the campaign for the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration.

The reason for the campaign was to tell governments to stop putting women in prison, and to tell the women and their families that they are not alone.   There were twenty names of women in twenty days, one for every year since the Beijing Declaration. 

In September 2015, a bipartisan "#FreeThe20" bill was introduced to the U.S Senate.  All twenty women senators of the two political parties supported the bill.  They said,
"As 20 women serving in the United States Senate we stand unified in calling on governments to recognize the universal human rights of women and to release women who have been imprisoned unjustly for exercising those rights."

Names of the women 

For status of the women updated to the end of the Powers' term as Secretary of State, see #FreeThe20 Women Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Concern Campaign .
 
Day 20: Rasha Chorbaji, Syria 
Day 19: Ta Phong Tan, Vietnam 
Day 18: Women Political Prisoners, North Korea
Day 17: Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine/Russia 
Day 16: Naw Ohn Hla, Burma 
Day 15: Sanaa Seif, Egypt 
Day 14: Judge María Lourdes Afiuni Mora, Venezuela
Day 13: Bui Thi Minh Hang, Vietnam 
Day 12: Liu Xia, China
Day 11: Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Burma 
Day 10: Leyla Yunus, Azerbaijan 
Day 9: Matlyuba Kamilova, Uzbekistan
Day 8: Aster Yohannes, Eritrea
Day 7: Gao Yu, China 
Day 4-6: Blen Mesfin, Meron Alemayehu, and Nigist Wondifraw, Ethiopia
Day 3: Bahareh Hedayat, Iran
Day 2: Khadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan 
Day 1: Wang Yu, China

Still detained 

The following women are still imprisoned (updated March 2017):

 Aster Yohannes, Eritrea
 Liu Xia, China, under house arrest as soon as Chinese literary critic Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize was announced in October 2010
 María Lourdes Afiuni Mora, Venezuela
 Matlyuba Kamilova, Uzbekistan

Released 

The following women have been released (alphabetical):
 Bahareh Hedayat, Iran, release published 09/05/16 
 Blen Mesfin, Ethiopia, released December 2016
 Bui Thi Minh Hang (Vietnamese Bùi Thị Minh Hằng), Vietnam, released Feb. 11, 2017
 Gao Yu, China, released from prison in November of 2015.
 Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine/Russia, released from prison on May 25, 2016.
 Naw Ohn Hla, Burma, released from prison on April 17, 2016.
 Khadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan, released from prison on May 25, 2016.
 Leyla Yunus, Azerbaijan, released from prison December 9, 2015
 Meron Alemayehu, Ethiopia, released November 2015
 Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine/Russia, released from prison on May 25, 2016.
 Nigist Wondifraw, Ethiopia, released November 2015
 Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Burma, released from prison in April of 2016.
 Rasha Sharbaji, Syria, released February 8, 2017 
 Sanaa Seif, Egypt,  released from prison on September 23, 2015 but reimprisoned May 2016.  She was re-released November 16, 2016.
 Ta Phong Tan, Vietnam, released from prison on September 19, 2015.
 Wang Yu, China, released August (?) 2016

Other websites 

Free the 20 Campaign on Flickr 
#FreeThe20 hashtag on Twitter 
Text of #FreeThe20 bill in the U.S. Senate

References  

Human rights