AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International (AI) is a nonprofit, independent
international organization that works
zealously to protect HUMAN RIGHTS around the
world. Since its inception in 1961, Amnesty
International has coordinated research, information,
and education campaigns in order to
focus world attention on such issues as freedom
of conscience and expression, freedom from discrimination,
and the cessation of physical and
mental abuse and torture suffered by the victims
of human rights violations.
With a membership of more than one million
people and supporters and donors in more
than 140 countries and territories, Amnesty
International is the world’s largest grassroots
human rights organization. The organization
was started by a British lawyer, Peter Benenson,
who in an article he wrote in 1961 in The
Observer posited that the pressure of public
opinion could be brought to bear on those who
were imprisoning, torturing, and killing people
based on their political opinions. Benenson
wrote in support of several political prisoners
whom he termed “prisoners of conscience”
because they had been imprisoned for expressing
their beliefs in a peaceful manner. The term
came to encompass all men, women, and children
who have been imprisoned because of their
political or religious beliefs.
Amnesty International carries out its struggle
for human dignity for all human rights victims
by mobilizing public opinion throughout
the world to pressure government officials and
other influential persons to stop human rights
abuses. Violations of human rights include the
following: torture of a person and/or his or her
family members by mental or physical means,
the “disappearance” of persons considered to be
enemies of the state, the imposition by governments
of the death penalty, the death of those
held in custody or being detained, and the
forcible return of persons to countries where
they face torture or death. Amnesty International
describes “disappeared persons” as persons
who are taken into custody, kept hidden
and unable to communicate with others, and
whose whereabouts are denied by the government
agents who arrested them. The prisoners
are often tortured. If they are not murdered,
they can be held incommunicado for years while
the government agents responsible routinely
deny that they have custody of these prisoners or
knowledge of their fates and often suggest that
the prisoners have “disappeared” of their own
volition.
Amnesty International’s primary goals
include the following: (1)freeing all prisoners of
conscience; (2)ensuring prompt and fair trials
for all political prisoners; (3)abolition of the
death penalty, torture, and other degrading punishment;
(4)ending extrajudicial executions and
“disappearances”; and (5) working to ensure
that the perpetrators of human rights abuses are
brought to justice in accordance with international
standards. Over time Amnesty International
has expanded its scope to cover human
rights abuses committed by non-governmental
bodies and private individuals, including armed
political groups. The organization has also
begun to focus on human rights abuses in
homes or communities where governments have
permitted such abuses or failed to take action to
stop them.
Amnesty International does not accept government
funding and remains independent of
governmental, economic, or political interests. It
has no religious affiliations. Members include
people of various religious, political, and societal
points of view who share the common goals
mentioned above. Financial support for the
organization comes from individual members
and groups as well as trusts, foundations, and
companies that are committed to support the
cause of human rights worldwide.
The central body of Amnesty International
is the International Secretariat, which is located
in London. The organization has more than 350
staff members and over 100 volunteers from
more than 50 countries around the world.
Amnesty International is a democratic, self-governing
body that is led by a nine-member International
Executive Committee (EIC). The
International Council that represents the sections
elects committee members every two
years. The organization consists of more than
7,800 groups representing local activists, youths,
specialists, and professionals in more than 100
countries and territories. The organization has
nationally organized sections in 56 countries; as
of 2003, another 24 countries and territories had
developmental organizations that were working
on creating sections.
Amnesty International members and supporters
“wage peace” in numerous ways ranging
from writing individual letters of support to
participating in public demonstrations. The
organization raises public awareness through educational information for school children and
other groups, training programs for teachers,
the encouragement of training programs for
government officials and security personnel,
INTERNET communications, and fund-raising
concerts. In addition to reporting on human
rights issues and LOBBYING members of government
both privately and publicly, the organization
works with other nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) as well as community
organizations and human rights activists to
secure its goals. Advocacy efforts range from targeted
appeals for support of a single individual
to worldwide campaigns concerning specific
countries or issues. Each year the organization
highlights a particular country or human rights
issue and mobilizes its members and supporters
to focus global opinion to achieve change.
In over 40 years of work, Amnesty International
delegates have visited numerous countries
and territories and met with human rights victims,
observed trials, and interviewed local
activists and officials.
Under the auspices of Amnesty International,
research teams focus on particular countries
in which they investigate reports of human
rights abuses. The organization strives to be rigorous
in its investigations, checking and crosschecking
information and trying to get
corroboration from as many sources as possible.
Information comes from interviews and meetings
with prisoners and their families, lawyers
and journalists, as well as persons working for
other human rights organizations, humanitarian
agencies, and local community groups.
Investigators also monitor the information contained
in newspapers, journals, and Web sites. In
addition, whenever possible, investigators
observe trial proceedings and meet with government
officials. Where reports of abuses arise in
countries that deny access to Amnesty International,
the organization relies on outside sources
such as reports from news media and interviews
with REFUGEES, diplomats, and other sources.
To ensure accuracy and impartiality, the
organization’s International Secretariat approves
the text of all organization statements or
reports. If information is alleged rather than
based on observable facts, the organization
notes that the statements are based on allegations.
If a statement or report contains errors,
Amnesty International is quick to acknowledge
its mistakes. As a result, the organization has a
worldwide reputation for accuracy and reliability.
In 1977, Amnesty International was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 1978 the organization
received a UNITED NATIONS Human Rights
Award.
The organization’s specialist networks
include the following: Lawyers’ Network, which
helped with ratification of legislation to establish
the INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT; the
Military Security and Police Network, which
continues to campaign for the control of electro-
shock weapons and other arms used to commit
human rights abuses; the Company
Approaches Network, which works with companies
to help them develop policies that are compatible
with human rights standards; the
Children’s Network, which lobbies states to help
prohibit the involvement of “children soldiers”
in armed conflicts; the Women’s Network and
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Network, which have campaigned on numerous
issues concerning torture and ill-treatment
based on gender and/or sexual orientation; and
the Medical Network, which consists of doctors,
nurses, psychologists, and other health professionals
who have provided aid to victims of torture
and other types of abuse.
The organization developed its first global
campaign against torture in 1973, and in 1984
the United Nations (UN) passed the Convention
Against Torture, which called for governments
to punish those who committed torture within
their jurisdictions and which took effect in June
of 1987. As of February 2001, 123 of the 192 UN
member nations have ratified the Convention.
In 2001, Amnesty International continued
its focus on the torture and abuse of women,
children, ethnic minorities, and persons discriminated
against based on sexual orientation
including homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered
persons. At year’s end, more than 35,000
persons from 188 countries had signed up at
AI’s Web site, , indicating
their willingness to send E-MAIL appeals
regarding urgent cases. In the same year,
Amnesty International supporters took action
on behalf of more than 2,813 persons who were
identified as being the victims of human rights
abuses.
The Internet has been extremely useful to
Amnesty International in reaching members to
quickly organize campaigns and to mobilize for
other purposes. Via its Web site, E-mail, and
other methods of communication, the organization
issues “Urgent Actions,” Rapid Response Actions, and special campaign appeals. Over
time, Amnesty International has proven that a
steady stream of letters, faxes, e-mails, and other
communications sent to government officials
and others regarding the fate of a particular person
or group of persons, has a tangible effect.
Torture and mistreatment has been stopped
and, in a number of cases, the subjects of the letter
campaigns have been released. AI members
and supporters are also encouraged to send positive
letters and other communications to governments
that have released prisoners or taken
other steps to alleviate human rights abuses in
order to reinforce the importance to the global
community of these cases.
Amnesty International has been a major factor
in a number of victories including an international
agreement to ban torture, an increasing
number of countries that reject CAPITAL PUNISHMENT,
and, in 2003, the inauguration of the
International Criminal Court in the Hague,
Netherlands.
Yet the organization continues to face many
obstacles. Although torture has been banned by
international agreement, it continues secretly in
many countries.Moreover, the governments and
political organizations of numerous countries
still permit or participate in the wrongful
imprisonment and the disappearance of political
prisoners as well as other human rights
abuses.
FURTHER READINGS
Amnesty International Website. Available online at
(accessed May 30, 2003).
Clark, Anne Marie. 2001. Diplomacy of Conscience: Amnesty
International and Changing Human Rights Norms.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press.
Schulz, William. 2002. In Our Own Best Interests: How
Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All. Boston: Beacon.
CROSS-REFERENCES
International Court of Justice; International Law; Prisoner
of War; Prisoners’ Rights.
