Amnesty International

I

Introduction

Amnesty International, nonpartisan organization that works to promote and protect human rights throughout the world. The group campaigns for the release of all prisoners of conscience—people imprisoned because of their race, ethnicity, sex, economic status, religion, or national origin, or for peacefully expressing their political beliefs. The organization also tries to secure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; lobbies to abolish the death penalty, torture, and other harsh treatment of all prisoners; investigates secret executions and “disappearances” of political activists; and opposes abuses by antigovernment groups, such as taking hostages and killing prisoners.

Amnesty International works to rally public support to pressure government officials to recognize fundamental human rights through public education, demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, fundraising events, and news conferences. For its worldwide efforts, the group earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. Amnesty International has more than 1.8 million members in about 155 countries. The organization is based in London, England.

II

Early Years

The idea for Amnesty International was born when British lawyer Peter Benenson and other political activists launched Appeal for Amnesty 1961, a one-year worldwide campaign calling for the release of all prisoners of conscience. Benenson started the campaign in response to the imprisonment of two students in Portugal who had made a toast to freedom in a public restaurant. The toast was considered a form of political opposition to Portugal’s dictator Antonio Salazar, and the students both received seven-year prison sentences in 1960. Benenson published an article titled “The Forgotten Prisoners” in the London Observer in May 1961 urging people to write letters to government officials around the world to protest the imprisonment of all prisoners of conscience. The campaign gained much attention and the article was reprinted in numerous newspapers in many countries. By the end of 1961, more than 1,000 people had pledged their support to the campaign. Amnesty International was established that year.

The organization’s original mission statement was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a doctrine adopted by the United Nations in 1948 to recognize the fundamental rights of all people regardless of “race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Among the founders of Amnesty International was Seán MacBride, Irish human rights advocate who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. MacBride served as chairman of Amnesty International from 1961 to 1974.

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At first the organization mainly engaged in letter-writing campaigns to free prisoners. Members sent letters to government leaders, prison officials, and the news media to publicize human rights violations. They also sent letters to the prisoners and their families to show support and coordinate efforts more effectively. By 1964 many prisoners of conscience had been released from countries such as Ireland, Romania, Greece, and Egypt due in part to the organization’s campaigns.

During the late 1960s Amnesty International received criticism for supposedly accepting funds from government organizations and for publishing biased reports about human rights abuses. Newspapers in England and other countries accused the nonpartisan organization of being affiliated with certain political parties. Some critics claimed that MacBride, a former officer of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), prevented the organization from investigating certain allegations of human rights abuses in Northern Ireland. It was also rumored that Amnesty International received funding from the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), although Amnesty International claimed to refuse money from government organizations. As a result of the bad publicity, donations for the group dropped and membership declined.

III

New Strategies

In 1968 civil liberties advocate Martin Ennals joined the staff of Amnesty International as secretary-general and helped implement new policies in an effort to improve the organization’s reputation. The group’s leaders adopted a rule that allowed members to only investigate charges of human rights violations that occurred outside their own country. Leaders said members who investigated alleged rights abuses involving their own country tended to either immediately dismiss or believe the claims without conducting proper research. Chapters of the organization also started to recruit the support of churches, schools, businesses, and labor unions. These groups started campaigning for more worldwide policies on human rights, instead of focusing only on the rights of prisoners.

In 1972 Amnesty International mounted a worldwide campaign to abolish all torture (including sexual abuse and rape) committed by law enforcement officials. The organization put together a 12-step program that outlined ways to eradicate torture in prisons. It included recommendations to outlaw secret detentions to ensure that prisoners are held in “publicly recognized places,” conduct immediate investigations of any prisoner’s allegations of torture, and enact legislation to make any abuse committed by law officials punishable under criminal laws.

In 1974 the organization started the Urgent Action Network to make phone calls and send letters on behalf of prisoners who need immediate medical or legal help. The volunteer network was able to launch thousands of appeals, often within 24 to 48 hours. By the mid-1970s, the organization had worked on thousands of investigations and many prisoners of conscience were either released or at least given better conditions and fair trials. In 1977 Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “its efforts on behalf of defending human dignity against violence and subjugation.”

Also in 1977 the organization launched a global campaign to abolish all court-ordered death sentences. Amnesty International claimed the death penalty had never been proven to deter crime, had been inflicted on innocent people, and violated the most fundamental human right—the right to life. However, the group’s stance on the death penalty was controversial among its members. Conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr., a member of Amnesty International's National Advisory Council, resigned in 1978 in protest. Buckley argued that supporting the abolishment of the death penalty changed the organization’s mission from protecting the rights of nonviolent political prisoners to protecting the rights of murderers. He said the campaign damaged the organization’s credibility.

In 1986 Amnesty International organized a concert tour in the United States, which included popular musicians Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, and Sting, to raise money for the organization and attract new members. Shortly afterward, many college and high school students started chapters in their schools. Because of the tour’s success, the organization put together more concerts and public relations events. Membership in the United States increased from about 40,000 people in the early 1980s to approximately 300,000 by the beginning of the 21st century.

IV

Controversy over Mandela

For years Amnesty International received criticism for not campaigning for the release of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, who later became president of South Africa in 1994. Mandela fought to end apartheid, the South African government’s official policy of racial segregation. He was given a life sentence in 1964 for sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy to overthrow the government. The organization did not “adopt” Mandela as a prisoner of conscience and campaign for his release because he had advocated the use of violence against the South African government. However, the organization countered the negative publicity by objecting to the poor treatment Mandela received in prison and worked to provide him with a fair trial. The South African government, under much international and domestic pressure, released Mandela in 1990.

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