Amnesty International (AI)

Amnesty International is an organization that was started in 1961 to fight injustice in the world. Funded by personal members and interested people, Amnesty International is described as a global movement. Numbers are placed at more than seven million supporters. The organization or movement is not affiliated with any political party or religious orientation, nor is there an economic agenda driving the work. Its mission statement maintains that "no government is beyond scrutiny" and "no situation is beyond hope." By means of campaigns to advocate for human rights, Amnesty International’s claims are that through its determined efforts, torture and oppression have been replaced by justice and fair laws. "Together, we are powerful" is their motto in garnering support. The suggestion is that by individuals becoming members or volunteers, the movement can strengthen its numbers and potential to deal with human rights and effect change.

Brief History

In 1961, Peter Benenson, a British lawyer, founded Amnesty International. The initial aim was to establish the movement in Britain, with the view of obtaining amnesty for prisoners of conscience around the world. The work needed to document the information and move forward with the appeal was immense, and it became evident that this required permanent focus. By 1963, Amnesty International had expanded. No longer confined to an organizational location in Britain, an international secretariat was put into place, with Sean MacBride as the organization’s chairman. MacBride, one of the founders of Amnesty International, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 for his human rights work.

Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. At the time, the chairman was Thomas Hammarberg from Sweden. That year marked the "Prisoners of Conscience Year." Prisoners of conscience, or "forgotten prisoners," are people who, according to the Nobel Prize website, have been arrested "for their convictions, the color of their skin, their ethnic origin or their faith." Amnesty International seeks to make sure that they are released, so that they are not held unjustly in a travesty of human rights. The proviso is that these prisoners are not to have used violence or force. The three main issues Amnesty International was dealing with during this period were campaigns against torture, ill-treatment, and capital punishment; these issues continue to be relevant.

Amnesty International’s research teams are based in London, but the movement has members across the globe. The organization monitors human rights in over 155 countries in Africa, North and South America, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Concerns include detention; climate change; corporate accountability; the death penalty; abortion, and women’s rights; sexual and reproductive rights; armed conflicts, arms control, and gun violence; children’s rights; torture; universal declaration of human rights; technology and online violence; refugee, migrant, and asylum seeker rights; LGBTQIA+ rights; rights for older adults; racial justice; discrimination; political violence; police violence; Indigenous people; free speech and censorship; enforced disappearances; and international justice.

Overview

The aim of Amnesty International is to ensure that change occurs where injustice, oppression, and torture occur. Its threefold process to facilitate the unfolding of justice comprises research, advocacy and lobbying, and campaigns and action. The initial stage of research involves ascertaining the facts. When human rights violations are believed to be taking place, Amnesty International’s researchers thoroughly investigate and check what is happening. Whether the violations are perpetrated by governments or other groups of individuals or companies, nothing and no one is beyond Amnesty’s scope. Once the research has been cross-referenced, gathered, and analyzed, a system of advocacy and lobbying is initiated. At this stage, the intention is to exert pressure to influence or persuade particular parties (government or groups) to act according to human rights. The advocacy and lobbying do not end at that point; action and campaigns are the final stage in the process. Attention is given to the issue at stake globally. This attention progresses via letters to the press, as well as petitions. Protests are organized to gain additional awareness and to push for change to take place.

Featured Amnesty International campaigns have included "My Body, My Rights" and "Police and Human Rights." Knowing one’s body rights is targeted at making sure that each person in every part of the world "has access to [their] sexual and reproductive rights" and that "criminalization of sexuality and reproduction by governments" is terminated. Concerning police force, Amnesty International highlights the human rights of detainees and acts to ensure that government policy eliminates unnecessary or arbitrary use of force. Among the organization’s primary concerns in the 2020s was the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In December 2024, Amnesty International concluded Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Global abortion rights and the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities were also primary, ongoing concerns. The organization documented an increased frequency of threats and attacks against female abortion rights activists. As the technology evolved, Amnesty International also began monitoring global governments’ use of surveillance and facial recognition technology in efforts to suppress free speech. Following the election of President Donald Trump in 2017 and 2024, Amnesty International mobilized campaigns to ensure the administration upheld human rights.

Amnesty International worked for decades attempting to free Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement promoting Native American rights. Peltier was convicted of the murder of two federal agents in a shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. The organization’s concern is that Peltier did not receive a fair trial, which led to his conviction and imprisonment. Despite Amnesty International’s efforts, President Barrack Obama denied Peltier's 2017 clemency request, and in 2023, President Joe Biden also denied a similar request. In 2024, seventy-eight-year-old Peltier was denied parole and remained in prison, experiencing failing health.

Funding for Amnesty International purportedly comes from its members and interested individuals, with the organization claiming not to accept funds from governments or political parties. NGO Monitor writes that this is not entirely the case, as Amnesty International has received government funding from the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission, the Netherlands, the United States, and Norway, among others.

NGO Monitor further disputes Amnesty International’s claims of being "independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion . . . it does not support or oppose any government or political system." Rather, NGO Monitor states that with regard to political advocacy, Amnesty International "disproportionately singles out Israel for condemnation." Furthermore, it "distorts international law" in its allegations of "war crimes" by misusing terms, defending those linked to terror, and making use of "apartheid" rhetoric to supplement its "strong anti-Israel obsession."

Bibliography

"Amnesty International." NGO Monitor, 1 Sept. 2024, ngo-monitor.org/ngos/amnesty‗international. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

"Amnesty International – History." NobelPrize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1977/amnesty/history. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

"History." Amnesty International, www.amnestyusa.org/about-us/history. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

"USA: After 46 Years of Imprisonment, It’s Time to Free Leonard Peltier." Amnesty International, 6 Feb. 2023, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/usa-free-leonard-peltier. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

"What We Do." Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

"Who We Are." Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/about-us. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.