Amnesty international

Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a lawyer from the United Kingdom, who originally planned to start an appeal in Britain aimed at freeing all prisoners of conscience from around the world. By 1963, it comprised more than 1000 voluntary groups in 28 countries, and it continued to grow until, in 2008, it has expanded to include 52 sections. These national A.I. sections remain essentially their own organizations with large followings and boards of directors, including Amnesty International USA. Today Amnesty International touches almost every part of the world and works for the protection of human rights and justice for those who have been victimized and those who have abused these rights. The organization is non-governmental and keeps itself separate from all other organizations, political parties, and religious entities. One aspect of the over-all activities of A.I. is the publication of human rights reports on countries throughout the world on specific abuse topics such as the torture, sexual abuse, and child abuse of prisoners.

From the description of Amnesty International Publications and Reports, (1977-1999). (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 437267374

Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a lawyer from the United Kingdom. Benenson originally planned to start an appeal in Britain aimed at freeing all prisoners of conscience from around the world. As the committee, aimed towards this goal, started their work, they realized that detailed documentation of prisoners of conscience from around the world would be required in order to launch such an appeal. As more and more cases of prisoners of conscience kept coming up they realized that they would need to have to carry out their work on a more permanent basis. They needed sites from which their members could work from around the world to address the enormous number of prisoners of conscience who were imprisoned in all parts of the world.

Although Amnesty International started as a British Organization, it developed an international secretariat to administer the many and growing numbers of national sections. In 1963, two years after being founded by Peter Benenson, it comprised more than 1000 voluntary groups in 28 countries, and it continued to grow until, in 2008, it has expanded to include 52 “sections.” These national AI sections remain essentially their own organizations with large followings and boards of directors, including Amnesty International USA, and “structures” which are generally smaller but are constituent parts of the organized Amnesty International entity. There are also “international members” from countries with no affiliated section or structure, “international networks” which have specific identities, and “affiliated groups” which do the same work as sections but work apart from A.I. (1) These groups are all recognized at the International Council, led by the International Executive Committee, which meets biannually.

Today Amnesty International touches almost every part of the world and works for the protection of human rights and justice for those who have been victimized and those who have abused these rights. The organization is non-governmental and keeps itself separate from all other organizations, political parties, and religious entities. “The movement works for the release of women and men who have been arrested for their convictions, the color of their skin, their ethnic origin or their faith - provided that they have not themselves used force or exhorted others to resort to violence;” (2) these are the prisoners of conscience that Amnesty International seeks to represent. Amnesty International proclaimed 1977 to be “Prisoners of Conscience Year” and collected signatures in order as part of their appeal to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

One aspect of the over-all activities of AI is the publication of human rights reports on countries throughout the world. These “country” reports are disseminated through their national sections in several languages. AI also provides reports on specific abuse topics, such as the torture, sexual abuse, and child abuse of prisoners.

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(1) Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997.

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International. 4 March 2009

From the guide to the Amnesty International Publications and Reports, (1977-1999), (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)