Amnesty International

» Posted by Luísa

- Working to Protect Human Rights -

Who they are?

Amnesty International is a worldwide association who campaign for the defense of the human rights. They defend that everyone must to be respected and protected, independent of religion, race, gender or colour.

How everything started...

Amnesty International was founded in 1961,by the English lawyer Peter Benenson.
He was reading the newspaper 'The Observer' and he noticed on a news that mentioned the case of two Portuguese students who had been arrested after they have yelled in public "Long Live to Freedom!" during the Salazar's regime in Portugal. Benenson at once appealed to the countries take measures to help people who didn't have freedom for their political or religious convictions, and also to help who suffered of racial/language prejudice or persecution. After two months of his appeal, the representatives of five countries created a basis for an international movement to defend human rights.

Some campaigns

• Stop violence against women
• Defend the rights and dignity of those trapped in poverty
• Abolish the death penalty
• Oppose torture and combat terror with justice
• Free prisoners of conscience
• Protect the rights of refugees and migrants
• Regulate the global arms trade

How many are they?

They have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions (including Portugal) and they coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.

Some images of their campaigns




Sources:
- http://www.amnesty.org/
- http://www.amnistia-internacional.pt/
- http://amnistia.iscte.pt/2006/03/o-que-amnistia-internacional-ai.html