Amnesty International
Amnesty International was started 1961 by British lawyer Peter Benenson. He read in a newspaper about 2 Portuguese students sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom in a Lisbon bar. He believed that injustice should not be allowed to happen – if people got together and protested, corrupt governments would not be able to get away with it.
Amnesty's main aims
- Freeing prisoners of conscience.
- Gaining fair trials for political prisoners.
- Ending torture, political killings and “disappearances”.
- Abolishing the death penalty throughout the world.
Amnesty exposes abuses of human rights throughout the world. Amnesty:
- Has a research department which collects information throughout the world
- Sends people to attend trials, meet prisoners and government officials
- Organises letter writing campaigns, and campaigns against human rights abuses using non-violent protest.
- Helps practically e.g. getting food, clothing, medical treatment, legal advice for anyone being abused.
Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
MANY CHRISTIANS JOIN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: WHY?
Amnesty is not a Christian organisation, but many Christians support it because it is a way of putting Christian beliefs into practice.
Christians and Amnesty want to achieve the same aim, so joining together gives Christians the power to do something about human rights abuses.
Christians feel it is a good way of demonstrating their beliefs about the value of human life, and putting agape love into practise. Very importantly, Amnesty uses non-violent protest
