Amnesty International - Work

Work

Amnesty International primarily targets governments, but also reports on non-governmental bodies and private individuals ("non-state actors").

There are six key areas which Amnesty deals with:

• Women's, children's, minorities' and indigenous rights
• Ending torture
• Abolition of the death penalty
• Rights of refugees
• Rights of prisoners of conscience
• Protection of human dignity.

Some specific aims are to: abolish the death penalty, end extra judicial executions and "disappearances," ensure prison conditions meet international human rights standards, ensure prompt and fair trial for all political prisoners, ensure free education to all children worldwide, decriminalise abortion, fight impunity from systems of justice, end the recruitment and use of child soldiers, free all prisoners of conscience, promote economic, social and cultural rights for marginalised communities, protect human rights defenders, promote religious tolerance, protect LGBT rights, stop torture and ill-treatment, stop unlawful killings in armed conflict, uphold the rights of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers, and protect human dignity.

To further these aims, Amnesty International has developed several techniques to publicise information and mobilise public opinion. The organisation considers as one of its strengths the publication of impartial and accurate reports. Reports are researched by: interviewing victims and officials, observing trials, working with local human rights activists, and monitoring the media. It aims to issue timely press releases and publishes information in newsletters and on web sites. It also sends official missions to countries to make courteous but insistent inquiries.

Campaigns to mobilise public opinion can take the form of individual, country, or thematic campaigns. Many techniques are deployed, such as direct appeals (for example, letter writing), media and publicity work, and public demonstrations. Often, fund-raising is integrated with campaigning.

In situations which require immediate attention, Amnesty International calls on existing urgent action networks or crisis response networks; for all other matters, it calls on its membership. It considers the large size of its human resources to be another of its key strengths.

The role of Amnesty International has an immense impact on getting citizens onboard(sic) with focusing on human rights issues. These groups influence countries and governments to give their people justice with pressure and in man power. An example of Amnesty International's work, which began in the 1960s, is writing letters to free imprisoned people that were put there for non-violent expressions. The group now has power, attends sessions, and became a source of information for the U.N. The increase in participation of non-governmental organisations changes how we live today. Felix Dodds states in a recent document that, "In 1972 there were 39 democratic countries in the world; by 2002, there were 139." This shows that non-governmental organisations make enormous leaps within a short period of time for human rights.