We don’t live in the world envisioned by Amnesty - but I wish we did

by Emily Miner

Many people, and presumably most of those who read this publication, have heard of, at least in passing, Amnesty International. Founded in 1961 its intentions were lofty – it wished to help create a world were everyone, regardless of nationality, race, gender or religion was guaranteed the rights enshrined in the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (visit http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-udhr-eng to read the Declaration in full.) AI’s initial focus – and the cause that lead it to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 – was the world wide problem of “prisoners of consciousness”: the men or women throughout the world arrested for the non-violent expression of their convictions.

But as the organization has grown (it now boasts a membership of over 1.8million) so has the breadth of the issues it has tackled in defense of human rights. Each year it releases a list of campaigns meant to focus on topics it sees as urgent in the fight for human rights. (See the full list of campaigns, and read about them in detail at http://www.amnesty.org/campaign/ ).

The brilliance of Amnesty is that it manages to maintain its idealistic principles while recognizing the areas it can be most effective. Sadly, torture and the act of a state sanctioned death penalty will probably not be abolished worldwide in any of our life times. But by exposing violators, writing letters, participating in protests and pressuring politicians, Amnesty and its members have on the most essential level – the individual level – influenced and in countless instances saved the lives of people threatened with torture or death.

At the same time, Amnesty is always at the forefront of pinpointing areas where it can affect large scale change. Since AI began to focus its attention on the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the US government has released 15 prisoners. In 2005, due in part to pressure from AI, the Violence Against Women Act was renewed in the United States for another 5 years. Prisoners of conscious from Mexico, Belarus and Libya, to name a few, specifically thanked AI after they were released from detention because of AI activist pressure.

For me, what I love about Amnesty is its ability to pinpoint one of the basic, unifying aspects of humanity. The twentieth century saw some of the most depraved and large scale acts of human rights violations the world has ever seen. And yet in the same century the world tried to codify human rights, to create institutions and organizations to defend them and to help those who are persecuted. Certainly our governments and the institutions we’ve created have not always been successful. But Amnesty has continued to not only embrace the principle of universal human rights but to allow millions of ordinary people the opportunity to influence the world around them. Due to its “urgent action appeals” it has made activists out of anyone with a pen, paper and stamps. And it has allowed people throughout the world to help others they may never meet and affect change in situations that might never affect them personally.

Amnesty International is an international watchdog; it is a diligent campaigner for the betterment of the rights and circumstances of people wherever they may live and it is one of the most important and vocal defenders not only of universal human rights, but of the dignity of each individual. We don’t live in the world envisioned by Amnesty – but I wish we did.