A In 1960 a British lawyer Peter Benenson happened to read an account of the trial of two Portuguese students who had been sentenced to a long term in prison for criticizing the government in their country.
Berenson felt that a grave injustice had been done and decided to do something about it.
Getting together some friends he organized a letter-writing campaign. They wrote to government officials, newspapers, prominent Citizens and gave the case wide publicity. This is how Amnesty International got started.
Today it is a global organization with members and supporters numbering more than 5,00,000 spread all over the world. Amnesty International is dedicated to the cause of securing the release of “prisoners of conscience.’ Prisoners of conscience are those who have been detained because of political or religious relicts, ethnic origin, color or language and who have never used violence or incited others to violence.
Amnesty International also opposes torture or cruel or inhuman treatment of prisoners (of any category) anywhere in the word. It also opposes capital punishment.
Amnesty handles 5000-6000 cases each year. It is research department in London identifies prisoners of conscience and instances of human rights violations and then the members of the organization 80 into action. They expose the prisoner’s plight using any media available to them and flood government functionaries and influential people with Letters. The publicity generated causes great annoyance to the government concerned and the prisoner is often released.
Amnesty won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. The prize was Awarded for the organization’s help in paving the way for freedom, for justice and thereby also for peace in the world.”
Article extracted from this publication >> August 12, 1994
