Amnesty International is a campaigning organisation made up ofordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights.It isindependent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. Our purpose is to protect individuals wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied.
Amnesty International was founded on the belief in the power of ordinary people to make extraordinary change. In 1961, British lawyer Peter Benenson wrote a newspaper appeal, 'The Forgotten Prisoners', calling for an international campaign to protest against the imprisonment of men and women for their political or religious beliefs. The appeal received a tremendous response. Within six months, what started as a brief publicity effort was being developed into a permanent, international movement.
From those small beginnings we have become the biggest and most trusted voluntary organisation in the world with 2.2 million members worldwide passionate about our beliefs and not afraid to take unpopular stands to realise our vision and mission. Members, supporters and subscribers from more than 150 countries and territories actively fight for human rights with over 7,800 local, youth, specialist and professional groups that meet in hundreds of communities across the world.
The people who support us come from many faiths, cultures, ages and occupations. And they contribute in different ways: some write to governments; some campaign in the streets; some donate money. All adds up to massive public pressure to protect human beings everywhere.
Because of this pressure, prisoners of conscience have been released. Death sentences have been commuted. Torturers have been brought to justice. Governments have been persuaded to change their laws and practices.
Our vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
In pursuit of this vision, our mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of these rights.
Our core values are international solidarity, effective action for the individual victim, global coverage, the universality and indivisibility of human rights, impartiality and independence, and democracy and mutual respect.
Today we stand not only for prisoners of conscience but also prisoners of violence, and prisoners of poverty. We campaign on a wide range of human rights issues including: violence against women, arms trade, death penalty, advocating for an adequate standard of living for refugees, and dealing with thehuman rightsissues surroundingterrorism and security.
We have two main ways of working to achieve human rights for everyone:
We carry out a wide range of educational activities, promoting general awareness of human rights including the values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreed human rights standards.
- We encourage people to accept that all human rights must be protected
- We encourage governments to accept and enforce international standards of human rights
- We encourage governments, political organisations, businesses, other groups and individuals to support and respect human rights
Opposing specific abuses of human rights
We undertake research and action focused on stopping abuses of the following rights:
- Physical and mental integrity
- Freedom of conscience and expression
- Freedom from discrimination
A core part of Amnesty's work is promoting awareness of human rights through educational materials for use at school, college and home.
Ourcurriculum-integrated teachingresources help teachers bring human rightsto life foryoung peoplethrougheducation activities accompanied byteachers notes and actions for
Coming soon for Northern Ireland: LLW Teachers’ Resource for teaching citizenship through human rights (KS4).