Amnesty International
Who are Amnesty?
Amnesty International was founded in July 1961 by British
lawyer, Peter Benenson and they are based in London. They are a
non-governmental campaigning organisation whose main focus is to protect people
and their human rights especially when it involves justice, fairness, freedom
and truth.
What do Amnesty do?
Amnesty really believes that if people work together then
the changes that they strive to make can happen – the power of team work.
Amnesty have many on-going projects and some of their most recent include
campaigning for women’s human rights and the issues that prevent them from
having the freedom they deserve. Other campaigns that Amnesty has been working
on are the abolition of the death penalty and security and human rights in
countries such as Egypt and Syria.
Success Stories of Amnesty
On their website, Amnesty specifically state that they don’t
take credit if, for example, a government changes its laws. However every year,
Amnesty receives messages from people’s lives that have been improved since
Amnesty started campaigning. These messages reinforce Amnesty’s belief that
working together can really make a difference. The Amnesty website shares some
of their great stories including one about Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti.
The Nigerian government were concerned that his music
contained political criticisms and they felt threatened by this. After he had
repeatedly been beaten up and arrested, the government sentenced him to 5 years
imprisonment. Amnesty came to the defence of Fela and started campaigning
against his prison sentence. They argued that it was an unfair sentence as Fela
hadn’t actually been prisoned for a criminal offence but because of his
political behaviour which hadn’t been violent. Amnesty was contacted by many of
his fans from all over the world and with their help Fela was let out of prison
after 18 months.
Feeling inspired to
join Amnesty?
Amnesty has made it so easy to become a member, you can do
it all through their website and it’s very cheap to do! An adult can join
Amnesty for £24 a year or £2 a month or even better for students - £7.50 for
the year! Both of these include a welcome pack, an Amnesty magazine every 2
months and a say in Amnesty’s future.
Want to do something good in 2013? Stand up for human rights
around the world – join Amnesty.
No comments:
Post a Comment