Thousands of people are in prison because of their beliefs. Many are held without charge or trial. Torture and the death penalty are widespread. In many countries men, women and children have "disappeared" after being taken into official custody. Still others have been put to death without any pretence of legality: selected and killed by the governments and their agents.
These abuses - taking place in countries of widely differing ideologies - demand an international response. The protection of human rights is an international responsibility, transcending the boundaries of nations and ideologies. This is the fundamental belief upon which the work of Amnesty International, an independent worldwide voluntary movement, is based.
Amnesty International has an active worldwide membership with more than 1,100,000 individual members, subscribers and supporters in over 160 countries and territories. The movement is open to anyone who supports its goals.
The work is impartial. Amnesty International is concerned solely with the protection of human rights involved in each case, regardless of either the ideology of the government or the beliefs of the victims.
Amnesty International attaches great importance to impartial and accurate reporting of facts. Its Research Department collects and analyses information from a wide variety of sources. These include hundreds of newspapers and journals, government bulletins, transcripts of radio broadcasts and reports from lawyers and humanitarian organizations. Information also comes in from prisoners and their families, refugee centres, religious bodies, journalists and other people with first-hand experience. In addition, Amnesty Internatioanl sends fact-finding missions for on-the-spot investigations and to observe trials, meet prisoners and interview government officials.
The Amnesty International movement is run democratically. It is funded by donations from its members and supporters around the world. Its supreme governing body is an International Council of elected delegates from its sections in the various countries. The Statute of Amnesty International - which defines the organization's work and structure - can be altered only by a two-thirds majority at the International Council. The first article of this Statute sets out the objects of Amnesty International: the release of all prisoners of conscience, fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners, an end to torture and executions. These goals define the scope of Amnesty International's work and are commonly referred to as the organization's "mandate".
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about Amnesty's scope or mandate. It is hoped that by giving a clear picture of this mandate, more and more people, as well as governments and other institutions, will develop a greater understanding of the role of Amnesty International in the international protection of human rights.
Amnesty International plays a specific role in the international protection
of human rights. Its activities focus on prisoners:
Amnesty International's work is based on principles set forth in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The rights proclaimed by the declaration apply to all people. They have been incorporated into many countries' constitutions and laws and have been further elaborated in other human rights standards adopted by the United Nations.
These universal rights include the right to freedom of expression, conscience and religion; the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; the right to a fair trial; the right to life, liberty and security of person; the right not to be tortured. Amnesty International works to protect these rights by its efforts to secure the release of prisoners of conscience, fair and prompt trials in political cases and an end to torture and executions.
By concentrating on a specific program in the human rights field, Amnesty International does not imply that the rights it does not deal with are less important. Amnesty International is convinced of the indivisibility and mutual dependence of all human rights. The movement concentrates on its own defined area in order to be as effective as possible and to put its limited resources to the most efficient use. Amnesty International therefore takes up only those cases that fall within its object, as set out in its Statute. This object is commonly referred to as Amnesty International's "mandate".
In many countries people are detained for trying to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, or movement. Some are imprisoned because they or their families are involved in political or religious activities. Some are arrested because of their connection with political parties or national minority movements that oppose government policies. Trade Union activity or participation in strikes or demonstrations is a common cause of imprisonment. Often people are imprisoned simply because they questioned their government or tried to publicize human rights violations in their own countries. Some may be held for refusing to do military service on grounds of conscience. Others are jailed on the pretext that they committed a crime, but it is in fact because they criticized the government. People who are imprisoned, detained or otherwise physically restricted because of their political, religious or other conscientiously-held beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour, or language and who have not used or advocated violence are considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience.
Prisoners of conscience are held by governments in all regions of the world; in countries with diverse political and social systems. Some prisoners of conscience are held for actions undertaken as individuals; others are part of a group or movement. Some have spoken in direct opposition to the government in power or the established system or government; others have taken care to work within their countries' political system but have been imprisoned for their beliefs or peaceful activites nonetheless.
The detention of any prisoner of conscience violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International works for the immediate and unconditional release of ALL prisoners of conscience.
When the facts show that individuals are prisoners of conscience, the cases are usually allocated to one or more of the movement's groups around the world. The groups - comprising local Amnesty International members - study the background to the cases and then begin writing to the responsible authorities, appealing for the prisoners' immediate and unconditional release.
Letter after letter goes out to cabinet ministers and prison officials. The members try to get publicity in the local press about the prisoner they are working to free. They go to the foreign embassy or trade delegation in their country. They get prominent people to sign appeals. If they can contact the prisoner's family, they may send relief parcels and correspond with the prisoner.
For every prisoner of conscience whose case becomes known, there are many more who are unknown; and even those who gain wide publicity tend to be forgotten over time. Amnesty International aims to give attention to all the forgotten prisoners, to ensure that they remain a public concern and that they are cared for individually, while the efforts to free them are underway.
When Amnesty International does not have enough information to be certain about the reasons for imprisonment, but where there are grounds to believe that the individual might be a prisoner of conscience, the case is taken up for investigation. The case is usually assigned to a group which is asked to write to the authorities to obtain further details, such as where the prisoner is held, what charges are faced, and what is the evidence against the prisoner. If such prisoners are being held without charge or trial, Amnesty International may urge that they either be charged and given a fair trial or released. Only if it is clear that a case can be treated as that of a prisoner of conscience, however, does Amnesty International "adopt" the prisoner and call unconditionally for his or her immediate release.
Many people are persecuted in ways that do not involve imprisonment or similar physical restrictions. They may be fired from their jobs, have their telephones cut off or correspondence intercepted, be summoned for frequent police questioning or be threatened with other reprisals.
Amnesty International, however, concentrates on people who have been jailed or otherwise forcibly restricted; people in prison, people in official custody and detention centres, people under strict house arrest or confined to a village, or others whose freedom of movement has been so severely restricted as to amount to a form of detention. For this reason, Amnesty International's mandate is often described as "prisoner-oriented".
Amnesty International takes no position on the question of violence. It does not identify itself with any of the parties to any conflict, violent or non-violent, nor does it presume to judge in any situation whether recourse to violence is justified or not. It deliberately restricts itself to working for the protection of the human rights that fall within its mandate and does not comment or act on issues that fall outside those terms of reference.
It opposes the torture and execution of all prisoners and advocates fair and prompt trials for all poiltical prisoners, regardless of whether they are accused of using or advovating violence. However, Amnesty International seeks the immediate and unconditional release only of individuals imprisoned for the exercise of their human rights, whose imprisonment cannot be reasonably attributed to the use or advocacy of violence. In these cases, the detention violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The human rights violations against which Amnesty International works sometimes take place in a context of violence. This may take various forms: confrontation between government and opposition groups which engage in terrorist acts, civil war, international war.
Amnesty International's mandate applies in these circumstances as in any other. A context of violence does not justify taking prisoners of conscience or the practice of torture or execution of prisoners. This is an important standard. The existence of a context of violence is often taken as justification for a more permissible attitude towards human rights violations - the arrest of people on account of their beliefs or origins, the torture of prisoners or the use of the death penalty. Indeed, in times of violence prisoners are particularly vulnerable to such violations, and international standards and protection work become especially important at such times.
Governments often falsely accuse people of having been involved in violence when in fact they are imprisoned solely on account of their non-violent exercise of their human rights. Indeed, the accusation that dissenters have been involved in violence is one of the arguments most frequently used by governments in response to expressions of concern about prisoners of conscience.
On the basis of its careful research Amnesty International makes its own assessment of the facts in each case. It is not bound to accept the assertion of a government, the interpretation of a court, or the claim of a prisoner, as to whether an individual has used or advocated violence. The fact that a prisoner has been convicted of breaking the law or belongs to an organization whose aims call for the use of violence, does not in itself preclude an individual from being considered a prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International takes up each case on its own merits.
A conscientious objector is understood to be a person liable to conscription for military service who, for reasons of conscience or profound conviction arising from religious, ethical, moral, humanitarian, philosophical, political or similar motives refuses to perform armed service or participate directly or indirectly in wars or armed conflicts.
Amnesty International considers such a person a prisoner of conscience if
his or her imprisonment arises from any of the following:
A person who is not willing to state the reason for his or her refusal to perform military service is not adopted as a prisoner of conscience, unless it can be inferred from all the circumstances of the case that the refusal is based on conscientious objection. Nor is someone considered a prisoner of conscience if he or she is offered and refuses comparable alternative service outside the "war machine".
The right to leave one's own country is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International adopts as prisoners of conscience people who have been imprisoned for trying to exercise this right when their motives for wanting to leave their country are linked to their political views, religious beliefs or their origins, or can be assumed to be. In cases where detailed information is not available at the time of arrest, Amnesty International draws its own conclusions from all the circumstances and takes into account the established behaviour of the authorities and would-be emigrants in the country concerned, particularly where such people are commonly imprisoned for seeking their right to emigrate.
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