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About Amnesty International's Work
Amnesty International was founded forty years ago to protect fundamental
human rights. Peter Benenson was appalled that Portuguese students
were imprisoned without a public trial in April, 1961 for raising
their glasses and toasting democracy at a Lisbon bistro.
Since that time, Amnesty chapters and members around the world
work to free prisoners of conscience, gain fair trials for political
prisoners, end torture, political killings and "disappearances,"
and abolish the death penalty. Here in metro New York there are
fifteen chapters, typically meeting once a month to work on behalf
of a specific human rights case.
Vision and Mission of Amnesty International
Amnesty International's vision is of a world in which every person
enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
In pursuit of this vision, Amnesty International's mission is to
undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave
abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of
conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within
the context of its work to promote all human rights.
Amnesty
generally works for:
- The Release of Prisoners of Conscience - Prisoners of Conscience
are people who are detained because of their religious, political
or sexual beliefs, and who have not advocated nor used violence.
- Fair and Prompt Trials.
- Opposition to the Death Penalty, Torture and Other Cruel Treatment
Against All Prisoners
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