Amnesty International Celebrates 50th Birthday

The world’s largest human rights organisation, Amnesty International, celebrated 50 years of human rights work on Saturday 28 May 2011.

In a message to the organisation, the world’s best known political prisoner, Burma’s iconic pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, paid tribute to half a century’s worth of work by the ground-breaking human rights organisation.

Ms Suu Kyi said:

“I wish, on this 50th anniversary of Amnesty International, that its work will continue to be so successful, that there will no longer be any need for such an organisation.

“The work that Amnesty International has done for all those who are suffering as prisoners of conscience is great – all over the world.”

Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961 by English labour lawyer, Peter Benenson, after he allegedly read of two Portuguese students who had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for “having drunk a toast to liberty” during the authoritarian Portuguese ruling of the Estado Novo regime.

Since then, the organisation has worked to mobilise public opinion to pressurise governments that violate human rights through abuse and has also drawn attention with campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. It received the Nobel Peace Prize for its “campaign against torture” in 1977, and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights a year later in 1978.

Ms Suu Kyi added:

“Basic to the strength of Amnesty International is the fact that so many ordinary people from so many countries in the world have been persuaded to take part in its work.

“The letters written by ordinary housewives, by school children, by retired people, by active young businessmen - all over the world - for the rights of those who have been imprisoned, makes a great difference.”

Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, said:

“Half a century on, the same feelings of outrage which moved Amnesty’s founding members to act against injustice are still proving to be powerful catalysts for our millions of members and supporters.

“The principle on which Amnesty was started, that it is better to shine a light, than to curse the darkness, continues to resonate across the globe and down the years.

“We have had so many successes over the five decades; holding countless governments, individuals and corporations to account; enhancing awareness, understanding and access to human rights across the world; and making a real difference to the lives of people who are persecuted and victimised, but there is still much to be done.

“Amnesty has played an important role in reporting on and documenting the treatment of activists in countries across the Middle East and North Africa recently and we continue to play a vital role in the volatile situation in that part of the world.

“I have just returned from Egypt where Amnesty is working to ensure that human rights remain at the centre of calls for reform and in particular that women’s rights are not marginalised in the wake of the mass protests and during the transition to a democratic state there.

“Amongst other work, we will also be calling for increased protection and access to sexual health care for women and girls in Nicaragua, demanding an end to the use of the death penalty in Belarus, insisting on the right to freedom of expression and ensuring that international justice is done in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“If the bad news is the world still needs Amnesty, the good news is Amnesty is going strong.”

For more information regarding their work and current campaigns please see www.amnesty.org.uk/index.asp

By Elzanne van der Watt

[Image Courtesy of Gunnar Bach Pedersen]