Amnesty International

A global movement of 10 million people campaigning for human rights.

Amnesty International was founded in London on 28 May 1961, after the British lawyer Peter Benenson read about two Portuguese students imprisoned for raising a toast to freedom under the Salazar dictatorship. His article 'The Forgotten Prisoners', published in The Observer, called for a one-year 'Appeal for Amnesty' — letter-writing campaigns for prisoners of conscience around the world. The campaign never stopped.

The organisation is now a global movement of around ten million members, supporters and activists in more than 150 countries. It is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion, and funded predominantly by individual donors and members rather than governments — a policy designed to protect its ability to criticise any state.

Amnesty's core methods are still recognisably those of its early years: rigorous, verified research on human-rights abuses; the Urgent Action network mobilising members on behalf of individuals at imminent risk; and public campaigning combined with quiet advocacy at the UN Human Rights Council and regional human-rights bodies. It received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 and the UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.