- Amnesty International is an organization with members around the globe who are working to stop human rights abuses and gain social justice for all people. It promotes international cooperation and dialogue and it regularly takes action and asks leaders of countries to support and uphold human rights standards. It has campaigned against torture, the holding of political prisoners, political killings, the death penalty and violence against women, among other issues.
- Peter Benenson founded Amnesty International in 1961.
Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by a British lawyer named Peter Benenson. By 1965, the organization had grown and had hundreds of groups of workers and supporters in 14 different countries. The United Nations also gave Amnesty International consultative status that year, which means it advised the United Nations on matters of human rights abuses. In 1977, Amnesty International was given the Nobel Peace Prize and its membership continued to steadily grow. Today, Amnesty International has over 2 million members based in 150 countries, and it is are highly influential in world politics. - Amnesty International has offices around the world in 150 countries. Its biggest offices are in London, Geneva and New York, but it has satellite offices in almost every other country in the world, and it sends representatives from its base offices into other locations for research.
- Amnesty International jobs are competitive and involve difficult advocacy work. There are many job positions available with Amnesty International, some of which include campaigners, researchers and writers. Campaigners are hired by Amnesty International to inform communities about human rights abuses and to convince lawmakers to support legislation that protects human rights. Researchers will spend time traveling through or studying a particular region and uncovering human rights offenses. Researchers are hired for knowledge of a specific area of the world. Writers and other editorial staff are responsible for drafting reports and other forms of communication to give to governments. Job applications and information are available on the Amnesty International website.
- The current issues that Amnesty International is working on are plentiful and varied. Their four main campaigns are to stop violence against women, to abolish the death penalty, to counter terrorism with justice and to control the arms trade. They also work on area-specific conflicts, such as stopping the genocide in Darfur and releasing political prisoners.
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