Joe Hoffmann

An Organization of Faith

Amnesty International

            Amnesty International is a Human Rights organization that has almost two million members in over 150 countries.  Amnesty International fights for human rights around the world. “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.”-http://www.amnestyusa.org/about/about _amnesty.html-  It was founded in London in 1961 by a British Lawyer named Peter Benenson.  His human rights movement began when he wrote the article “The forgotten prisoners” after reading after reading a brief article about two Portuguese students who had been arrested for making a toast to freedom in a Lisbon bar.  This sparked thousands of people to respond to the article and Amnesty International Began.

            Amnesty International is constantly involved in human affairs and attempts to work with others and other organizations to better human rights.  “Amnesty International calls on governments to ensure access to justice for victims of all human rights violations.”  This was the opening statement of Amnesty International to the 2006 session of the UN commission on Human Rights.  Amnesty International also fights for children’s rights.  There are currently over 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, most are in their teens, but some are as young as seven years old.  Child execution is against international law, but it is still occurring in many countries today.  Amnesty International has launched a Stop Child Executions Campaign.  Here in the United States Amnesty International is fighting for many things including the rights of Katrina survivors, an end to Racial profiling, and an end to life in prison without parole to child offenders. 

            I chose Amnesty International over the other Organizations of Faith because I am a strong advocate of Human rights.  My whole life I have hated slavery and the effects it has on people.  I also liked Amnesty International because it does not just target helping people in the United States, but it is helping people worldwide. 

http://www.amnestyusa.org/about/

 

Faith