AI Facts

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/* Written  4:54 pm  Apr 29, 1994 by hnaylor@xxxxxxxxxxx in igc:ai.general */
/* ---------- "AI Facts" ---------- */

EXTERNAL (for general distribution)
AI Index: ORG 10/04/93
----------------------
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom
 
20 December 1993
 
               FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
 
                       AND ITS WORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
 
THE BEGINNING
 
--  Amnesty International was launched in 1961 by  British lawyer Peter
Benenson.
 
--  His newspaper appeal, "The Forgotten Prisoners", was published worldwide
on 28 May 1961 and brought in more than 1,000 offers of support for the idea
of an international campaign to protect human rights.
 
--  Within 12 months the new organization had sent delegations to four
countries to make representations on behalf of prisoners, and had taken up 210
cases.  Amnesty International members had organized national bodies in seven
countries.  The first year's expenditure was 6,040.
 
--  The principles of strict impartiality and independence were established.
The emphasis was on the international protection of human rights:  Amnesty
International members were to act on cases worldwide and not become involved
in cases in their own countries.
 
TODAY
 
--  Amnesty International has more than 1,100,000 members, subscribers and
regular donors in over 150 countries and territories and over 8,000 Amnesty
International volunteer groups 70 countries) in over 70 countries.
 
--  There are nationally organized sections in 51 countries, 30 of them in
Latin America + Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
 
--  The organization's nerve centre is the International Secretariat in
London, with over 290 paid staff and 90 volunteers from more than 50
countries. The Secretary General is Pierre San.
 
--  Amnesty International is governed by a nine-member International Executive
Committee (IEC).  It comprises eight volunteer members, elected every two
years by an International Council comprising representatives of the worldwide
movement, and an elected member of the International Secretariat.
 
HELPING THE VICTIMS
 
--  Amnesty International has a precise mandate, detailed in an international
statute.  Its activities focus on prisoners and the main focus of its
campaigning is to:
 
      -     free all prisoners of conscience.  These are people detained
anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour or
language -- who have not used or advocated violence;
 
      -     ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners;
 
      -     abolish the death penalty, torture and other cruel treatment of
prisoners;
 
      -     end extrajudicial executions and "disappearances".
 
Amnesty International also opposes abuses by opposition groups: hostage
taking, torture and killings of prisoners and other arbitrary killings.
 
 --  Since 1961 Amnesty International has adopted or investigated more than
43,500 cases. Each case may involve one individual or many.  Of these  cases,
40,753 are now closed.   Amnesty International members around the world work
on behalf of prisoners threatened with imprisonment, unfair trials, torture or
execution.  This year's activities are an indication of the level of work done
every year on behalf of prisoners.
 
At the end of November 1993:
 
--  Amnesty International takes long-term action on all the concerns reflected
in its mandate, including prisoners of conscience.  By the end of November
1993 4,337 Amnesty International volunteer groups were working on behalf of
4,962 named individuals and 6,914 unnamed individuals from 98 countries
worldwide.
 
Rapid action for prisoners and others who are in immediate danger, e.g. they
are facing torture or execution, is mobilized by the Urgent Action network of
around 50,000 volunteers in over 75 countries.  They are organized through
electronic mail, telex, fax, express and airmail to send fast appeals on
behalf of those at risk.
 
By the end of November 1993 525 new actions on 92 countries had been issued to
the Urgent Action network. Each Urgent Action can generate hundreds of appeals
to the authorities within days of being issued and several thousand within a
few weeks. Further information was issued on 448 actions so the network was
activated 973 times during the first eleven months of 1993.
 
The new actions covered a variety of concerns: prisoners whom it was feared
might be tortured; those at risk of, or who had been the victim of,
extrajudicial execution or "disappearance"; prisoners sentenced to death; and
people who had been harassed or had received death threats. Actions included
many other concerns, for example: arbitrary arrest, prolonged incommunicado
detention, detention without charge or trial, death in custody and risk of
refoulement. (Note these concerns are not mutually exclusive, more than one
concern may feature on any action.)
 
Medical office details to end of November 1993
 
55 Medical Actions were issued for the attention of some 9000 health
professionals involved in Amnesty International networks. There are AI medical
groups and networks in more than 30 countries appealing on behalf of seriously
ill prisoners without access to medical care; prisoners who have been
tortured; those who have died in custody from torture or through lack of
medical care; in cases of corporal or capital punishment involving the medical
profession; in cases where medical professionals themselves become the target
of abuses because of their professional or human rights activities.
 
--  The number of groups working in a Regional Action Network (RAN) were
2,413.  RAN members concentrate their work on any one of five regions of the
world to assist people subjected to any of the human rights abuses that
Amnesty International opposes in almost all of the world's countries. By the
end of November 1993 groups working in the 21 RANs joined 178 calls for
action.
 
--  From January 1993 to the end of November 1993 Amnesty International had
issued 124 major documents on human rights violations in 69 countries.
 
(The reports covered a range of human rights violations, such as prison
massacres at the Casa de Detencao in Brazil, a criminal justice system
weighted against the Aboriginal people in Australia, the failure to protect
Haitian refugees in USA, torture by the police in Nepal, the alleged ill-
treatment of foreigners in the Federal Republic of Germany and the
"disappeared" in Morocco.)
 
-- By the end of November 1993 the organization had sent 73 delegations to 58
countries.  Delegates discussed Amnesty International's concerns with
government authorities, observed political trials and carried out on-the- spot
investigations into human rights abuses. The countries visited ranged from
Algeria to Venezuela, from Cambodia to Turkey, from Switzerland to Yemen and
included a number of the new republics in the former USSR.  The organization
has made over 1,200 visits to different countries since 1961.
 
THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE
 
Every year, Amnesty International produces a global report which details human
rights violations against men, women and children in all regions of the world.
The 1993 annual report, which detailed abuses during 1992, is indicative of
the kinds and levels of abuses against people every year. According to that
report:
 
Prisoners
 
--  Prisoners of conscience - jailed solely for the peaceful exercise of their
basic human rights - were held in some 62 countries.  Possible prisoners of
conscience were held in 32 countries.
 
-- The number of known prisoners of conscience in those countries totalled
4,400.
 
--  At least 300,000 political prisoners were detained without charge or trial
or under administrative detention in more than 60 countries.
 
Unfair trials
 
--  More than 1,500 political prisoners were imprisoned after unfair trials in
at least 30 countries.
 
--  Political prisoners in 20 countries were still in prison after unfair
trials in previous years.
 
Torture and ill-treatment
 
--  Detainees were tortured or ill-treated in prisons, police stations or
secret detention centres in at least 110 countries.
 
--  More than 500 people died apparently as a result of torture or inhuman
prison conditions or in "suspicious" circumstances in some 48 countries.
 
 Extrajudicial executions
 
--  Suspected government opponents, members of targeted ethnic groups or
people living in opposition strongholds were apparently victims of
extrajudicial execution in 45 countries.
 
"Disappearances"
 
--  At least 950 people were reported to have "disappeared" after arrest by
security forces in some 25 countries and many others remained "disappeared" in
at least 27 countries after "disappearing" in previous years.
 
Death Penalty
 
--  During 1992 AI learned of 1,708 prisoners known to have been executed in
35 countries and 2,697 people were sentenced to death in 62 countries.  The
true figures are certainly higher.
 
--  At the end of the year, 44% of countries in the world had abolished the
death penalty in law or practice. Forty- seven countries had abolished the
death penalty for all offences and 16 for all but exceptional offences, such
as wartime crimes. A further 20 countries and territories, while retaining the
penalty in law, had not carried out any executions for at least 10 years.
(This paragraph is from the Annual report)
 
--  106 countries and territories retain and use the death penalty for
ordinary crimes. (106 by the end of 1992 and 104 as of 13 April)
 
--  China and Iran accounted for 82% of all executions recorded by AI in 1992.
 
  HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS AND TREATIES WORLDWIDE
 
     Today an ever-growing human rights constituency is gathering the facts on
abuses by governments, taking action to stop them and strengthening the forces
necessary to prevent future violations.
 
--   Over 1,000 domestic and regional organizations are working to protect
basic human rights;
 
--   An increasing body of international human rights agreements hold
governments accountable for their actions;
 
--   120 governments are now party to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and 122 governments are party to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).  These covenants
require countries ratifying them to recognize or protect a wide range of human
rights;
 
--  74 states are now party to the Optional Protocol to the (first)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  The Protocol
establishes procedures allowing both individuals and states to present
complaints of human rights violations;
 
--  19 states are now party 2nd Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant  on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death
penalty;
 
--  77 governments are now party to the United Nations Convention against
Torture.
 
THE MONEY
 
Amnesty International's funding reflects the movement's independence and its
reliance on broad public support.  No money is sought or received from
governments.  The hundreds of thousands of donations that sustain the
organization's work come from the pockets of its members and the public.
 
     The international budget for 1993 is approximately 12,350,000. This does
not include funds needed to maintain the operations of the national bodies in
individual countries or the costs of the thousands of letters and telegrams
sent every month by individual members around the world.
 
     The international budget is spent on professional research by Amnesty
International staff into human rights violations worldwide, on delegations to
observe trials and make representations to governments, and on the
administration of the movement's international publishing, campaigning and
development activities.
 
     The international nerve centre for this unique operation, the
International Secretariat, runs on just over 100 a minute.  Some of the costs:
 
--  launching a life-saving appeal on behalf of a prisoner threatened with
torture or death:  up to 25 in faxes and E- mail alone;
 
--  running the research, missions and information systems that are involved
in taking up the case of an individual prisoner of conscience (average cost):
over 400 a case;
 
--  sending a delegation to meet government officials and conduct on the spot
fact-finding (average cost):  2,300 Pounds Sterling.