Amnesty International was founded on 28 May 1961. On this day, the British lawyer Peter Benenson published an article called 'The Forgotten Prisoners' in The Observer.
Benenson called attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
'Article 18 states: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion… and Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers… There is at present no sure way of finding out how many countries permit their citizens to enjoy these two fundamental freedoms.'
An international human rights' organization would be able to mobilize public opinion and campaign against injustice. Fifty years later, Amnesty International, with three million supporters in 150 countries, still has the same mission.
The International Institute of Social History holds the archives of Amnesty International. In the Image and Sound Department, many posters, T-shirts, propaganda materials, and tapes of interviews are stored. The archive of the International Secretariat contains files concerning prisoners of conscience and violations of human rights in various countries, all research files on individual countries and documents are sent to the sections ('A.I. indexed documents'). The IISH holds the archive of the A.I. Dutch section also. The arrangement of this archive will be completed in 2011 for the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International.
Read more:
Amnesty Nederland
Peter Benensons appeal for an international human rights organization in The Observer was translated and published in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. Elka Schrijver wrote Benenson a letter asking whether he would permit establishment of a Dutch branch. He was very enthusiastic about the idea, but unfortunately this first attempt in 1962 ran into trouble. The Dutch initiators continued working unofficially, and their second try in 1968 to put up an A.I. in the Netherlands was successful.
Amnesty International NL campaigned for specific countries and held various prominent campaigns such as:
- a campaign against torture
- a campaign to abolish the death penalty
- a campaign against political murders and enforced disappearances
A.I. also takes action by writing letters, sending greeting cards to political prisoners to let them know that they are not forgotten. Adoption groups adopted various 'cases' of prisoners with targeted appeals. They wrote numerous letters to embassies, governors, prison wardens, politicians, etc. As a result, many individuals were liberated.
Amnesty reaches out to the masses for support for its work, but also targets specific professions such as lawyers, journalists, doctors, and school teachers.
The archive of the A.I. Dutch section includes materials about great campaigns and the organization of smaller actions. Amnesty Nederland always put up a thorough documentation about countries that were the focus of its attention. A great deal of information about these countries is available as well.
See also the Description of Amnesty International. Nederland archive.