amnesty.org (Amnesty International)

Have you ever criticised the government? I know I have! At least a couple of times a week, in fact. Right now, I could publish on the Internet the fact that I disagree with Tony Blair on a certain issue and nothing would happen to me. Many other people in the world, however, are not as fortunate to live in a free society and are imprisoned for things that they say or write. A typical Amnesty case is that of Pavel Mozheiko and Nikolai Markevich, which is one of the November 'Worldwide appeals.' These two journalists from Belarus were imprisoned for expressing concern that President Lukashenka ... more

When I had settled down in my job and the town I had been sent to (I didn’t know of its existence before I was, Germany is a large country, you know!) and didn’t have to think about myself all the time any longer, I thought it would be a good idea to do something for other people. There are many possibilities even in a small town, clubs, organisations and the like; the reasons why I chose to become a member of amnesty international (ai) were two sides of the same medal: I didn’t want to be in too close contact with the locals as I couldn’t understand their dialect very ... more

I should come clean right now and say that I have been a member of Amnesty for years, so from that perspective I'm probably a little biased. But give me a pint and an evening in a pub with someone who is foolish enough to bring up the topic and I'll defend them to the death, or at least until last orders. They were started 40 years ago by a British lawyer, Peter Benenson, who opened his paper one morning to find a small article about a group of Portuguese students who had been imprisoned for toasting freedom in a public bar in Lisbon. Most of us would have tutted a bit and turned the page. Not ... more

Every now and then a news article will come along that has the power to make most people in this country angry - around the world there are all kinds of injustices, and many of them do make you want to stand up and do something. As an ordinary person, there doesn't seem to be much scope for this. Whatever you might think, you can help to make a difference. Amnesty International is an organisation that challenges injustice and campaigns for human rights around the globe. It highlights the plight of people imprisonned, tortured and executed because they have said things their government didn't ... more

Before I begin, I would just like to make it clear that I respect and hold in high regard all of the work that the various charities and in particular Amnesty International do. However, there appears to be a familiar trait occurring on every high street in Britain, something I like to call the "Clipboard Sharks". My most recent run in with the clipboard sharks came this weekend and whilst usually the Red Cross bare the brunt of my mutterings, this time it was Amnesty International........A charity I have supported many times in the past. Just as a quick synopsis, Amnesty International are a ... more