Amnesty International and Human Rights
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This paper will discuss the organization Amnesty International and its efforts toward the establishment of human rights around the world. Amnesty International has three basic goals as its agenda. Its first goal is to seek the release of "prisoners of conscience" around the world. Prisoners of conscience are defined as individuals who have been "imprisoned or otherwise detained by reason of their political, religious or other conscientiously-held beliefs, or on the grounds of their ethnic origin, race, sex or cultural background" (Garling 7). In addition, Amnesty International defines prisoners of conscience as those who have been imprisoned for such beliefs without having "used or advocated violence" (Amnesty International Report 2). The second goal of the Amnesty International organization is the encouragement of "fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners" (Wiseberg and Sirett 35). The third goal of Amnesty International is to oppose "the death penalty and torture and any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of all prisoners, without reservation" (35). Related to its goal for the release of all prisoners of conscience around the world, Amnesty International is also involved in working "for the release of people imprisoned because of their refusal, on conscientious grounds, to perform military service" (Voices for Freedom 196). As a result of these humanitarian efforts in the global community, the Amnesty International organization becam
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even more terrible, just because of this, it seems to become more and more difficult to rouse people against it" (63).
Often, advocates of the use of torture claim that it is an important means for extracting information from political prisoners. Unfortunately, there have been many reported cases in which innocent people have been tortured or in which the wrong information has been extracted under duress. Many critics of torture believe that the practice is used not so much to extract information as it is to satisfy the violent impulses of sadistic torturers. In this regard, a recent Amnesty International publication has pointed out, "Extortion of information and confessions, intimidation of the political opponent, deterrence--these are often the ostensible reasons for using torture. But on the basis of their investigations into the nature of sadism and cruelty, scientists have taught us that there is a further purpose" (Voices 64). Other writers have pointed out, however, that it is not just sadists who become torturers. In this regard, it can be seen that "torture is frequently part of the state-controlled machinery for suppressing dissent" (169). In many nations of the world, official governments are tolerant or even s
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Approximate Word count = 5359
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page)
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