Amnesty International India

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Amnesty International India is a country unit of the Amnesty International network, and is part of a global movement promoting and defending human rights and dignity.

Amnesty International is an organization of more than 7 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries which is independent of government, corporate or national interests. Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. Its vision is one of a world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

History

An Amnesty International office was first set up in India in Bihar in 1966.^[1] Since then, the nonpartisan organization has worked on torture, prisoners of conscience, abusive laws, women’s rights, corporate accountability and other human rights violations. It also seeks to promote human rights education in schools and colleges, and describes itself as working to uphold rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

Campaigns

Amnesty India’s ‘ready to report’ campaign on violence against women seeks to challenge the stigma and discrimination against survivors of sexual violence, and ensure that women who choose to report sexual violence can do so safely and without facing prejudice.^[2] The organization is collaborating with Railway Protection Force, Western Railways in Mumbai to promote and ensure women passengers’ right to safety.^[3][4]

The organization runs a ‘human rights education’ program to bring values and principles of human rights into schools and colleges.^[5] It also runs a campaign to reduce the number of under-trials in jails in India, especially those languishing beyond the term of what their conviction would have been.^[6][7] Among others, the organization also maintains a ‘business and human rights’ campaign to ensure that governments protect and companies respect human rights across business operations.^[8][9]

Amnesty India's high-profile campaigns include seeking justice for the victims in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.^[10][11][12] as well as opposing the use of the death penalty in India.^[13][14] The organization opposed the executions of Ajmal Kasab, Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon.

Support

Amnesty India claims to have about 65,000 members in the country.^[15][16]

Controversies

Following an event held in Bengaluru on 13 August 2016 on human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad filed a first information report (FIR) against Amnesty India for being anti-national.^[17] Amnesty India denied that the organization or its staff had been involved in any anti-national activities.^[18][19]

External links

• Amnesty International India
• Amnesty International

References