28th May: Amnesty International Day

Each year May 28 marks Amnesty International Day, and the aim is to remind everyone of the value of human rights. Amnesty International is probably the most well-known human rights group in the world. Amnesty International is a non-governmental organization focused on human rights with over 3 million members and supporters around the world. Amnesty’s primary concern is with protecting the human rights of all, and it is involved in issues resulting from armed conflict, disappearances, international justice, sexual and reproductive freedom, and torture. Amnesty works hard to protect men, women, and children around the world, in cases where justice, dignity, and truth are denied. It investigates and exposes abuses of power, people, and resources.

History

Amnesty International was first established in the month of July 1961 in London. Peter Benenson, an English labor lawyer was inspired to establish this organization after learning of two Portuguese students being imprisoned for seven years after “having drunk a toast to liberty.” Together with Eric Baker of the Religious Society of Friends, and numerous other intelligentsia, including academics, writers, and lawyers, they composed an article called “The Forgotten Prisoners” that would see publication in The Observer in May of 1961. This led to an appeal that quickly grew into an organization that would work to change the world and see that everyone would be entitled to a set of basic human rights. Explainer Video Makers