Amnesty International

Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization with the stated purpose of promoting all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. In particular, Amnesty International campaigns to free all prisoners of conscience; to ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; to abolish the death penalty, torture, and other treatment of prisoners it regards as cruel; to end political killings and forced disappearances; and to oppose all human rights abuses, whether by governments or by other groups.

External links

• Amnesty International's website
• Peter Benenson: The Forgotten Prisoners The Observer, May 28, 1961
• William Schulz, Security Is a Human Right, Too, New York Times, April 18, 2004.
• AI's 2004 annual report on human rights abuses (Summary http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1225027,00.html)
• AI's 2005 annual report on human rights abuses

Articles critical of AI

• Jonathan V. Last, Calling It Like They See It, FrontPageMagazine, April 3, 2003. Alleges AI has anti-American/Israel bias.
• Christopher Archangelli, Amnesty for Iraq, FrontPageMagazine, April 24, 2003. Alleges AI has anti-American bias regarding Iraq.
• NGO Monitor Criticisms of Amnesty International – Points to a running list of criticism of various NGOs, AI in particular.
• Nabeel Abraham, et al.; International Human Rights Organizations and the Palestine Question, Middle East Report (MERIP), Vol. 18, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1988, pp. 12 – 20. Argues that several organizations, including AI, are biased against Palestinians.
• Nabeel Abraham, Torture, Anyone?, Lies of Our Times, May 1992, pp. 2 – 4. Claims AI and other groups are reticent in describing alleged torture on the part of Israel.
• Dennis Bernstein's interview with Prof. Francis Boyle, CAQ, Summer 2002. Boyle, a former AI-USA board member, threatened to sue AI-USA over its alleged biased coverage.
• Alexander Cockburn, How the US State Dept. Recruited Human Rights Groups to Cheer On the Bombing Raids: Those Incubator Babies, Once More?, CounterPunch newsletter, April 1-15, 1999. Alleges several human rights organizations "fell into line" regarding the bombing of Serbia.
• Michael Mandel, How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity, Pluto Press 2004. Alleges AI is selective in defending "human rights", in particular, regarding the US-Iraq war 2003, and the War in the Balkans.
• Paul de Rooij, AI: Say It Isn't So, CounterPunch, October 31, 2002. *Paul de Rooij, AI: The Case of a Rape Foretold, CounterPunch, November 26, 2003.
• Paul de Rooij, AI: A false beacon?, CounterPunch, October 13 2004. Contains a reading list. Alleges AI has anti-Palestinian bias.
• American Gulag at National Review Online.

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