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You can make a difference...
because Amnesty International works
Many people ask 'Does Amnesty International's work really help?'
We have a record of real achievement. We know this because the people we have been trying to help say that our pressure has had an effect. However, we do not claim that our letters and publicity are the only reasons for cases being closed. Often, other factors such as political change, economic pressure, or the campaigning of other activists working independently, are the reasons for more humane behaviour on the part of governments.
Some of these have been legal changes, leading to people's rights being better protected, like the 1984 UN Convention against Torture, which we campaigned for. Some have been changes in policy, which we also campaigned for, like the abolition of the death penalty in the UK and many other countries. To bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, we campaigned for an international criminal court, which 120 nations agreed to set up in 1998. Our contribution to human rights has been recognised internationally and we have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1977) and the United Nations Human Rights Prize (1978).
But the most powerful proof of Amnesty International's effectiveness is the words of the people we've helped....
Colombia
Army-backed paramilitaries in Colombia released a number of people, aged between 13 and 25, who had been abducted in the central department of Meta in October 2000. In January 2001 the church-run organisation Pastoral Social sent Amnesty International this message of thanks:
"Thanks to your timely and effective Urgent Actions ... the paramilitaries based in Puerto Gaitán (Meta) allowed NELSON YAGUILU, ERMINIA ENCINOSA and her two sons RAMON and PEDRO ENCINOSA, as well as RAMON AGUILA, MARIA ELENA and MARIA CECILIA GAITAN among others to return home"
Democratic Republic Of Congo (DRC)
N'sii Luanda Shandwe, president of one of the DRC's most active human rights organisations, the Comité de observateurs des droits de l'homme, was arrested in Kinshasa on 2 June 2001. He was held without charge and often denied access to his family and lawyer. Amnesty International also feared he was at risk of torture. He was finally freed without charge on 6 September 2001 after spending three months as a prisoner of conscience at Kinshasa's main prison.
His fellow human rights activist, Golden Misabiko, was released without charge on 13 September, after spending over seven months as a prisoner of conscience. Although relieved to be free, he requires medical treatment after being tortured in the initial stages of his imprisonment. Golden Misabiko has sent his thanks to all those who sent appeals on his behalf. He said that when he was informed that Amnesty International was campaigning for his release he said to himself: "I'm going to get out" (je vais sortir).
Egypt
On 13 April 2002, the five men sentenced in March to the maximum three years' imprisonment for "habitual debauchery" were acquitted on appeal. The men, who had been in detention since mid-January were released some two days later.
Their release follows a strong international campaign - by a wide range of individuals and organisations, including Amnesty International - on behalf of these men and others imprisoned in Egypt purely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Ethiopia
Early this year a lawyer in Winnipeg contacted the Canadian section of Amnesty International to let them know that Shabe Shako had arrived safely in Canada, and wanted to pass on a big 'thank you' to Amnesty International members for the work we did on her behalf. This is her letter:
"My name is Shabe Shako. I am an Oromo folk music singer. I came to Winnipeg on May 12 in the year 2000. I am a refugee in Canada, from Ethiopia.
I was arrested in Ethiopia in February 1996. I was in different jails and prison camps until the end of 1998. Sometimes I was beaten by soldiers and police, and conditions were often very bad.
When I was released at the end of 1998, I was afraid to be arrested again. When I had a chance, I fled with my oldest son to Kenya, to Nairobi, to the UNHCR camp there. We stayed in the safe refugee centre during 1999 and 2000 until we came to Canada.
I have learned that Amnesty people wrote letters to help me, in 1996, and I want to say thank you and to let you know that I am now safe in Winnipeg. I am grateful to all of you. I also thank Canada for giving a new life to me and my son, and to my other children who will soon come to Canada also. I have seen an Amnesty report that Boharstu Obisa was arrested about the same time I was. She too is still alive, and now living in Norway.
I am a singer in the Oromo language and I hope that some day I can sing for you. Finally I would like to say God bless you, and keep up your good work. There are many more Oromo people in prisons and being tortured even today in Ethiopia, and we must not forget them."
Honduras
Coronado Avila, Lombardo Lacayo and Horacio Martinez, three grassroots activists campaigning to defend the land rights of peasant farmers in Honduras, had been receiving death threats. An Urgent Action was issued on 3 March 2000. In July 2001 Coronado Avila wrote the following letter, thanking all those who wrote appeals on his behalf:
"Dear Friends
Let me tell you from the bottom of my heart how grateful I am to all of you who work in such a prestigious organization as Amnesty International which fights for the respect of life and of the universal rights of societies around the world. I would also like to take this opportunity to tell ... everyone at Amnesty International that thanks to your support on 3 March 2000, when I was being persecuted and my life was under threat, I am still alive today. I will never forget the people who supported me and my organization, COPA (Coordinating Body of Popular Organizations of the Aguan)...
Finally, I would like to urge you not to become discouraged in your work to help men and women who raise their voices in protest to support their people. Friends, it is people like you who are the most beautiful thing is this world, and I ask God to give you a long life, more wisdom and a heart full of love and solidarity towards the world.
To all the men and women who have supported me, I send my best wishes from the bottom of my heart. Coronado Avila M."
Israel
In July 2001 the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) wrote the following letter to Amnesty International after an Urgent Action was issued on behalf of one of their staff, 'Abed al-Rahman al-Ahmar. He was tortured during interrogation and is currently under a six-month administrative detention order which allows the Israeli authorities to detain him without charge or trial until February 2002, and which is renewable indefinitely.
Dear Friends,
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you, in the name of our field researcher Abed al-Rahman al-Ahmar, our deepest gratitude for the patient work and efforts of the Amnesty International network on his behalf.
We have already received copies of hundreds of letters, from Australia to Germany and from Canada to Taiwan, and the stream continues to reach us, handwritten or typewritten note, by surface mail or by fax. What might appear at your end as an insignificant contribution to human rights and democracy in the world grows and swells until folders after folders are filled with letters of protests at our end. I wish you could have seen your letters brandished in court by Abed's lawyer. Your work is both meaningful and powerful.
Yes, Abed is still held in administrative detention and your efforts are more important than ever. But I would already like to thank you, in his name and in the name of all our staff, because your support lends us great strength in our struggle for human rights, justice and democracy."
Israel
Akram 'Ubayd, a bank employee, was released on 4 September and his sister Muna 'Ubayd, a teacher, was released two days later. Muna 'Ubayd and Akram 'Ubayd, who are Palestinian citizens of Israel, were arrested in August by the General Security Service. They were held in incommunicado detention in the detention centre at Petah Tikvah, where they were at risk of torture.
Akram 'Ubayd and Muna 'Ubayd have thanked Amnesty International, whose help they believe secured their release.
Liberia
Pro-democracy activist Conmany Wesseh, who has been an outspoken critic of Charles Taylor’s government, has also campaigned to halt the supply of small arms that fuels violent conflicts in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and other West African countries. He is a director of a leading pro-democracy organisation, the Centre for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE).
On 28 November, 70 men stormed the CEDE offices, armed with knives, hammers and sticks. They stabbed Conmany Wesseh and beat up other CEDE staff. One of the attackers was reportedly a senior army officer. Conmany was hospitalised, together with other CEDE staff. Later that day he blamed the attack on President Charles Taylor. It was feared there would be further reprisals.
Amnesty International issued an urgent action and, together with other international pressure, this forced the authorities to investigate the attack. When Amnesty International delegates visited the Liberian National Police headquarters in February, a senior officer produced a huge file of letters from UA Network members. He said he had been struck by the fact that so many letters had come from all over the world. He also said that the police had done well and had arrested those responsible for the attack. However, we remain concerned that the investigation has been superficial, and most of the attackers are still at liberty. We are still campaigning for a proper investigation.
Since the attack Conmany has mainly been working outside Liberia, but the CEDE office remains open. In an e-mail to Amnesty International, he wrote during a visit to the UN in New York: "I have been talking to people about you all week at the UN in NY for the efficiency with which you mobilized international solidarity with us after the brutal attack...Once again, I want to thank you very much for all the great work that saved my life and those of my colleagues."
Myanmar
 More than 160 political prisoners were released in Myanmar between January and July 2001. The vast majority are opposition party members, including 41 members of parliament – elect detained without charge since mid-1988. Those released after completing their sentences include well-known prisoners of conscience, writer Daw San San Nwe and comedians U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw (known as 'the Moustache Brothers'. While these releases are welcome, an estimated 1800 political prisoners remain, serving long prison terms for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.
Tibet
Prisoner of Conscience Ngawang Choephel, a Tibetan musician imprisoned by the Chinese authorities in 1996 for 18 years, was released on 20 January 2002.
Choephel's release on medical parole marks the first ever early release of a Tibetan prisoner of conscience. His release comes just weeks before a summit between Presidents George Bush and Jiang Zemin.
In response to the news, Annie Lennox, who has been a long term campaigner for Ngawang Choephel's release, commented:
"I was thrilled and delighted to hear of Ngawang Choephel's release. This is a true victory for his mother, Sonyam Deki, who initiated her own solitary campaign to bring attention to her son's plight several years ago on the streets of Delhi.
This confirms my deeply held conviction that "grass roots" level forms of protest can be immensely effective, especially in the field of human rights abuses.
As individuals living under the system of democracy and free speech we personally hold the tools to assist those who would be otherwise disempowered, tortured or imprisoned.
We owe it to ourselves as human beings with a conscience, not to abandon or neglect this power. If you are not a member of Amnesty International or another such organisation then you haven't yet realised or understood what a difference you can make."
For more information on Ngawang Choephal please click here
Tibet
Jigme Zangpo, a school teacher who was sentenced in 1984 for composing a nationalistic lyric entitled "Tibetan People's Struggle' was released on the 31 March 2002 'on medical parole' aged 74. He had faced a sentence of 28 years and was due for release in 2012. Jigme is the 3rd Tibetan POC to be released this year.
Turkey
Eren Keskin, a leading member of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Osman Baydemir, IHD vice-president, received repeated death threats because of their human rights work.
Eren Keskin received telephone death threats, and calls threatening rape. On 9 April she learned that a man arrested in Konya had confessed that he had intended to kill her. Osman Baydemir was followed and also received telephone death threats. Plainclothes police officers reportedly came to see him in Diyarbakir in November 2000, and told him: "We have lost our patience. There are many people. If we say 'Kill' they will kill".
Following the Urgent Action, the death threats stopped and they asked Amnesty International to pass on their greetings and thanks to all who took part in the successful Urgent Action. Eren Keskin said:
"I have been a human rights defenders for 10 years, but it was only after Amnesty International issued the UA that for the first time the authorities proposed to protect me and my colleague. I highly appreciate the activities of the Amnesty members on our behalf and send my warmest thanks to them."
Turkmenistan
Prisoner of conscience Nurberdi Nurmamedov was released in January 2001 under a presidential amnesty. He had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment in February 2000 on charges of 'hooliganism' and 'threatening to murder'. Amnesty International believes that he was imprisoned because of his peaceful opposition activities and criticism of the President. Nurberdi Nurmamedov told Amnesty International that he was grateful to everybody who campaigned for his release. His supporters believe that he would not have been released without pressure from Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations.
Turkmenistan
An Urgent Action was issued on behalf of Dmitry Melnichenko, a Baptist Christian, after he was detained and tortured in May for refusing to carry arms and swear an oath of military allegiance on grounds of conscience. He is now serving in an army medical unit in the town of Serdar (formerly Kizyl-Arvat) in western Turkmenistan. He has been visited by a group of fellow Baptists who report that he is content with his situation because he does not have to carry arms. No criminal charges have been brought against him despite his refusal to swear an oath of military allegiance.
According Baptist sources, the appeals from the Urgent Action network played a decisive role in the case of Dmitry Melnichenko. They report that: "Had there not been such broad international attention to the case, a criminal case may well have been brought against him and he would have been imprisoned for refusing to swear the oath as well as to carry arms on conscientious grounds."
Tunisia
Journalist and human rights defender, Sihem Ben Sedrine, was jailed on 26 June when she returned from a two-week tour of Europe where she had spoken openly about the decline of human rights and freedom of expression in Tunisia.
Amnesty International UK awarded Sihem the Special Award for Human Rights Journalism under Threat and on 10 July 2001. Her husband, Omar Mestiri, and her daughter, Essia, attended the award ceremony in London in her name.
Sihem Ben Sedrine was provisionally released on 11 August, after six weeks in prison. She spoke to Amnesty International and expressed her gratitude to all those who had campaigned on her behalf and put pressure on the Tunisian authorities to release her.
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