Amnesty International at 50 | Inquirer Opinion

Amnesty International at 50 | Inquirer Opinion

Congratulations to Amnesty International!

Inquirer:

“Despite progress,” an AI statement said, “human rights violations are at the heart of key challenges facing the world today. Governments fail to uphold the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are even fueling violations. Almost two-thirds of humanity lacks access to justice.” Abuses are driving and deepening poverty, discrimination against women is rife, and in the last year alone, AI documented cases of torture and ill-treatment in at least 98 countries. AI recently launched its 2011 Annual Report on Human Rights.

This year, AI’s focuses on six areas: freedom of expression, abolition of the death penalty, reproductive rights for women and girls in Nicaragua, ensuring international justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo, corporate accountability in the Niger Delta, and ending injustice and oppression in the Middle East and North Africa.

Said Shetty: “We can offer something that the forces of repression can never contain or silence: people united in common action; the sharp and powerful rally of public opinion; the lighting of one candle at a time until millions of candles expose injustice, and create pressure for change.”