Amnesty International

Amnesty International

About

Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is a non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in the United Kingdom focused on human rights. The organisation says it has more than eight million members and supporters around the world.

The stated mission of the organisation is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments."

Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961, following the publication of the article "The Forgotten Prisoners" in The Observer on 28 May 1961, by the lawyer Peter Benenson. Amnesty draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. It works to mobilize public opinion to generate pressure on governments where abuse takes place. Amnesty considers capital punishment to be "the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights." The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its "defence of human dignity against torture," and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.

In the field of international human rights organisations, Amnesty has the third-longest history, after the International Federation for Human Rights and the Anti-Slavery Society.

What kind of work?

Amnesty International is a democratic movement, answerable to its own members – not to any governments or political or donor interests. The organisation has leadership tiers at an international, national and regional level, which enables its democratic and self-governing structure to work as powerfully as possible to make a lasting difference for human rights.

Amnesty International Australia’s leaders, Board of Directors and Activism Leadership Committees, have various areas of specialisation.

Location

Sydney

Student Opportunities

Volunteering opportunities are available to students. Such work revolves around promoting events, performing ad hoc tasks relating to publicity and logistics, as well as establishing campaigns to garner a wider reach in the community and facilitate the purposeful activism that Amnesty International is renowned for.

Volunteering opportunities can be found here: https://www.amnesty.org.au/work-with-us/volunteer/

Graduate Opportunities

Jobs at Amnesty International present an opportunity to develop one's skills in communication, advocacy and other endeavours.

They offer employees many fantastic benefits and have a strong commitment to professional development.

Graduate opportunities can be found here: https://www.amnesty.org.au/work-with-us/positions/

Fun Fact / Recent Project

Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19 Responding to reports that children are being held in solitary confinement or moved to a Queensland watch house following a staff member testing positive for COVID-19, Amnesty International Australia campaigner, Joel Clark said:

“Moving children, many of whom are on remand and haven’t been convicted of any crime, to adult watch houses is totally inappropriate and contravenes the Queensland government’s own commitment to keep kids out of these temporary jails."