60 years of Amnesty International

In 1961, Portugal's dictator imprisoned two students for raising a toast to freedom. Affected by the news, lawyer Peter Benenson wrote an article that made a global impact. He called for supporting people who are persecuted for no other reason than their convictions. It led to the creation of Amnesty International, a global network that campaigns against human rights violations.

Amnesty International's initial focus on was defending nonviolent political prisoners. A long list of activists, including South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Russia's Alexei Navalny, have received Amnesty International's support as "prisoners of conscience." The organization soon expanded its focus to protest the use of torture and the death penalty.

When the organization launched its first global campaign against torture in the 1970s, many armed forces around the world used it, often against political prisoners. The group's campaigns contributed to an awareness that helped push for the creation of United Nations resolutions against the use of torture, which have now been signed by more than 150 countries.

Amnesty International bases its campaigns on evidence gathered by its activists. In war zones, where civilians are most vulnerable to armies and militias, documentation of human rights abuse is required to hold war criminals accountable. The organization kept a public record alleging to show Russian, Syrian and the US-led coalition war crimes during Syria's war.

Amnesty International seeks to stop the flow of weapons to war zones, where they can potentially be used against civilians. Although an international treaty imposes rules designed to regulate the international arms trade, buying and selling weapons is still on the rise. Some of the largest arms exporters, like Russia and the US, have not ratified the treaty, and many others fail to comply with it.

Amnesty International's campaigns also encompass gender equality, children's rights, and support for the LGBT+ community. Governments and religious figures have slammed the group's advocacy for rights such as access to abortion. In this picture, Argentine activists place dozens of bouquets of parsley and other herbs used to induce abortions at the doors of the National Congress in Buenos Aires.

Since the 1960s, Amnesty International has grown into a broad global network of activists who, in addition to participating in global solidarity campaigns, work to tackle local human rights abuses. With millions of members and supporters around the world, the organization has helped spare thousands of prisoners from death and detention.