Talk:Amnesty International: Difference between revisions

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==Moving content from main page==
==First (instructor) evaluation comments==
==History==


'''The Beginning'''
Hi Michelle,


In 1963 Amnesty International was comprised of 350 groups and Amnesty International's headquarters was established in London. Peter Benenson was named the president in 1964. In August of that same year the United Nations gave Amnesty International consultative status.
Here are some suggestions for further improvements to your encyclopedia entry draft. Since you've only begun developing the "History" section, I'll limit my comments to that; keep in mind, though, that you still need to fill in the other sections:


Amnesty International issued its first reports in 1965– on prison conditions in Portugal, South Africa and Romania – and sponsored a resolution at the United Nations to suspend and finally abolish the death penalty for peacetime political offences.  
* You might restructure the "History" section so that the "Founding" subsection comes first; then create additional subsections to organize your account of AI's history since the early 1960s.
* Most importantly, your encyclopedia entry should be an explanation of what the organization is all about ''in your own words''. Way too much of what appears there now is drawn verbatim from Amnesty International's website ([http://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/history]).  


By 1966 Eric Baker took over running the organization and in 1967 there were 550 groups and 18 countires working to help 2,000 prisoners in 63 countries-293 released.
[[User:Shamira Gelbman|Shamira Gelbman]] 13:45, 5 October 2009 (UTC)


The first Prisoner of Conscience Week was observed in November of 1968. In January of 1969, UNESCO granted Amnesty International consultative status as the organization reached another milestone –2,000 prisoners of conscience released. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted
===Second (peer) evaluation comments===
I echo many of professor gelbmaans comments.  When I wrote my opinion essay I used a google news search and it was very helpful.  This tool might help out when you begin constructing your conflict section of your article. You have a lot of good information and a solid base you just need to continue to develop your piece and develop more information resources
===Amnesty vs. other organizations?==
In the human rights area, what are the differences among AI, HRW, and HR Now, to name a few? [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 09:32, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
== Itallics ==


'''The 1970s'''
There are a lot of titles in this article, of publications and events, starting with 'Appeal for Amnesty 1961' - should these be in itallics? It would certainly make things easier to read. If not ''itallics'' then 'single' or "double" quotation marks? [[User:David Finn|David Finn]] 08:49, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
:Even more, if they are to be mentioned, there needs to be some neutral description of them, and preferably a citation of the primary document. Policy-influencing organizations sometimes issue titles of events that are really less than slogans.[[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 09:32, 13 September 2010 (UTC)


Amnesty International celebrated their 10th anniversary in 1971-700 prisoners were released. Launching its first worldwide campaign for the abolition of torture in 1972.The new regime in Chile agreed to admit a three-person Amnesty International mission for an on-the-spot probe into allegations of massive violations of human rights. The United Nations unanimously approved the Amnesty International-inspired resolution formally denouncing torture.  
::A lot of this will be citable, but much of the article seems like it has been pasted from another source and I think this is what is making our article seem non-neutral. I started to rewrite some of it but I really need to decide which format to use for those titles. [[User:David Finn|David Finn]] 09:47, 13 September 2010 (UTC)


Amnesty International’s Sean McBride, Chair of the International Executive Committee, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his lifelong work for human rights in 1974. The United Nations unanimously adopted a Declaration Against Toture in 1975 their was 1,592 groups in 33 countires and more than 70,000 members in 65 countries.
:::As you can see from earlier posts on this page, pasting was exactly what happened -- the article was an Eduzendium class assignment. Unfortunately, one Citizen removed the Eduzendium disclaimers before the articles were reviewed for quality. [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 12:16, 13 September 2010 (UTC)


The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights entered into force in 1976.  Together they are known as the International Bill of Rights.
== Starting edits ==


Awarded the Nobel Peace Prise in 1977 for "having contributed to securing the ground for freedom, for justice, and thereby also for peace in the world" and in 1978 won the United Nations Human Rights prize for "outstanding contributions in the field of human rights".  
Since Gareth was kind enough to create the cluster, I'm doing a Politics edit on the article. What I see supports my belief that Eduzendium articles should start in a separate namespace.


In 1979 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly.  
This clearly had a lot of cut and paste from the organization's website.  My initial approach is moving current activities to the beginning, and then start with multiple sources and internal wikilinking.


'''The 1980s'''
For the record, I am mixed on AI. I think they do valuable work, and I often use them as a source -- but I also am concerned that they may not always be concerned with legitimate security needs, and I suspect they irritate people with an honorable belief in national sovereignty.  [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]] 16:28, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


Thomas Hammarberg of Sweden took over from Martin Ennals as Secretary Generalin 81' and on December 10, 1982 Human Rights Day, an appeal was launched for a universal amnesty for all prisoners of conscience. More than one million people sign petitions, which were presented to the United Nations a year later.
== AI history versus human rights history ==


 
Reviewing the "History" part of the article, which probably can be assumed to be from the AI website, a number of UN and other international agreements are mentioned, but no specific AI involvement is described. While the website may indeed provide a history of human rights, this article is about AI and I'm going to remove actions where no direct connection to AI is given. 01:55, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
Amnesty International launched a special report on political killings by governmentsin 1983 and published its first education pack: Teaching and Learning about Human Rights in 1985. The International Council Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, made a decision to broaden the statute to include work for refugees. There were now more than half a million members, supporters and subscribers.
 
Ian Martin became General Secretary in 1986 and Amnesty International USA launched the Conspiracy of Hope rock concert tour with U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, Lou Reed, the Neville Brothers and others.
 
AI published a report which said that the death penalty in the USA is racially biased and arbitrary and violated treaties such as the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)and The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment enters into force.
 
Human Rights Now! concert tour, featuring Sting and Bruce Springsteen, among others, travelled to 19 cities in 15 countries and was viewed by millions when broadcast on Human Rights Day which caused a huge membership surge in 1988.
 
Amnesty International published a major new study on the death penalty, When the State Kills
 
'''The 1990s'''
 
Membership increased to 700,000 members in 150 countries, with more than 6,000 volunteer groups in 70 countries. Amnesty International’s 30th anniversary saw the organization broaden its scope to cover work on abuses by armed opposition groups, hostage taking and people imprisoned due to their sexual orientation. In 92' membership passed one million and Pierre Sané was appointed Secretary General of Amnesty International.
 
The UN Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted. 
 
Amnesty International launched major international campaigns on women's rights, disappearances and political killings and campaigned to Stop the Torture Trade and for a permanent International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was adopted in July 1998. Amnesty International launched the Get Up, Sign Up! campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – 13 million pledges of support were collected.
 
The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was adopted in March 1999.
 
Our International Council Meeting agreed to expand Amnesty International’s remit to include: the impact of economic relations on human rights; empowering human rights defenders; campaigning against impunity; enhancing work to protect refugees; and strengthening grassroots activism.
 
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted, meaning the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women can receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups.  
 
'''Present Day'''
 
Amnesty International launched the third Campaign against Torture and Irene Khan was appointed Secretary General of Amnesty International.
 
In its 40th anniversary year, Amnesty International changed its Statute to incorporate, into its mission, work for  economic, social and cutlural rights thus committing itself to advance both the universality and indivisibility of all human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration.
 
Amnesty International’s Stop Torture website won a Revolution Award, which recognised the best in digital marketing.
 
2002
 
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict was adopted (the Convention on the Rights of the Child itself having been adopted in 1959). 
 
The 60th ratification of the Rome Statute took place, paving the way for the International Criminal Court to come into force on 1 July 2002.
 
Amnesty International launched a campaign in the Russian Federation against the widespread human rights abuses committed in a climate of impunity.
 
Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) launched the global Control Arms campaign and launched the Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
 
2005
 
Amnesty International launched the Make Some Noise campaign – music, celebration and action in support of Amnesty International’s work. Yoko Ono made a gift to Amnesty International of the recording rights to Imagine and John Lennon's entire solo songbook.
 
Amnesty International's report, Cruel. Inhuman. Degrades us all – Stop torture and ill-treatment in the ‘war on terror’, challenged the claim that, in the face of terrorist threats, states need not be bound by previously agreed human rights standards.
 
2006
 
Amnesty International’s report, Partners in crime: Europe’s role in US renditions, detailed the involvement of European states in US flights used to secretly seize and imprison terrorist suspects without due process.
 
The millionth person to post a picture of himself on the Control Arms Million Faces web petition calling for an Arms Trade Treaty presented the petition to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. A further quarter of a million people signed the petition before the year was out.  
 
Amnesty International and its partners in the Control Arms campaign achieved a major victory when the UN voted overwhelmingly to start work on a treaty.
 
The UN adopted the International Convention For The Protection Of All Persons From Enforced Disappearance.
 
2007
 
Amnesty International launched a global petition calling on Sudan’s government to protect civilians in Darfur and launched a CD featuring 30 world-class musicians to mobilize support, called Make Some Noise: The Campaign to Save Darfur.
 
The United Nations General Assembly (GA) adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
 
Following intense campaigning by Amnesty International and its partners in the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Third Committee's 62nd session adopted resolution L29 calling for a global moratorium on executions.
 
Amnesty International has more than 2.2 million members, supporters and subscribers in over 150 countries and territories in every region of the world.
 
 
 
 
===Founding===
 
In 1961, British Lawyer Peter Benenson launched a worldwide acmpaign, 'Appeal for Amnesty 1961' with the publication of the article, 'The Forgotten Prisoners', in the Observer. Benenson wrote the article, because he was moved by the improsnment of two Portuguese students, who had raised their wine glasses in a toast to freedom.  His article was reprinted across the world which began the genesis of Amnesty International.
 
The first international meeting had delegates from Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the US. They decided to establish "a permanent international movement in defence of freedom of opinion and religion".
 
A small office and library, staffed by volunteers, opened in Peter Benenson’s chambers, in Mitre Court, London. The ’Threes Network‘ was established through which each Amnesty International group adopted three prisoners from contrasting geographical and political areas, emphasizing the impartiality of the group's work.
 
On Human Rights Day, 10 December, the first Amnesty candle was lit in the church of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
 
The first research trip was taken in January of 1962.  This trip to Ghana, was followed by Czechoslovakia in February (on behalf of a prisoner of conscience, Archbishop Josef Beran), and then to Portugal and East Germany.
 
The Prisoner of Conscience Fund was established to provide relief to prisoners and their families.
 
AI’s first annual report was published; it contained details of 210 prisoners who had been adopted by 70 groups in seven countries; in addition, 1,200 cases were documented in the Prisoners of Conscience Library.
 
At a conference in Belgium, a decision was made to set up a permanent organization that will be known as Amnesty International.

Latest revision as of 20:55, 15 February 2011

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 Definition International non-governmental organisation, founded in London in 1961, which draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international standards. [d] [e]
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First (instructor) evaluation comments

Hi Michelle,

Here are some suggestions for further improvements to your encyclopedia entry draft. Since you've only begun developing the "History" section, I'll limit my comments to that; keep in mind, though, that you still need to fill in the other sections:

  • You might restructure the "History" section so that the "Founding" subsection comes first; then create additional subsections to organize your account of AI's history since the early 1960s.
  • Most importantly, your encyclopedia entry should be an explanation of what the organization is all about in your own words. Way too much of what appears there now is drawn verbatim from Amnesty International's website ([1]).

Shamira Gelbman 13:45, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Second (peer) evaluation comments

I echo many of professor gelbmaans comments. When I wrote my opinion essay I used a google news search and it was very helpful. This tool might help out when you begin constructing your conflict section of your article. You have a lot of good information and a solid base you just need to continue to develop your piece and develop more information resources

=Amnesty vs. other organizations?

In the human rights area, what are the differences among AI, HRW, and HR Now, to name a few? Howard C. Berkowitz 09:32, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Itallics

There are a lot of titles in this article, of publications and events, starting with 'Appeal for Amnesty 1961' - should these be in itallics? It would certainly make things easier to read. If not itallics then 'single' or "double" quotation marks? David Finn 08:49, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Even more, if they are to be mentioned, there needs to be some neutral description of them, and preferably a citation of the primary document. Policy-influencing organizations sometimes issue titles of events that are really less than slogans.Howard C. Berkowitz 09:32, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
A lot of this will be citable, but much of the article seems like it has been pasted from another source and I think this is what is making our article seem non-neutral. I started to rewrite some of it but I really need to decide which format to use for those titles. David Finn 09:47, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
As you can see from earlier posts on this page, pasting was exactly what happened -- the article was an Eduzendium class assignment. Unfortunately, one Citizen removed the Eduzendium disclaimers before the articles were reviewed for quality. Howard C. Berkowitz 12:16, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Starting edits

Since Gareth was kind enough to create the cluster, I'm doing a Politics edit on the article. What I see supports my belief that Eduzendium articles should start in a separate namespace.

This clearly had a lot of cut and paste from the organization's website. My initial approach is moving current activities to the beginning, and then start with multiple sources and internal wikilinking.

For the record, I am mixed on AI. I think they do valuable work, and I often use them as a source -- but I also am concerned that they may not always be concerned with legitimate security needs, and I suspect they irritate people with an honorable belief in national sovereignty. Howard C. Berkowitz 16:28, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

AI history versus human rights history

Reviewing the "History" part of the article, which probably can be assumed to be from the AI website, a number of UN and other international agreements are mentioned, but no specific AI involvement is described. While the website may indeed provide a history of human rights, this article is about AI and I'm going to remove actions where no direct connection to AI is given. 01:55, 16 February 2011 (UTC)