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Amnesty International is a worldwide voluntary activist movement working for human rights. We are independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. We do not support or oppose any government or political system, nor do we support or oppose the views of the people we work with and for. We are concerned with partnership and advocacy for the protection of human rights for all.
Amnesty International is a democratic, self-governing movement with more than 1.5 million members and supporters in over 140 countries and territories. We are funded largely by our worldwide membership and public donations.

Amnesty International�fs vision is of a world in which everyone enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards and laws.
In pursuit of this vision, Amnesty International�fs mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.
Amnesty International forms a global community of human rights defenders who espouse the principles of international solidarity, of effective action on behalf of individuals, of global coverage, of the universality and indivisibility of human rights, of impartiality and independence, and of democracy and mutual respect.

For 40 years Amnesty International has shone a light on the darkness of human suffering. By speaking out against injustice, our members have stood in solidarity with people all over the world.
The obligation to speak out against injustice has placed new challenges before us. Amnesty International�fs early work ? focused on prisoners of conscience, fair trials, torture and the death penalty ? has evolved over the years. Among issues taken up were political killings and "disappearances", abuses by armed political groups, unlawful killings in armed conflict, the arms trade and the involvement of corporate actors.

The political and economic changes that followed the end of the Cold War brought a growing recognition of human rights abuses against people not for reasons of conscience but because of their identity. Increasingly, we have come to understand that abuses are not the exclusive domain of governments and armed political groups but also of non-state actors ? private individuals or organizations. Excluded and marginalized people challenged Amnesty International to understand the particular human rights abuses they faced.

The AI members write letters to the authorities of the countries of concern. For some cases they also try to contact the prisoners directly and other groups or organizations which are working on the same case.

Members of Amnesty will receive a monthly Newsletter containing detailed information regarding activities of AI and including "Urgent Action", a section concerning prisoners whose lives are in danger. Our group member will receive e-mail reports of our meetings, actions to be taken, letters from authorities (if received), letters from prisoners themselves (if received), as well as other relevant information.