"Open your newspaper - any day of the week - and you will find a report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government."

Such was the opening statement of an article entitled "The Forgotten Prisoners", written by London lawyer Peter Benenson for the Observer newspaper on 28 May 1961. And with those words, he laid the foundations for Amnesty International.

Benenson's piece was reprinted by 30 major newspapers across the world, and within just a few weeks more than a thousand people had been in touch to express their interest in doing something to change the grim reality.

At a first international meeting held in Luxembourg in July 1961, delegates from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the US founded Amnesty International as a "a permanent international movement in defense of freedom of opinion and religion."

Cold War beginnings

The West German section of Amnesty was established in Cologne a couple of months afterwards by the late journalist Carola Stern, author Wolfgang Leonhard and long-time foreign correspondent for Germany's state broadcaster ARD, Gerd Ruge.

"It was during the Cold War when discrepancy and mistrust between East and West was increasing all the time," Ruge recalls. But he says there were "a lot of people who wanted to help political prisoners and people in danger without being exploited by either side."

In order to prove the organizsation's impartiality, the London office proposed the "Threes Network", which saw Amnesty International groups adopt three prisoners from different political and geographical areas.

The first local German group, which was also set up in Cologne, worked for the release of Russian lyricist Joseph Brodsky, a Spanish Jehovah's witness and South African communist author Alex La Guma.

Between all fronts

Despite, or perhaps because of its neutrality, Amnesty International and its activists frequently fell between political stools. In the West, the press and many politicians saw them as the fifth pillar of communism, while in the East they were viewed as the CIA's imperialist henchmen.

But ultimately Amnesty's success spoke for itself. During the first decade of its existence, it managed to secure the release of half of the 4,000 prisoners it worked to help. In recognition of this, the organization won the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize.

In the same year, Amnesty launched a campaign against the death penalty. Its ongoing efforts have significantly contributed to a rise in the number of states abolishing execution, and a subsequent reduction in worldwide judicial killing.

In 1985, the organization branched out again, this time pledging to work to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Its anti-impunity drive launched in 1993, and joined along the way by many NGOs, culminated in 1998 with the establishment the International Criminal Court (ICC). The permanent tribunal in The Hague is dedicated to prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Still as much to do as ever

Since 2003, Amnesty has not only been working for political, but for economic, social and cultural human rights as well. A current campaign deals with marginalization as a consequence of poverty, and the right to a decent abode.

With more than three million members and regular supporters in more than 150 countries, Amnesty International is now the biggest of some 300 human rights organizations registered around the world.

Sixty-one countries, predominantly in Europe and in North and South America, are home to national Amnesty sections.

But the organization still gets caught between two stools, and its work remains as essential today as it was when Peter Benenson wrote his article. Now as then, governments around the world mistreat the people whose interest they are supposed to represent.

On this, the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International, the Observer could run the piece again almost word for word without fear that it was out of date.

Author: Andreas Zumach / tkw

Editor: Anke Rasper