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Founded in 1961, Amnesty International is a grassroots activist organization whose one-million strong members are dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, to gaining fair trials for political prisoners, to ending torture and "disappearances", and to abolishing the death penalty throughout the world. In the past 40+ years 40,000+ Prisoners of Conscience have been freed.

Thousands of people are in prison because of their beliefs. Many are held without charge or trial. Torture and the death penalty are widespread. In many countries men, women and children have "disappeared" after being taken into official custody. Still others have been killed wihout any pretense of legality. These human rights abuses occur in countries of widely differing ideologies. Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people acting on the conviction that governments must not deny individuals their basic human rights. The organization was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to promote global observance of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.