The Mission
Protect physical and mental integrity
Every person has a human right to physical and mental integrity: the safety and well-being of one’s body, mind and whole person. This is one of the key principles underlying many of the human rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related documents.
Over the years, Amnesty International has opposed a number of human rights violations that involve attacks by governments and armed opposition groups on the individual’s physical and mental integrity.
The right to physical integrity means not being subject to the death penalty. It means not being the target of unlawful killings, such as death resulting from the use of excessive force by the state, indiscriminate armed attacks, honour killings, or political killings.
The right to physical integrity means not suffering serious physical harm such as torture, slavery, and violations carried out by some members of a community and accepted by the state, such as female genital mutilation and rape.
The right to mental integrity means not being subject to severe mental anguish, such as death threats and other forms of harassment.
In many instances, Amnesty opposes violations that involve attacks on both mental and physical integrity, such as the recruitment of child soldiers.
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Article 18 of the UDHR states that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Article 19 of the UDHR says that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Freedom of conscience and expression are denied by a wide variety of means, such as imprisonment, political killings and “disappearances,” unfair trials, and torture - all human rights violations that Amnesty International opposes.
Human rights defenders are among the first to be attacked for expressing their views. “National security” is frequently misused as a pretext to silence people who express opposition to their government. Patterns of discrimination are often among the root causes of curtailed freedom of expression.
Freedom from discrimination
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Discrimination exists when a person or group of people are treated unfairly because of how they are seen by others. Discrimination is based on negative attitudes towards a person’s real or perceived “identity” - our gender, race, sexual identity, religion or other qualities that define who we are.
Discrimination reduces respect for the common dignity of all people. It sets the stage for human rights abuses and for the acceptance of abuse by various sectors of society, including those in authority.
Amnesty International frequently takes up the cases of people who have suffered torture, the death penalty or other violations because of how they are seen by others, and how they are treated by the legal system. Examples include abuses against gay and lesbian people, Indigenous peoples, and women.
Amnesty International calls on all states to take measures to prevent discrimination, both by their own officials and by private groups and individuals.
We lobby states to agree to international treaties that forbid discrimination, such as the Convention on Discrimination Against Women and the Optional Protocol associated with this Convention.
Amnesty also carries out public education programs aimed at challenging and stopping discrimination.
Justice for all - end impunity
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The failure to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations is called “impunity” - and it’s one of the greatest obstacles to stopping human rights abuses today.
Amnesty appeals to governments to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations, and to ensure that victims receive reparations for past violations. We often speak out in support of people demanding justice in their own county. We also urge governments to ensure their laws and judicial systems prohibit impunity.
Amnesty has played a leading role in establishing the permanent International Criminal Court and having anti-impunity clauses included in international agreements.
In Canada, Amnesty International members are calling on the Canadian government to establish an independent investigative body to pursue allegations of torture and ill-treatment against Indigenous and other people in Canada.
Along with other Canadian organizations, we are also involved in establishing the Canadian Centre for International Justice. This new Canadian agency will call for legal action against human rights violators from abroad who live, visit, or keep assets in Canada.
Impunity has terrible consequences for many people, but especially for the victims. Having had their rights denied once, victims suffer again by being denied justice. On top of this, their lives are often put at further risk, because those who harmed them are free to do so again and again.
Where impunity exists, violations continue and often become worse, as happened in Kosovo and Rwanda.
Impunity is especially pervasive in situations where discriminatory and racist attitudes make it acceptable to abuse certain people and deny them their right to justice because of who they are or how they are seen.
Justice helps break the cycle of repeated violations by holding violators to account. Justice sends the message that no one, not even the highest ranking official in a government, is above or outside the law.
Justice helps societies learn from their experience and create new institutions and practices to prevent violations from recurring in the future. Above all, the victims of human rights violations and their families deserve to see the truth disclosed and justice done.
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Amnesty International demands that all prisoners of conscience be set free unconditionally. Under international law, governments have no basis for holding prisoners of conscience.
Prisoners of conscience come from all walks of life, they are held by governments of every political type, and they are imprisoned for many reasons.
They may be held for representing an opposing political party, expressing dissenting ideas, practicing their faith, leading a trade union, because of their involvement in a same-sex relationship, for defending the environment, for helping refugees at risk of abuse, for organizing a local self-help project, and for many other reasons.
Fair trials for political prisoners
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The right to a fair trial is one of the cornerstones of the international human rights system - a key element of international human rights law and many human rights treaties.
In many countries, political prisoners are convicted in trials that violate internationally accepted standards for fairness. Trials may include secret hearings, prohibit lawyers from presenting the accused person’s defence, refuse defence witnesses, deny the right of cross-examination, or admit evidence taken under duress or torture.
Political prisoners are sometimes detained for years, sometimes decades, without any trial at all. Or trials are deliberately prolonged as a form of destructive harassment against human rights defenders and their organizations.
Protect refugees
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There are many different circumstances that lead people to seek refuge. Amnesty International’s refugee work is focused on people who are escaping human rights violations associated with our mission.
Amnesty also opposes the forced return of any individual to a country where they are at risk of a human rights abuse on which Amnesty works.
In some instances, Amnesty’s concerns lie with the safety of large numbers of refugees, forced to flee a human rights crisis. Amnesty also makes every effort to assist people to gain safety in another country when they are at risk of human rights violations.
In addition, Amnesty campaigns to prevent situations that force people to become refugees.
- We lobby for international intervention to prevent mass human rights crises.
- We call for a halt to any trade in arms that fuels human rights abuses.
- We take action against repeated human rights violations by demanding that those responsible be brought to justice.
>> Learn more about our refugee work
>> Listen to "Searching for Safety," an audio program about refugees
Abolish the death penalty
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Amnesty considers the death penalty to be a violation of the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. As such, it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
>> Learn more about our work to oppose the death penalty.
End political killings
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Political killings are carried out by regular military or police forces, or more secretly by groups - sometimes called “death squads” - often acting in cooperation with the government.
Amnesty International opposes political killings in all cases. We call for the prompt, independent and thorough investigation of all reports of political killings. And we demand that those responsible be brought to justice.
People who are targets of political killings may be political opponents of the government, criminal suspects, members of disadvantaged groups, such as street children, or people who are the objects of discrimination, such as lesbian and gay people.
Political killings can take place while the person is in custody, sometimes in their homes or on the street, in the course of military operations or at peaceful demonstrations. Sometimes political killings are carried out by assassins whose victims are selected targets, usually government opponents, living abroad.
End "disappearances"
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The word “disappearance” is often placed in quotation marks to indicate a refusal to accept official claims that the victim has simply vanished.
In all cases, Amnesty International opposes “disappearances.” We call for their prompt, independent and thorough investigation, and we demand that those responsible be brought to justice.
“Disappearances” are used by governments and armed opposition groups to get rid of individuals they don’t want around. “Disappearances” are also designed to create fear and silence among those who remain alive.
“Disappearances” are typically surrounded by denial and more intimidation. They are usually not independently investigated and no one is brought to justice. As a result, those responsible are free to carry out more abuses.
Where people are “disappeared,” relatives and friends live with the pain of not knowing the exact fate of their loved ones, and not seeing justice done on their behalf. When they demand the truth - as they often do, so courageously - they often become the targets of threats, “disappearance” and other abuses.
Stop torture
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Although torture is unconditionally prohibited by many of the world’s most important human rights treaties, it is used widely in many countries today.
Amnesty knows of recent reports of torture or ill-treatment by state officials in more than three out of four countries and territories. In more than half of those countries, reports of torture are frequent and recurring. In more than 80 countries, people have died as a result of torture. Many incidents of torture go unreported.
Amnesty International opposes torture carried out by government agents.. We also oppose acts of extreme violence and mental intimidation carried out by armed opposition groups, and by private individuals or groups when the government fails to take action, such as in the case of “honour killings.”
Today, international human rights standards require states to take action to prevent abuses of human 
rights by members of their community. This includes community violence against members of minority groups and domestic violence against women.
When violence takes the form of torture as set out in international standards - for example, rape or certain forms of violence in the home or community - and it is clear that the state has failed in its obligation to provide effective protection, Amnesty International considers that act to be torture for which the state is accountable. If a state fails to stop such acts, it shares responsibility for the abuse.
Amnesty International also takes action to stop the trade of materials often used for torture, such as stun belts, tasers and l
eg shackles, and we call for an end to the misuse of otherwise legitimate materials, such as some restraint devices.
Torture is often an integral part of the state’s machinery for suppressing dissent. It is used to gain information, obtain a confession, punish, intimidate and terrorize.
The crime of torture is typically covered up by killing or "disappearing" the victims, by obstructing investigation, and by the refusal of authorities to investigate and prosecute.
Survivors of torture may be afraid to come forward for fear of reprisals or – especially for women who have survived sexual violence – because cultural norms stigmatize the victims.
Amnesty Internation
al has been a world leader in opposing torture.
- When we hear reports of individuals threatened with torture, we immediately intervene with urgent appeals.
- Amnesty has issued a number of ground-breaking global reports on torture, and has organized a series of worldwide campaigns in the effort to bring torture to an end.
- In 1975, following intense pressure from Amnesty members, the United Nations adopted a new Declaration Against Torture. We then campaigned for another nine years to have the UN turn this Declaration into a legally binding treaty against torture - called the Convention Against Torture.
- We lobby governments to implement international standards against torture, including their responsibility to bring to justice people responsible for torture in another country.
- We support the medical and psychological rehabilitation of torture victims.