History - 1980s: Human Rights Now! Global Tour
By its 20th birthday in 1981, Amnesty International had some 325,000 members in more than 100 countries. Amnesty had become truly international.
During the first half of the 1980s, Amnesty members launched their second major campaign against torture.
Amnesty also decided to again extend its work - this time to ensure the safety of the growing number of refugees at risk of abuse within the framework of Amnesty's mission.
>>Learn more about Amnesty's work with refugees.
In 1986, Amnesty intensified its campaign against human rights abuses under the apartheid system in South Africa. The South African authorities had made it a crime to possess an earlier Amnesty report, and they continued to attack Amnesty's work now.
In 1987, Amnesty announced a worldwide campaign to stop torture in Kampuchea (Cambodia). A Kampuchean boy in a refugee camp on the Thai border said later that he had seen a copy of Amnesty's report translated into Khmer.
During 1988 - the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour joined other musicians around the world in the 19-country Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour.
The plan was hugely ambitious. Sing the human rights message in every corner of the world. Significantly increase awareness of our shared - our universal - human rights. Inspire people to "Get up, Stand up!" for their rights. And hold concerts as close as possible to states known for their widespread abuses.
The results were amazing. More than 70,000 people in Harare (Zimbabwe) broke into thunderous applause as Chapman sang "Freedom Now" and Gabriel sang "Biko," just across the border from South Africa. Pirate radio beamed their voices across southern Africa.
In Mendoza, Argentina, on the border with Chile, Sting sang "They Dance Alone" in honour of the "disappeared" and their loved ones in Chile and other countries.
Thousands of candles glowed in the darkness as mothers and daughters of the "disappeared" from Chile slowly danced across the stage, holding photos of their loved ones with the urgent question "¿Donde Estan?" ["Where are they?"].