History - 1990s: New freedoms, new horizons
Amnesty International published another of its groundbreaking studies in 1989, this time a global report on the death penalty: "When the State Kills."
In 1992, on the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, Amnesty launched a new worldwide campaign - this time calling for an end to centuries of human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples.
>> Learn more and take action to defend the human rights of Indigenous people.
Amnesty members agreed in 1991 to promote - through public awareness and educational activities - all the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
They agreed as well that people imprisoned because of their sexual orientation should be considered prisoners of conscience.
This period saw dramatic changes across Eastern and Central Europe and in South Africa: the collapse of police states and the apartheid system, and the freeing up of public debate. Two well-known political prisoners, Nelson Mandela and Václav Havel, were suddenly heads of state.
Amnesty had long campaigned against human rights violations in these countries. The time was right to expand the partnerships Amnesty had with local human rights activists.
Dozens of new Amnesty International groups quickly sprang up across Central Europe and South Africa, and Amnesty joined with other activists to sponsor a number of human rights education workshops.
New Amnesty groups were also established in the early 1990s in the Israeli-occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank, alongside Amnesty groups in Israel.