History - Promoting human rights awareness
In 1998 - the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - Amnesty International launched its largest campaign to date, supported in many countries by The Body Shop.
Amnesty's goal was to significantly increase the public's awareness of their rights, and to encourage them to make a "personal pledge" to support the human rights of all people.
In the end, an amazing total of 13 million people signed up. People in communities around the world were discussing their human rights like never before.
In recent years, human rights education has become an increasingly important part of Amnesty's work. The movement has sponsored and organized a vast range of projects around the world. Here are just a few examples.
- Human rights teaching manuals in Ireland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Taiwan, Mexico, and countries across Africa.
- A children's forum for human rights in Morocco.
- Human rights teacher training in Thailand and the Ukraine.
- Anti-discrimination workshops with police trainers in Ireland.
- Human rights education projects for Israeli and Palestinian children.
- Training human rights educators in Peru.
- Workshops across West Africa on the human rights of women.