Letters for Human Rights: Storytelling at Amnesty International

Amnesty International is one of the world’s largest human rights organizations. Around seven million members worldwide are now committed to the good cause. But why is Amnesty’s work so successful and what role does storytelling play in this?

Appeal for Amnesty – From a Newspaper Article to one of the largest Human Rights Organizations

In 1960, 39-year-old lawyer Peter Benenson is sitting on the London Underground, opens the newspaper, and reads about two Portuguese students who have been arrested. Because they had toasted freedom in Lisbon during the dictatorship. Six months later, Peter Benenson himself wrote an article for the newspaper “The Observer”. Agostino Neto, Constantin Noica, Antonio Amat, Ashton Jones, Patrick Duncan, Josef Beran, József Mindszenty – all these names appear in his article. These are people who are in prison because their governments do not tolerate their political or religious views.

In his Appeal for Amnesty, Benenson calls on all readers to write publicly to put pressure on governments and demand the release of political prisoners. 30 major newspapers in various countries print the article. The campaign, which was originally planned for one year, became an organization that is still campaigning for human rights worldwide today. Amnesty International manages to unite people who believe in justice and want to work for a fairer world. A key concept: storytelling.

Do-gooders and other Dreamers – Saving the World for a short Time

“I want to improve this planet!” “I want my children to grow up in a fairer world!” “Today I am saving our earth!” Great plans begin with such and similar intentions. Every time I look at the newspaper, I realize that the world may not be as rosy as it seems from the kitchen table on a Saturday morning. While some people close their newspapers at the sight of all this misery, for others it awakens the desire to change something, to make the world a little better. But how much is a little? Where to start, where to stop? What can I do about it? Who should I be able to save as an individual? And before you know it, the weekend is over, as is the dream of saving the world.

Why I am writing a Letter to a Person in Burundi – Allies of Heroes

This is where Amnesty International comes in. From the very beginning, the organization did not rely on generalized phrases, but consciously focused on individual fates. In order to prevent human rights violations, structures must be changed. But it is precisely the fates of individuals that make the effects of repression tangible for many. The Amnesty International logo is to be understood in this sense aswell. The candle represents an individual fate that is illuminated. By making the plight of one tangible, the situation should improve for all. Metaphorically, light is brought into the dark parts of the world.

It is not about some human rights violations somewhere in Burundi, a country that many people would probably not be able to find on a map. Instead, the story of Burundian human rights defender Nestor Nibitanga takes center stage. He was a regional observer in the central east of the country for the leading Burundian aid organisation. I can work directly and immediately on his behalf. Either by sending a pre-prepared letter on the Amnesty International website or by writing a message to the responsible government representative, public prosecutor, or minister. I can therefore write a letter to someone I don’t know to ask for the release of a person I will probably never meet either. Through emotional storytelling, Amnesty International creates a bond between people who do not know each other. You become the hero’s ally in the fight for more justice.

Letters against Forgetting – A Success Story

Every year around International Human Rights Day on 10 December, Amnesty International initiates a marathon of letters in which special attention is paid to individual cases. The marathon was a great success last year as well. Chadian blogger Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri left prison in April 2018 after more than 18 months in custody. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after criticizing his country’s government on Facebook. During the letter marathon, more than 690,000 people expressed their support.

More than one and a half million people campaigned for Hanan Badr el-Din. Her husband disappeared in July 2013. She is a co-founder of the organization Family Coalition of Victims of Enforced Disappearance and was arrested in May 2017 while searching for her husband. The indictment contained the accusation of membership of a banned group. Her health deteriorated rapidly in prison. Thanks to the numerous letters and the international attention they attracted, she received medical help. Amnesty International makes it possible for you to become a hero for others. They act as mediators, bringing together the most diverse people with the most diverse stories, to make the world a little fairer.