Amnesty International is a global organization that works to free prisoners that are falsely accused, to bring justice to citizens that are treated with violence and contempt, and to lobby against capital punishment while advocating for openness and justice for all people. Amnesty International is known for its tens of thousands of activist members who write letters and make phone calls anywhere in the world when there is injustice.
¶ … Global Organization Researching Cultural Issues -- Amnesty International
Cultural relativism is the contention that "…human values, far from being universal, vary a great deal according to different cultural perspectives," and that human rights -- though they must be protected whenever that is possible -- are often difficult to secure in a culturally diverse world (Ayton-Shenker, 1995). Every human being has the right to his or her culture, including, according to Ayton-Shenker, the right to "…enjoy and develop cultural life and identity"; however the right to one's culture is "limited at the point at which it infringes on another human right."
This paper delves into how Amnesty International approaches cultural issues -- the internationally recognized moral right every culture has to practice its political, religious, and social traditions -- through its interactions with many governments and cultures outside the United States.
Amnesty International -- Cultural Issues it Inquires Into
Amnesty International (AI) supports the cultural and human rights that are spelled out in the United Nations "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (UDHR), and in the "International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," which includes: the right to work; to form unions; to have just and favorable working conditions; to an adequate standard of living; to an education; to benefit from scientific progress; and also "…the right to take part in cultural life" (UN). AI believes that cultural rights never justify murder, genocide, torture -- or discrimination based on language, religion, gender, and ethnicity.
The cultural issues that AI focuses on the most include human rights, and AI "…keeps vigilant watch" on the rights that people all over the world; and AI publishes "…hundreds of independent reports based on [the] rigorous research…" their organizers carry out that are independent of any government or corporate input (AI, 2013). AI researches cultures worldwide, finds violations of cultural and human rights, and presents its research findings to members of the media internationally. It is this strategy that focuses public attention on injustice and brings cultural injustices to the attention of policy makers in governments internationally.
Moreover, AI has members throughout the world and through its legislative work, media outreach and its mobilization of grassroots activists, it advocates policies that protect individuals from slavery and brutal treatment in third world countries and elsewhere. AI publicizes the plight of those individuals who have been imprisoned for political purposes and calls on concerned citizens to write letters and contact public officials vis-a-vis the universal rights of imprisoned persons.
Ethical and Social Responsibility Issues Probed by AI
Is it ethical for the Israeli government to enforce a blockade of the Gaza Strip? According to Maxwell Gaylard, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the citizens of Gaza have the right to "…dignified lives, free of indiscriminate and prolonged suffering" (AI). But students from Gaza are subjected to "collective punishment" which is perpetrated on them by the blockade (AI).
Indeed, more than 1.6 million Palestinian civilians are currently "trapped in the Gaza Strip under an Israeli blockade" (AI). This territorial injustice makes it particularly difficult for students who wish to continue their education outside the Gaza Strip.
Even when a particular student is not under suspicion of espionage and has no security issues related to Israel, "…they are considered a potential threat by Israel"; hence, Gaza students are prevented from accessing the educational institutions in the occupied West Bank" (AI).
Amnesty International provides advocacy in many ways for people who have been unfairly jailed or otherwise mistreated in political cultures where democracy is not functioning. Another example is the jailing of an Iranian student leader named Majid Tavakkoli, who criticized the Iranian government in a speech at Amir Kabir University of Technology. Tavakkoli was studying shipbuilding at the university and he was a member of the Islamic Students' Association. On December 7, 2009, which happened to be "National Student Day," Tavakkoli spoke to students and was arrested for what the Iranian authorities called: "participating in an illegal gathering"; "propaganda against the system"; and "insulting officials" (AI).
He was reportedly beaten and humiliated, and in 20120, Tavakkoli was moved to Section 350 of Evin prison in Iran, a section that houses "violent criminals"; even though he is suffering from respiratory condition and needs medical care, AI reports that his condition is not being treated. It of course is very unethical to arrest a young student expressing a viewpoint about the political culture he experiences.
A blogger and journalist in Azerbajian (an independent state that once was part of the old Soviet Union) was arrested, punched, kicked, and beaten with a baton after posting an announcement on Facebook that there was a protest planned against the government. His name is Tural Abbasli, and he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for "organizing public disorder," according to Amnesty International. Abbasli had been pursuing a degree in journalism but after posting on Facebook he and 13 others were rounded up, beaten, and thrown in prison.
The good news for Abbasli and some of the other 13 is that they were released by presidential pardon, according to AI. The thousands of letters and emails that were received by the Azerbajian government certainly had an influence over the fact that the students were released from prison. The lack of ethical standards in Azerbajian has shown the world that this regime has created a sense of fear in those who would consider protesting against government corruption and abuses of human rights. A culture that allows the government to arbitrarily and violently arrest and detain innocent people needs to be exposed to the world, and that is what the tens of thousands of Amnesty International activists around the globe have done. The ethical perspective in this case is very obvious -- injustice to anyone in any country must be dealt with on an international scale, the AI is the organization that takes on that responsibility.
Compare these ethical perspectives across cultures AI is involved with The case of the young man in Iran who gave a public speech and was arrested and mistreated is quite different from the instance in Chechnya (another state that was once part of the Soviet Union) where journalist Anna Politkovskaya was killed after criticizing the lack of human rights in her country. Politkovskaya wrote "extensively" about abuses to innocent civilians (not only in Chechnya but in Russia), and she received international recognition for her investigative newspaper stories into corruption as well. She had been poisoned at one point and was harassed and threatened often; but in 2006 she was shot and killed. In the case of Tavakkoli, he was not killed although he was sent to prison.
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