On May 28

1961, Amnesty International was officially formed. On the same day in 1981, Peter Benenson, the founder, celebrated the 20th anniversary of his creation by relighting the original candle, which he first lit in 1961. The idea of the organization was born in 1960, when Benenson, a British lawyer, was reading a newspaper story about two Portuguese students sentenced to 7 years for raising a toast to freedom in a Lisbon restaurant. Benenson was outraged enough to launch a campaign called “Appeal for Amnesty 1961" in the London Observer. He wrote a powerful article entitled “Forgotten Prisoners,” where he said,

“Open your newspaper—any day of the week—and you will find a report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured, or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his Government. The newspaper reader feels a sickening sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into common action, something effective could be done.”

His article inspired a great response. Within a year, groups of supporters had formed throughout the world, all of them writing letters in support of the students. By the end of 1961, the organization Amnesty International was formed.
Today AI has more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions.

Children soldiers...

How is it possible that we have not been able to stop children being used as soldiers, especially in Africa... As the Amnesty International alerts, these are children who have no childhood and who are constantly brutalized, terrorized, tortured, raped and turned into violent machines upon survival... (here) As the Special Court in Sierra Leone ruled on May 31, 2004, it is a war crime to use children under 15 as soldiers... But has it been enforced when most children in these forsaken regions are running amok in the streets, not propely fed or clothed, with no prospects, except for turning into the military for survival. Here they get some food and clothing, and they get toys to play with-- guns. They also learn to unleash their innermost fantasies in killing others... This is absolutely similar to the inferno of Dante... How could we let children go down that path? How do you think we can stop adults being violent, when we are not able to stop even children? It is even ridiculous... While we can control children, we could hardly try to control adults... Psychologists have been shouting for more than a century that criminal behavior begins from early childhood and can only be treated at this early stage... Instead of treating, we force them to turn into criminals by not allowing them to be children...