Amnesty International USA
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| Founded | 1966 |
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| Type | Non-profit NGO |
| Headquarters | New York NY, United States |
| Services | Protecting human rights |
| Fields | Lobbying, research, consultancy. |
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Key people
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Suzanne Nossel Frank Jannuzi Larry Cox Rick Halperin |
| Website | www |
Amnesty International USA (AI USA) is one of many country sections that make up Amnesty International worldwide.
Amnesty International is an organization of more than 7 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, with complete independence from government, corporate or national interests. Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. Its vision is one of a world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
Since its foundation in 1966, the United States section, made up of over 350,000 members, of the nonpartisan organization has worked to free prisoners of conscience, oppose torture, and fight other human rights violations around the world. It seeks to promote human rights in the United States through lobbying and education, and describes itself as working for full human rights for everyone.
Amnesty International USA's Security with Human Rights campaigns strongly against torture, unlawful detention and prisoner abuse, particularly by United States military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organization has opposed restrictions of human rights as part of the 'War on Terror', and does not believe that any torture or inhuman treatment is justified by the campaign against terrorism. The Security with Human Rights campaign also strongly advocates for the rights of victims of armed groups as well as accountability for those individuals and states that use torture, in order to end cycles of violence and increase overall global security against terrorism and human rights violations.
Amnesty International USA publicly objected to the use of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp when it was opened in January 2002 because of its use to detain individuals without giving them due process or habeas corpus. As well as later in January 2009, when Susan J. Crawford, who was appointed by President Bush to be the Convening Authority for the Guantanamo military commissions became the first Bush administration official to concede that at least one individual was tortured at Guantanamo Bay. Affirming Amnesty International’s position that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld’s explanation for Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp’s existence was because of its optimal setting for interrogation and prosecution of extraordinarily dangerous persons for war crimes was in from Amnesty's view a thinly veiled excuse for allowing the use of torture. Amnesty International USA holds that all detainees should be either given a fair trial in federal court or be released.
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