Amnesty International USA

WHEREAS "AI never loses sight of the fact that these principles are important because of their impact on the real lives and personal tragedies of the victims of the human rights violations - The first battle is the battle to preserve the individual identity of the victim. A victim is not a statistic or a sociological category. A victim is a human being. And every human being has the right to the elemental human dignity of being named. The second battle is the battle against forgetting. The suffering of victims must be acknowledged and given its due importance. There can be no justice while the perpetrators are allowed to ignore or deny what they have done. The third battle is the battle for compassion for all victims of human rights violations;"

WHEREAS the vision (and mission) of Amnesty is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards;

WHEREAS in pursuit of this vision, Amnesty International's mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights;

WHEREAS the core values of Amnesty International are to form a global community of human rights defenders with the principles of international solidarity, effective action for the individual victim, global coverage, the universality and indivisibility of human rights, impartiality and independence, and democracy and mutual respect;

WHEREAS the slogan of Amnesty International is, ''The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who 'disappeared'. That's what the candle is for;''

WHEREAS, Amnesty International has documented massacres and political killing that have occurred since 1806 until present time;

WHEREAS there is no remembrance day by Amnesty International, United Nations or other human rights watch groups to commemorate those political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who have lost their lives because of kidnapping, torture, execution and massacre;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Amnesty International (i) dedicates a day to remembrance of the victims of political violence including political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and all other victims of human rights abuses whom we, and humanity as a whole, have failed to rescue because they were executed, massacred, murdered, or kidnapped and killed; and (ii) requests the United Nations to add this day to its official calendar.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Amnesty International, in consultation with other international organizations, decides the most suitable day for such a remembrance. If no particular day is preferred by these organizations, this resolution recommends Sept. 1st as such a day.

Update: Because of the international scope of this AGM decision, implementation must be approved and directed by AI’s International Executive Committee (IEC). AIUSA forwarded the resolution to the IEC prior to the committee’s January 2004 meeting and sought the committee’s consideration and action. AIUSA has asked the IEC to inform us of their plans for implementation.