Many of you think of famous rock stars such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, and U2 when the phrase Amnesty International is mentioned? How many of you realize that there is much more to Amnesty International than just musical messages? How many of you are aware that there is a chapter of Amnesty International right here at NIU?

The truth is, AI-NIU is very much alive, and along with 700,000 other members and supporters in over 150 countries, is working towards three basic goals: the release of prisoners of conscience, fair and prompt trials for prisoners and the end of torture and execution in all cases.

Amnesty International was founded in 1960, supposedly by two Portuguese men “who dared to utter the word freedom, ” said AI-NIU secretary Vicki Malone.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that Eleanor Roosevelt supported, was adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. In 1977, Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to promote global observance of the declaration, which is now the basic foundation for the organization.

Amnesty International is an apolitical organization that “promotes awareness of problems around the world,” said AI-NIU treasurer Leeanne Frydrychowicz. AI-NIU mainly concentrates on writing letters to leaders of countries that hold prisoners of conscience (men, women and children imprisoned for their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language, or religion).

Malone pointed out that all countries are guilty of some form of some human rights violation. The U.S. does not actually hold prisoners of conscience, but it has the death penalty, which Amnesty International is trying to abolish.

Amnesty International believes that an 18-year-old being hanged six days after his crime and a woman who doesn’t have a choice in who she can marry, are both equal in that they are both assults on human dignity.

There are different types of letters that members of Amnesty International send to get the attention of countries where human rights are violated. Urgent action letters are actual hand-written pleas to governments. For example, the instance at Tiananmen Square provoked an immediate response of these letters to the People’s Republic of China.

Freedom writers are pre-printed letters in which members of Amnesty International just sign. According to Malone these letters are just as effective as Urgent Action because it is the quantity, not the quality, of the letters that have an impact.

After dissolving in 1985 because of a lack in membership, AI-NIU started up again in December of 1988. According to Vice President Diane Ghazarain AI-NIU had only about 12 members last year, but 56 people attended the second meeting of this year. Meetings are held at 9 p.m. every other Wednesday in room 305 at the Holmes Student Center.

AI-NIU’s main concern right now is fundraising. A letter sent overseas requires 45 cents postage, a fee that quickly adds up when masses of letters are sent.

To help raise money AI-NIU holds bake sales, sells assorted buttons and sends packets to faculty members asking them to contribute knowledge, letters and money. There are tentative plans for an April “Jamnesty” concert which will feature local bands. With this function, members of AI-NIU hope to make their cause “not just a university, but a community wide effort,” said AI-NIU President Donna Lundstrom.

“We can have an impact,” said AI-NIU faculty adviser Joe Vigneux. The following passage is from a released prisoner of conscience from the Dominican Republic: “When the first two hundred letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes. Then the next two hundred letters came, and the prison director came to see me. When the next pile of letters arrived, the director got in touch with his superior. The letters kept coming and coming: three thousand of them. The President was informed. The letters still kept arriving, and the President called the prison and told them to let me go.”