Amnesty International Reports 1975

7/27/2019 Amnesty International Reports 1975

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a nest internationalMN ESTY INTERNA TIONA L s a worl dwide hum an rights mo ve-ment wh ich is ind epe nde nt of any gove rnm ent, political faction,ideo log y or religiou s creed . It work s for the rel ease of men andwom en imp risoned anyw here for their be liefs, colou r, ethn ic originor rel igio n, prov ided they hav e neither used nor advo cated viol ence .The se are term ed "pr ison ers of con science ". 1MNESTY INTERN AT ION AL opposes tor ture and capi tal pun ish-ment in all cases and without reser vation. It adv oca tes fair andspe edy trials for all political pr ison ers.AM NE STY INT ERNAT IONA L see ks ob serva nce throu gh out thewo rld of the Un ited Na tions Univ ers al Decl arat ion of Hum an Rightsand of the UN Sta nda rd Min im um Rules for the Trea tme nt ofPr ison ers.AM NE STY INT ER NATIONAL ha s cons ulta tive status with theUn ited Nations (EC OS OC), UNE SC O and the Council of Eur ope ,ha s coop erat ive relations wi th the Int er-A me rica n Com mi ssion onHu man Righ ts of the Or gan izat ion of American States and ha sobs erve r statu s with the Organ iza tion of Africa n Unit y (Bureau forthe Plac eme nt and Ed uca tion of African Refu gee s).AMNESTY INTERNATION AL s financ ed by its mem ber s throu gh -out the wor ld, by indiv idua l sub scri ption and by donations.

C opyright Amne sty International , 1975Pub lished Septembe r 1975 by Amn esty International PublicationsPrinted by the Russell Press, G ambl e Street, No ttingham , EnglandCo ver illustration by Judith Ander sonISBN 0-90005 8-12-9

Amnesty Int ern ationa l PublicationsLo ndon1975


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ContentsPreface by Dirk Brne r 5Introdu ction by Ma rtin EnnaIs 8The Mem bership 11Rel ief 16Camp aign for the Aboli tion of Torture 18Capi tal Punishmen t 26Rel ations with other Orga niza tions 29Informa tion and Pub lications 33Prison ers and Huma n Rights Country by Count ry 35Introduction by Steph anie Gran t 36Af rica 39The Americas 60Asia 82Euro pe 107MiddleEas t 125Amn esty International Miss ions 1974 /75 137New s Rel eases 197 4/75 140Som e Amnesty International Statistics 143In ternation al Execu tive Com mittee 1974/75 144International Secre taria t 144Nat ional Sec tions , Co mmit tees, Co untries with Al M emb ers 145Interna tional Secretariat Budget 1975/ 76 147Inser t:Acco unts , Tre asurer's and Auditors' Reports 149


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1974 obel Peace PrizeSean ac Bride

efaceSea n MacBride, who ret ired in Septemb er1974 as Chairm an of Amn esty Inte rna -tional's International Executive Corn-mittee, was awarded the Nobel PeacePrize on 8 October 1974 in recognitionof his lifelong work for huma n rights.Mr M acBr ide , a founder mem ber of Al,who had been Chai rman of the IEC s inceits inception, sha red the award with thelate Eisako Sato, forme r Prim e Mi nisterof Japan , who himself was a mem ber ofAl.

Mr Ma cBr ide stood down from his I ECpos t because he cou ld not com bine it with his post as Uni ted NationsCom mi ssioner for Nam ibia; but he rem ains chai rma n of the Irish Sec tion.In hi s h ono ur, the IEC has es tab lished an annua l Sean MacBride Lecture onHuma n Rights to be delivered at future mee tings of Al 's InternationalCounci l.In announ cing the aw ard of the Peace Prize to Mr MacB ride, the NobelCommittee of the Norweg ian Parliam ent said he had been chosen for his"m any years of effort to build up and pro tec t hum an rights all over thewor ld" . It also cited the fac t that as Foreign Minister of Ireland from1948-1 951 , he had helped shape Ireland's role in UN peace -keepingoperations.All of Am nesty International would echo the svords of The IrishTime s which, in an editorial com menting on the award of the NobelPeace P rize to Sean MacB ride, said:

As chairman of Am nesty International he has shownwhat is not always the case with idealiststhat he isaw are of ind ividuals, not only of people in the abstract.Wi th his legal talen ts, he could easily have made afortune at the Bar and relapsed into selfish , moneye dcomplacency: othe rs are doing it all the tim e. Instead,he looke d outward at the tormen ted world andimm ersed himse lf in it.

by Di rk Be rner, Ch airma n, Intern ational Executive Com mitteeA y ear of growt h. Am nesty International has grown further in 1974-75, bothin mem bership and in the scope of its operations. But, sad ly, it has also b een ayea r of another kind of growth: of pol itically motivated persecution, long-termdetention without trial, brutal tor ture and executions. A yea r, then, of g row ingneed for the work of Amnesty Interna tional.Imp artially and free from any political consideration, Am nesty Internationalworked in 1974-75 on vio lations of the Un ited Nations Universal D eclaration ofHuman Rights in mo re than 100 count ries. Yet, almo st all these cou ntries, asmem bers of the UN, have a greed to be bou nd by that dec laration. Am nesty

Internat ional has persistently reminded the governme nts of their obligations andstriven to bring world public opinion to bear upon those responsible for suchviolations. Al missions have gone dur ing the year to 31 count rie s in all parts ofthe world to investigate allegations of persecution and torture, observe trials andma ke rep resen tations to g overnm ents.Major campa igns, involv ing the whole organization, have sou ght am nesties incoun tries with long-term prisoner pro blems . In 1974-75 , there were month-longcamp aigns on each of five W est Afr ican nations, at least three of wh ich subse -quently dec lared amnesties that freed political prisone rs, am ong them AI-adop tedprisone rs of conscience. A current campaign for am nes ty is concen trated onIndonesia, whe re mo re than 55,000 persons have been deta ined without trialsince as far bac k as 1965.Indonesia , Iran, Iraq, the Soviet Union, Spain , South Korea, Guatema la, SouthAfr ica , Uganda, Argentina, Uruguay, Moro cco and Brazil are, as they have beenfor som e time , countries whe re vio lat ions of human rights continue on a disturb -ing scale, Ye t there have been drama tic changes in 1974-75 in other "pr oblem"countries . Al has we lcomed the mas s r elease of political prisoners in Sou thVietnam, Greece, Portugal and Moza mb ique. In each of these cases, t he newgovernm ent has ann ounced its intention of maintaining those freed om s that wereviolated with such gross persistence by the former regimes. AI h as formal ly calledon all four gov ernme nts to upho ld those hum an rights to which, as U N me mb erstates, they hav e p ledged their support. In these cou ntries, as in all co untries,words must be matched by deeds. Far too man y nations of the world pay only


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7gen eral researc h and finance. This has served to streamline the IEC's pro ces s ofdec ision-makin g.

No review of the year on behalf of the IE C can be comp lete wit hout payingtr ibu te to the man who wa s Chairm an of the IEC from its incepti on unti l Sept-emb er 1974 : Se an MacBrid e. Havi ng been app ointed Uni ted Nat ions Co mm iss-ioner fo r Namib ia, Sean MacB ride was un able to continue as IEC Ch airman.Wi thout his unrele nting ef forts on beh alf of the organization and its aim s,Amn esty Interna tional could never have achiev ed its present position and rep u-ta tion. His lifelo ng work for huma n rig hts was justly recognized when he rec eivedthe 1974 No bel Pea ce Prize. We look forward to welc oming Sean Ma cBride tothe 1975 International Co unc il in St Gallen, Sw itzerland, where he is to de liverthe fir st of the ma jor address es on hu ma n rights tha t Am ne sty Inte rnationa l ha sname d in his honour.

6lip service to hum an rig hts, lim iting the m to those elemen ts that are unq uestion-ing in their obedien ce to the centr al autho rity an d to the existing po liticalsy stem. By d oing so, they cor rup tly dow ngrade hum an rights into privileges .Ge nera l camp aigns no twithsta nding, adoptio n of ind ividual prisone rs of co n-sc ience is still the hea rt of Al's work. Al groups everyw here continued the iref forts to ob tain the ultima te re lease of ind ividuals or, as a new technique , seek-ing freedom for gro ups of prisoners . They also pro vided moral support andma terial re lief both fo r the pr isoner and his family. More than 100 ,000(U S $240 ,000), donated by a g ener ous pub lic for this purpose, ha s been distrib-uted as a rel ief money throu ghout the wor ld. M any AI gro ups had thesatisfaction of seein g their prisoner s releas ed. But such success ha s no t alwa ysmeant the end of their efforts: it is often difficult for rel eased pr isoners to bere-integrate d into their soc iety, and they continue to dep end up on their ado ptiongro up for support.

Th ere has also bee n a determ ined eff ort by Am nesty Int ern ational to find increased support and attract new me mb ers in A sia and Latin America through theappo intment of a field secretary in eac h of the se regions. De velopme nt is one ofthe key wo rds in Al 's vocabula ry. This me ans develop me nt not only of AIgroups, sections and mem bers in areas of the third world wh ere, in the past, AIme mbership has been small o r non -ex istant, but, equ ally im portant, dev elo pmentof an aw areness ever ywhere that hu ma n rig hts are as impor tant to the life of ana tio n as eco nom ic well-bei ng tha t they are not "luxuries" on ly the rich canafford, but the basic ent itlement of all peo ple. It is all the mo re regrettab le,therefore that some gov ern me nts have, du ring the yea r, harassed and det ainedpers ons wo rking on behalf of Am nesty In ternational.On e ba sic hum an righ t of all peop le, whereve r they may live in the world, isprotection again st brutal treatm ent by those in powe r. Al 's Cam paign for theAbolition of To rture, now in its third year, has un dou btedly created greaterpublic awarenes s of a problem that was insufficiently rec ogn ized bef ore. Th eunanimous pa ssage by the United Nations General Assemb ly on 6 No vem ber 1974of a resolutio n that called fo r specific action against torture by the UN an d itsagen cies rep resents one of the ma jorsucces ses of the cam paign to date. But it isonly on e of a long series o f me asu res that will be needed before torture is effec t-ive ly outlawed through out the wo rld.In tod ay's wo rld of atrocities peo ple too eas ily beco me acc ustomed to con -tinuing reports of crue l and inhuman treatme nt to huma n be ings of wh om theyknow little. Ha ving cre ated aw areness we mu st now make su re that every re spon-sib le citizen and orga nization ass um es perso nal responsibility to fight and abo lishto rture once and for eve r. Our cam paign must be unrelenting, pus hing, co nvincin g.It must be a true campaign , from which nobody can exc lude him self.The growth of Am nes ty Inter national 's work and the ne ed for mor e such workha s co nfr onted the Inter national Ex ecu tive Co mmittee wi th ever-increasing tasksof its ow n. New IEC me thods were nec essary to cope with the se prob lems. Inaccordan ce with dec isions taken in As kov, De nma rk, in Septe mb er 1974 by theInterna tional Coun cil, me mbers of the IE C assum ed special functions an d respon-sibilities for cer tain are as of Al's work : fo r exam ple the Cam paign for theAb olition of Torture, relief, develop ment, external affairs, adm inistration,


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In trodu ctionby Ma rtin Enn als, Sec reta ry Gene ralAmnesty Inte rnational is run by its mem bers and motivated by conc ern forhuma n rights everywhere. Its aim s are constant ly re-exa mined and its actionsperpetually scrutinized and criticized. Everyone agrees w ith some thing whichAl h as done; few a gree with everything. AI is therefore constantly evolving,reacting to chan ges in governm ent s and responding to new demand s from prison-ers, from the pub lic and from the memb ership. Governm ental chang es often bringto power those who have know n of Al previously from prison, exile or oppos i-tion, This in i tself creates different relationships and more intima te com prehen -sion of AI's motivation and purpose.But just as p olitical change cal ls for readjustment so, too, long-standingproblem s may requir e new me thods and clearer or re-defined objectives . Thus in197 4 the International Counci l brought into the main objectives of the organ-ization the concept of "fair tria l" and opposition to long detention without trial.Someone detained for 10 years without trial ma y not alw ays be non-violen t and aprisoner of con science, but he is certainly held without rega rd to his huma nrights . He is entitled to be c onsidered innocent until proved guilty.The nature of "fair trial" itself is one which is w idely understood bu t rarelydef ined. Dif feren t cultures provide different measure s. Trial by jury, trial byone 's peers, legal defence of one's own choice, access to docum entation andwitnesses, right of appeal, civilian courts and judges: any of these would be ad-vanced by som e as the prerequisite of fair trial, dep ending on practice, nationa lcustom and legal system . Suc h additions to Al' s objectives necessarily add to therespon sibil ity and area of judgeme nt and interp retation left to the Internat ionalExecutive Comm ittee and the Inte rnational Secretariat.Not all c ases can be treated alike. Not all situations fall nea tly into categoriesor classif ication system s. Stable Indonesia still ma intains tens of thousand s ofprisoners without trial 10 years after their arrest. The Shah of Iran retains hisbenevo lent image despite the high est rate of death penal ties in the world, no validsystem of civilian courts and a his tory of torture wh ich is bey ond belief. Thegov erno rs of the Sov iet Union still believe that dissen t and min orities must berepressed or conta ined by imprisonm ent and phys ical restr iction. The list of suchsituations is infinite , and they represent but a sample of the type of prob lem

9which AI has to study and evaluate befo re deciding which action is necessary tofulfil our objectives of working for the huma n rights of those restricted or facedwith execution or torture.Anothe r new area approached by Al during the 1974-75 period was thecom mission of inquiry into allega tions of torture of prisoners taken by Syria andIsrael d uring the October 1973 Middle East war. T he com mission (which receivedthe cooperat ion of bo th governm ents) specifically set out to make proposalswhich were positive and related to existing interna tiona l legal com mitme ntsundertaken by both governm ent s under the Geneva Conventions. The com mis siondecided not only to assess allegat ions on the basis o f evidence but also to pin-point weaknesses of prison cam p adm inistration wh ich were in violation of theconve ntions. If tie conv entions were implem ented they would make tortureallegat ions more difficult to fabricate. This approach by AI d id not receive uni-versa l support. Many thought that AI s hould app ortion blam e and makecom parisons. The proof of our judgem ent will lie with the gove rnme nts notonly of Syria and Israe l, but of all co untries engaged in conflicts which result intaking prisone rs of war .Am nesty International sta rted as a case work organiza tion deal ing with peop lein prison. Today it is deve loping, in addition to its ind ividual case w ork, a pro-gram designed to prevent violations of huma n righ ts and torture and to shapegov ernm enta l conduct in the future . Belief i n the need for code s of cond uct inthe medical, legal and police pro fess ions to forbid ill-treatm ent of prisoners is nolong er held by Al alone. They have now received endorsem ent from the UnitedNations Genera l Assemb ly, and draft codes of ethics have been prepared withineach of the professions. The UN Standa rd Minimum Rules for the Trea tment ofPri soners will be reviewed in 1975 not only as standards but also with a view tothei r enforcement .The continued growth of Al reflects the internat ional con cern for hum anrights and the values con tained in the Universa l Decla ration of Hum an Rights,United Nat ions cove nants and other interna tiona l instrum ents . Such public con-cern, when expre ssed in c ount ries where dis sent is not encouraged, creates risksfor Al mem bers not necessarily becaus e of their me mbership of Al but j ustbecause AI a ttrac ts those who feel c omm itme nt to the principles of hum anrigh ts. For Al mem bers in such countries there is a risk of becom ing "hos tages"for g overnments who resent Al's criticism s.During the year, Al memb ers at national or group level have been arrested inNepal , South Korea, the Soviet Union and Peru . Th is can not be ignored by themovem ent as a whole. It is a risk which inevitably limits the expan sion of Althrough its orthodox channels of national sections and groups .Another elem ent in the growth of the organization is the varying economi c

and social difficul ties exper ienced in developing countr ies. A special conf erencewas held in New Delhi 20-23 Ma rch 1975 at the invitation of the Ind ian Sectionto find out whethe r the re were comm on facto rs affecting the development ofAl in countries such as N epal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ind ia and Sri L anka, whoseproblems were different from those in Western Europe, North Am erica andAustraliaareas in which Al h as s trong national sect ions. New ideas were dis-cussed and a special meeting of the Internat ional Executive Com mittee has


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10considere d AI de velopm ent in all areas wh ere the orga nization is n ot strong atpre sen t.

Th e im por tance of these dev elopme nt debates and program s is not the dev el-opm ent of Amn esty Int ernational as a n org ani zation but the developm ent ofwork for prison ers of conscience by hu ma n rights sup porters in these are as. Ourtask is t o ha rne ss the oppo sition to to rture and the sym pathy for pr isoners ofcon science wh erever they are fou nd. Suc h feelings surely ex ist as strongly insocialist an d th ird wor ld countries as anyw he re else.Th is is a c hallenge to the mo vem ent as a who le: to find the way s an d m ean sof ha rnessing our sup por t despite the political, soc ial, financial an d other pro b-lem s whi ch exist. Th ere wil l b e pro blems arising n ot only from ec ono mi c andpolitical dif ferences bu t also from mi strust, from political attitudes and fromcultural mi sunderstandings on all sides. It is t hese dif ficulties wh ich pro vide thecha llenge.

A wa y must be found for all those wh o wi sh to do so to play the ir full part inthe work of Amn esty Int ernational for prisoners th roughou t the worl d regardlessof racial, religious or political bac kgr oun d or be lief. If we can solve tha t problemin ternally, the n Amn esty Int ernational will be a gre ater org ani zation, and gov ern-me nts wil l be und er greater pressure to put into pra ctice the ideals wh ich all ofthem pr ofess.

The em bershipIn re sponse to the grow ing need for a d epa rtment within the InternationalSecr etariat to meet the ind ividual needs of the sec tions and to handl e the se r-vicing o f groups an d mem bership, the Int ernational Executive Com m itteedec ided in Jan uary 1974 to set up the Co ord ination Un it. The main fu nctions ofthe Co ord ination Uni t are to im plem ent the Int ernational Cou ncil dec isions ondev elopme nt; to strengthe n and supe rvise the wo rk of the groups, coor dinationgro ups and sections; to al locate case she ets; to prepare cam paign and otherma terial in coo peration with the Res earch Departm ent and the Ca mpai gn for theAb olition of Torture (CA T) so that each sec tion can us e i t to the maxi mu meffect; to deal with ge neral inquiries from se ctions, grou ps, and ind ividuals; an dto organiz e the In ternational Co unci l me eting.Th e closer con tact wi th the sections has ena bled the sec retariat to cater moreeff ectively for the pa rticular needs of each section. The inc rease in the num ber ofurgen t an d other actions has hig hlighted the need for closer an d more reg ularcon tac t. All sections are now ask ed to repor t re gularly on actions they hav e takenin res ponse to ma terial supplied by the secretariat.

Records are kept of orga nizations an d individuals with spe cialized kno wle dgeor interest so tha t their supp ort can be enlisted for cam pai gns wh ere their int er-vention m igh t be of value.

M ajo r campa igns hav e b een launche d fo r In ternational Wo me n's Year and Ho lyYear. A l ist of 252 wom en prisoner s in 25 cou ntries has been sup plied to sec tionsand interested organizations. There ha ve also been ca mp aigns on beh alf ofim prisoned trade unionists and im prisoned journalists an d writers.

Th e op portunity has been tak en to increase the exc hange of ideas and initia-tiv es within the group s an d sections by circulating m ate rial suc h as a " hum anrig hts kit" fo r us e in schools and a Handbook or Action Groupsbot h of wh ichwere com piled by a nationabsec tion. A pap er was circulated sum mari zing thestructure of each of the sections .The past yea r ha s s een a no ticeable im prov em ent in the supervision of gr oup s.Ma ny groups that wer e no t working adeq uately on beha lf of the ir prisoners ha vebee n closed do wn and the ir prisoners rea ssigned to other group s. A sta ndard grouprep ort form ha s n ow been introdu ced by the ma jority of sections to en sure tha t


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12the Res earch Departm en t is kept fully informed of ac tions taken by the groupsan d to ena ble sec tions to chec k that their groups are working as effec tively aspossible.

Sections have been encour aged to estab lish co ordination groups (groups ofme mbers within the section who specialize in a particular country or area) to aidand ad vise o n the wo rk of their adoption groups on beh alf of prisoners inonecountry or area of the world. There ar e 78 co ordina tion groups at the presenttime.A m ajor part of the work of the Coordination Unit concerns de ve lopm en t. IfAm nesty Int ernational is to wor k for human rights universally an d to represen tthe force of worldwide public op inion, it must become mo re culturally diverse,and it mu st correct the imbalan ce in its present membership by growth ou tsideEurope and North America.

This is also true if AI wishes to ac t with greater effect iveness in the co unt riesof the third world. Long-range ef forts in human rights educ ation and the devel -opm en t of indigenous Al activities are imperative .Ov er the past two yea rs Al's International Council has recognized theneed to foster developm ent in the third Wo rld, and a major step in this directionwas proposed in 1972 by the Ind ian Section. After con siderable exp loration,the ir initia tive resulted in the appointm en t of a m ember of the InternationalSecretariat to wo rk in Sou th Asia as a regional field secretary.Th e project has alre ady proved valuabl e in strengthening the wor k of Alnation al sections in the region, in building co ntacts with other non-governm en talorganizations, in publicizing the work of Am nesty Int ernational and in ex ploringtec hniques for work and grow th.Following the decisions of the Vi en na and Ask ov International Co un cils, andwith the helpfu l financial support of the X-Y Foundation in the Netherlan ds, aSou th Asia Regional Conferen ce was held on 20-23 March 197 5 at the Ga ndh iPeace Foundation, Ne w Delhi. This was the first meeting of its kind inAl'shistory. It wa s designe d to bring Al members in India, Bangladesh, Pakis tan,Ne pal, and Sri Lan ka together so that they could discuss common pr ob lems anddevelop a commo n strategy for their work.In response to a proposal by the Japane se Sec tion at the Askov councilme eting, plans are underw ay to hold an A l Pan-Pacific Conferenc e on HumanRights in To kyo in Decembe r 19 75.In 19 74, a seco nd fie ld secr etary was sent out from the Inter nationa lSecretariat, with gen erous financial assis tance from the Ca nadian UniversitySe rvice Overseas, to exp lore the possibilities for Al growth ina number of LatinAm erican countries. Th e field secretary , himself a Latin American, left Londonin December after wor king for seve ral months within the secr etariat in prepara-tion for his mission. The countr ies cho sen were Colombia, Venezuela , Ecuado r,Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica an d Pa nama.He was commissione d to "establish contact on as wide a ba sis as possibl e withindividuals, organizations, an d other bodies that are likely to be interes ted inAl's activities, to explore the various mea ns whereby support can be obtaine dfro m existin g or ga nizationa l str uctures and assess the contacts establishe d an dadvise the Internation al Secretaria t on their present value and future potential,

13to assess the be st line of development for Amn esty Inter nationa l an d its work forprisone rs and to explore the possibility of establishing ap propriate for ms ofmemb ership".

The La tin Am erican field sec retary ha s made contact with a large number ofpotentia l me mbers, has held discussions with symp athetic or ganizations, and hasap pr oached a num be r of publishing houses with a view to their handling Spa nish-languag e ed ition s of Al publications. He has also sought the sup po rt of lawyers,members of the medica l profession, an d military veterans who mig ht take part infuture Al missions. The problems an d achievements of the Al na tional section sin Me xico and Peru have bee n discussed with them and sug ge stions pu t forwardfor reorganization of the ir future wor k.In an interim repo rt the field secretar y ha s stressed the importanc e of buildingup the nu mb er of international members in the third world, this for m of mem ber-ship being particul arly well suited to isolated sup po rters. At the sam e time hewarns that as Al beco me s better known in Latin Am erica, the flow of inf orma-tion to the Inter nationa l Se cretariat will increase, and this will inevi tably lead tone w and intensified de mand s on the Research De pa rtment .Th e European nat ional sections ha ve continu ed to expand bo th in groups andmembersh ip, tho ug h greater emphas is has been given this past year to the con-solidation an d im provement of existing gro up s. Sev eral national sections ha veconcentrated on establishing co or dination, act ion and CA T groups .The majority of sections have act ively responded to requests from thesec retariat for urgent act ions and in many instances have initia ted ex hibitio ns ,demonstratio ns , an d other activities on behalf of prisoners or to promote thewor k of Al as a whole. It is no t po ssible to list these indetail in the limited spaceavailab le.

Th e Belgian Section ha s doubled the number of its groups and members andthe first Flemish- speaking gro,ups hav e b een establ ished. In France, there has beena rapid increase in groups an d several more are in the pr oc ess of format ion. Anumber of coordination group s ha ve been formed. The section tran slates theAm nes ty Interna tional Ne ws lette r for the other Fre nc h-speaking sections and hashelped the secretaria t wi th other transla tion work an d in the coordination ofjoint activities.Th e main efforts of the Austrian Section have bee n direc ted towards specialac tions and to ensuring that all groups are working as effectively as possible. Thesec tion in the Federal Republic of Germany, while stillthe ar gest section in termsof groups, did no t ex pand as rapidly as in recent year s. The section ha s concen-trat ed on improving the qu ality of its groups and me mbership. It has receivedgreater pu blicity than in the past .Th e talian Section ha s op ened an of fic e in Rome, a branch has been formed in

Milan and me mbe rship has grown rapidly. The Luxembourg Section held probablythe year's mo st successful Al fundraising cam paign whe n in Decembe r it raised 2million Lu xe mb our g francs, at the same time gaining extens ive publicity and at tract-ing 2 00 new members . Sw itzerland has seen a steady growth in membership andgroups. High priority has been given to the CAT cam paign. Ma ny new membersha ve joined the Net herlands Section an d there has been a s teady increase in thenu mber of groups. The section ha s given much time an d thought to the qu es tion


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15the branches. The New Zea land Section has s how n some grow th in membershipand groups .

Africa has n ot had the advantage of the Asian and Latin American sections ofincreased contact with other branches and representatives of the organization.There has bee n no contact over the past year with the sec tions in Gam bia andGhana. The Nigerian Section was faced with organizational difficu lties but isattempting to revive its act ivities and plans to contact professional bod ies towork on behalf of me mbers of their profes sion imprisoned in other countries.

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14of Al developm ent in the third world.The Sovie t AI group was formal ly recognized in the autumn of 1974 and wasassigned three prisoners for adoption.Memb ership in th e Irish Sec tion has increased.Tw o ma jor fundraising eventswere held and considerable public ity surrounded the aw ard of the Nobel PeacePrize to Sean Macf iride, chairma n of the section. The Br itish Sec tion, with a n ewdirector and fundra ise r, has unde rtaken num erous new initiatives to prom ote thework of AI throug hout the country.In t he Nordic countries, the mo st encourag ing developm ent has been theestablishme nt of a s ection in I celand. The section has already received extensivepubl icity and the me mbership is grow ing rapidly. The sections in Denmark, theFaroe Islands, Finland and Norw ay have all show n a gradual increase in mem ber-ship. They have p articipated in special cam paigns and have ma de continuedeffo rts in publicity and fund raising. The Swe dish Section has established a largenumber of new gro ups and has dev oted much time to Al p ubl ica tions.The Cana dian Section has been succ ess ful in estab lishing groups in all b ut twoprovinces. A numb er of camp aigns have been held and support has been given bythe Canadian parliamenta ry Al g roup. In the United States individua l mem ber-ship has r isen rapidly whilst a n um ber of inactive groups have been closed down.As already mentioned the two sect ions in Latin Am erica, Mexico and Peru,have b een visited by the Lat in Am erican field s ecreta ry. The Mexican Sectionparticularly has h ad inc reasing con tacts throughout the year with other sectionsand with the International Secretariat . Dirk Brner , Chairm an of the Internation-al E xecutive Commit tee , met with mem bers of the section while in Mexico on apriva te visit. The section was rep resen ted at the Askov council meeting.In Israel the group in Tel Aviv has b een revived , a nd the section was able tosend a rep resentative to the counci l meeting.In Asia the main deve lopme nt in the past year has been the field secretaryprog ram and the holding of the South Asia Regional Confe rence in N ew Delh i.The Indian Sect ion , while act ing as h ost for the fie ld secretary and for theconference, has also c oncen trated on promo ting the Cam paign for the Prisonersof the Month and has compi led a handb ook to expla in the different ways in wh ichmemb ers can sup port the work of Al. The field s ecretary has visited the sectionsin N epal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lan ka. The sec tions played an active role in theregional conference and have outlined plans for renew ed activity . Representativesof the section which is in form ation in Pakistan attended the regiona l con ference,and this was followed up in April by a visit from the fie ld sec retary .The Japanese Sec tion has had goo d press cov erage and many new m emb ershave joined . Pre lim ina ry arrangem ents are going ahead for the Al Pan-PacificConfe rence on Human Rights. The sec tion in the Republic of Korea has con tin-ued to translate and distribute the Newsletter, including the Cam paign for thePrisoners of the Month, and has been successful in obtaining publicity for itsactiv ities.

The six AI b ranch es in Australia have c on tinued to expa nd. A meeting washeld in Sydney in January 1975 at which rep resentatives from each of thebranches discussed the poss ibility of e stablishing a single Australian Section.Ra tification of the proposed consti tution is now under cons ideration by each of

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Campaign for the bolitionof TortureAft er a year of marked success in genera ting internation al publicity and diploma -tic activity against torture, the Campaign for the Abolition of Torture becamefully integrated during 1974-75 with Amnesty International 's work and organiza-tional structure. The new CA T Department, in close cooperation with AI nation-al sections and the other departments of the International Secretariat, shaped aprogram that comprises three major fields of activity to combat torture : publi-city to emphasize this particu larly heinous feature of political detention, measuresto improve international law and guidelines for opposing torture, and a series ofprojec ts specially designed to develop and refine the techniques used to militateagainst torture.The Role of Pub licity

Pu blicity of various kinds is Amnesty International's principal method ofexertin g pressure against the policy or practice of torture. The first task during1974-75 for the new CAT Department was to shape the campaign for immedi-ate intervention to help at least some of the countless victims of torture. Asystem of "urgent action campaigns" wasdeveloped, whereby in a veryshorttime hundreds of telegrams and express letters could be sent on behalf of victim sor potential victims of torture. Al national sections, which are instrumental inthis system , continue to respond with great enthusiasm , and the larger sectionsnow have special CAT groups or coordina tors that execute urgent action camp-aigns whenever a situation requires an immediate response.

As the frequency of urgent campaigns increased (averaging more than one awe ek through May 1975), it became necessary to streamline the procedures, en-large the participatio n of Al's membership and inform outside groups of thecampaigns. Appeals thus brought a more broadly-based response: not only fromAl's membership but also from such groups and individuals as the doctors fromma ny countries who acted for a colleagu e in Iran, international writers' organiza-tions for the South Korean poet Kim Chi-ha, parliamentarians for a former sena-tor in Chile, and so on.

Al though there have alsobeen urgent campaigns for prisoners in Spain, Iran,

19Sou th Korea, Argentina and the USSR, the concentration has been on certainLatin American countries: Chile, relentless since the September 1973 coup in itssystem atic use of torture; Uruguay, continuing its suppression of the organizedlabour movement and other political opposition; and Brazil, where the hard-linemilitary establish ment opposed cautious attem pts towards liberalization andcar ried out many new arrests throughout 1974 and 1975.These countries receivemuch attention for two reason s: first, any new political detainee is in dangerof torture, and second, Al often receives reliable information about arrests therequ ickly enough to intervene.

By providing a mechanism for rapid international action, the Campaign for theAbolition of Torture narrow s a gap that had previously been open, even thoughaction taken directly for individuals is necessarily limited to a small percen tage ofthe many possible victim s. Furthermore, there are many countries where tortureis equally systematic but from wh ich vital inform ation about individual casesreaches Al far too late after the worst has already happened.

Ne vertheless, wherever rapid action is possible, it is taken, and there have beensom e positive results: improved conditions for a prison er, news of a release, en-couraging letters from a prisoner's friends or relatives, or speedy acknowledge-ment by the authorities that a prison er is detained or charged (the end of incomemunicado detention often means relative safety from torture).

In addition to initiating various news releases, the CAT Department has issuedspe cial documents to be used for action by Al national section s and others, suchas a booklet in July 1974 on the public floggingsof dissidents in Na mibia(apractice stopped by South African court order in February 1975), a letter froma Spanish woman in November 1974 in which she described her torture inaMadrid prison, and an extensive feature article in February 1975 on arbitraryarrests and torture in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina . In May 1975 two furth-er items were in preparation : a selection from affidavits sworn by Mozambiquanvictims of torture who suffered under Portuguese colonial rule and a paper con-cerning the torture of women for submission to the World Conference of Inter-nat ional W omen's Year being held in Mexico City from 19 June to 2 July 1975und er the auspices of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations .

A s econd, revised edition of the Am nesty InternationalRe port on Torturewas published in January 1975. The 246-page report includes updated materialon Chile, North Vietnam , Portugal, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Cyprus andSau di Arabia he latter two in the report for the first time. (See chapter onInform ation and Publications.)

Current information regard ing incidents and trends of torture aswell asnewsabo ut Al's activities against torture are provided in the CAT B ulletin, started inJune 1974 and published monthly with the Al Newsletter. Eve ry issueof thetwo -page Bulletin also includes one or more appeals asking individuals to write onbehalf of victims of torture.

Publicity and urgent action campaigns have not been the only forms of directresponse to the continuing flow of allegations of torture from all parts of theworld. Approaches have been made by letters and telegrams to several dozengovernments, often accompanied by publicity in the CAT B ul letin, and some-times follow ed up by special action throug h the Al national sections. There have


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20also been several Al missions to countries where torture is practised, includingEcuador, Namibia, Spain and South Korea. These missions ga thered details con-cerning torture (as well as other violations of hum an rights), and such informa-tion was given publicity by the CAT Department. Detailed information aboutthese missions can be Zound in the appropriate country sections of this annualreport.

Some of the most publicized allegations of ill-treatment and torture during197 4 arose out of the O ctober 1973 war in the Middle East. Reciprocal claimswere made about torture o f prisoners of war, especially after the repatriation ofIsraeli and Syrian prisoners of war in June 1974. Under its mandate to combatall kinds of torture, including that committed against prisoners of war, the CA TDepartment organized a mission of investigation. Permission to conduct the in-vestigation was granted by the governments of both Israel and Syria, and thethree-man commission, composed of a Norwegian, Asbj6rn Eide, director ofthe Oslo Peace Research Institute, Swedish lawyer Peter Nobel and Dutch phy-sician Kees van Vuuren, m et with full cooperation from the authorities duringtheir two-week visit to Israel and Syria in October 1974.

Th e commission interviewed 25 Israeli and 21 Syrian former p risoners of war,as well as three Syrian civilians who had allegedly been kidnapped by withdraw-ing Israeli forces in the summer of 1974. The 34-page report of the mission, pub-lished in A pril 1975, summarized statements made by six Israeli and six Syrianformer prisoners of war, with a medical conclusion on each. It said that althoughit was impossible to establish absolute proof a year after the alleged abuses, theconsistency of many of the testimonies and the fact that in certain cases theyappear to be corroborated by the findings of the medical examination leavelittle doubt that abuses were committed by both parties concerned, albeit thatthose perpetrated against the former Israeli prisoners of war held in Syria appeargenerally to have been of a more severe nature.

Th e report stressed that its principal purpose was to seek remedies for theapparen t shortcomings of international humanitarian law as embodied in the1949 Geneva Conventions.lt concluded accordingly with a series of recommend-ations to the two governments that they take steps to secure the full implemen-tation of the Third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners ofwa r. The report further urged the Diplomatic Conference in Geneva on theReaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicablein Armed Conflicts to strengthen methods of international control and super-vision in such situations.

Th e report also pointed out that, although permission and cooperation wererequested prior to the October visit, Al was not given an opportunity properlyto investigate allegations of ill-treatment and torture of civilian prisoners detain-ed in both countries. In sending the report to both governments, AI SecretaryGeneral Martin Ennals expressed the hope that they would enable AI to investi-gate questions relating to civilian prisoners in their respective countries in thenear future.

No response had been received by the end of June 1975 from either govern-ment to this renew ed request.

21International Law and Its Implementation

Of equal importance to publicity is the necessity to improve international lawon human rights and its implementation, in order to strengthen the safeguardsagainst torture at all levels. In connection with this function of the campaign,the highlight of 1974-75 was the unopposed adoption by the United NationsGeneral Assembly on 6 November 1974 of Resolution 3218 (XXIX) on "tortureand other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in relation todetention and imprisonment".

By a vote of 125-0 (Zaire abstaining) the General Assem bly not only reaffirm-ed the rejection of any form of torture, which it had expressed in its earlierResolution 3059 (XXVIII) of 2 November 1973, but also took a significant stepforward in nmving the question of torture from the realm of non-committaldenuncia tion accomplished by the 1973 resolution into he stage of specificact ion by the UN and its agencies. For, in addition to placing the question oftorture as a separate item on the agenda of the 1975 (3 0th) session of theGe neral Assembly, the 1974 resolution also specifically referred a number ofmajor issues regarding torture to the Fifth United Nations Congress on thePrevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which will be held fromI -1 2 September 1975 in Toronto, Canada.

By virtue of Resolution 3218, this congress, which meets every five years, isrequested to give urgent attention a) to the question of the development of aninternational code of ethics for the police and related law enforcement agenciesand b) to the strengthening ot the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treat-ment of Prisoners with a view to protection against torture. Furthermore, theWorld Health Organization and UNESCO are asked to prepare, in consultationwith such professional bodies as the World Medical Association, draftprinciples of medical ethics for the treatment of persons subjected to anyform of detention or imprisonment, and to submit these to the Torontocongress. On these and other matters, the congress will have to reportback to the 30th session of the General Assembly.

Although the congress is not an international legislative body, it doeshave the status to recommend important measures to the UN and itsagencies, and more important, to have its recommendatio ns adopted. Thus,the first congress (Geneva, 1955) recommended the adoption of the Stan-dard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners by the UN as aguideline for all member states and for incorporation into national law.A contributin g factor to this positive development on the inter-govern-mental level was a resolution on the subject of torture passed by the UNSub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection ofMinorities at its 27th session in August 1974. In its Re solution 7(XXVII) this sub-commission of the UN Human Rights Com mission laiddow n a number of judicial principles that are of vital importance witha view to preventing or diminishing the occurrence of torture, and"noting....that all available information suggests that in several countriesthere may be a consistent pattern of such violations" (i.e. torture), itde cided "to review annually developments in the field and for this purpose toretain the item on its agenda".


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22 23dition or expulsion to countries that pra ctise or tolerate torture. AI is clos elyinvolved in the resulting delibera tions in the council's Lega l Affairs Committee .Besides nter-governmental organizations, mention should also be made ofnon -governm ental organizations (NGO's) that have followed Al's lead ortaken new initiatives against torture. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)at its 61st conference (Tokyo, October 1974) adopted a strong resolutionagainst tortu re which included amendments re commended by Al. Theresolution called on governments and parliamentarians all over the world totake appropriate ac tion against torture and pointed ou t preventive andprotective measures. Following the IPU conference, at which members of theJapane se Section represen ted AI, the CAT Department issue d guidelines tonational sections to consult and cooperate with parliamentarians in theircountries towards effective implementation of the resolution. This was in thelight of the resolution's specific re ference to human rights organizations like Alin its urging of governments "to encourage and support by positive action thosebod ies which endeavour to dra w the attention of the world public opinion tothe dangers of torture andthe means of combatting it".The World Medical Association, at its assembly in Tokyo in October 1975,will consider a formal declaration containing ethical guidelines, based n parton Al recommend ations, that forbid participation by medical personnel ininterroga tion of prisoners or in tor ture and other cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishmen t. This particular development may also contribute tothe discussions at the Toronto congres s on the subject of medical ethics inrelation to to rture.

These and other instances attest to the belie f held by Al that inter-governmen-tal and non -governmental organizations can help formulate and implement im-proved international laws and guidelines to prevent torture.

There can be litt le doubt that, after Al's initiative in 1973, its continuingef forts have played a role in these developments. After having prepared a newdraft for aUN General Assem bly Resolution in May 1974, which already con-tained some of the main features of the eventual Resolution 3218, approacheswere made to a large number of governments to propose or sponsor this proposa l.An Al submission to the sub-com mission's August 1974 session stressed the needfor more effective action and machinery to combat torture on the inter-govern-mental level. The submission mad e various suggestions towards that end.Al' s preparat ion during 1974-7 5 for the Toronto congres s and for the sub-sequent Genera l Assembly session was extensive, and it w ill send its own rep -resentatives to Toronto. In addition, Al will hold two seminars during the firstwee k of the congress. These will focus on various aspects of the problem oftorture and on the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners andthe ir implementation.

Hopes for a fresh, positive impact are based in the firs t place on Al's officialsu bmission to the con gress. This I6-page document, pre sented also in Fre nchan d Spanish, contains a series of eight proposals categorized under two mainheadings : matters arising out of Resolution 3218, and strengthening of theStandard Minimum Rules. Thoseof the first category deal p articularly withthe prob lem of torture. They include a proposal that the congress recommendto the General Assembly that it declare torture to be a crime under internationallaw, and that it authorize an appropriate body to create a draft convention onthe supression of torture and the protection o f all prisoners. Otherpro posals pre sent minimum requirements for internationa l codes of ethics forpolice and for medical personnel.

The congress is also asked to stipulate that the Standard M inimum Rules applyto all de tainees, whether or not they have yet been charged with an offence, thusbringing prisoners from their first moment of detention and througho ut allinterrogation unde r the pro tection of the rules. Al national sections and CATcoordinators were asked to seek support for theseproposa ls from their count ries'governm ental delegates to the congress and from individual expert participants.Fro m the International Secre tariat the Al propos als were sent dire ctly to a largenum ber of governme nts and their UN representa tives, requesting further support.In an additional ef fort to strengthen the Al proposa ls to the congress , Alconvened a seminar of senior police officers and representatives of police unionsfrom most Western European countries to discuss the develop ment of an inter-national code of police ethics. This seminar, which took place in June 1975 nThe Hague, was organized in conjunction with the Al Dutch section and with thefinancial support of the Dutch governm ent and police unions. The AI policesem inar provided fresh input into the ongoing discussions on a Eur opean code ofpolice ethics within the Framework of the Council of Europe, in which Al hastake n an act ive role. The discussionswere initia ted by the Council's Consultativ eAssembly in 1974.

In another Counc il of Europe development, a motion by a number ofEuropea n parliamentarians in September 1974 expressed the ir deepconcernabout the worldwide practic e of to rture, making specific mention of Al's workagainst torture and recommending certain safeguards in connection with extra-

Other CAT ActionTh e CAT Department initiate d or coordinated various special pro jects during1974-7 5 in an e ffort to im prove the methods usedby AI to act on be half ofvictims of torture. Two deserve special mention: a seminar with vic tims oftorture from Greece and Portugal and a group of related medical research projectsin Denmark.With the coup in Portugal in April an d the resignation of the military junta inGr ee ce in Jul y, the year 1974 saw the end of two dictator ial regimes that ha dadopted the delibera te and systematic use of torture as a method of government.These changes of regime gave AI a un ique opp ortunity to bring together formerprisoners and victims of torture from the two countrie s to discuss the effective-ness of Al's past work there, as well a s to draw general lessons rom these twodistinct situations that could improve Al's techniques elsewhere.A three-da y "workshop on human rights" was held in London late in 1974 andone fact became clear from the beginning of thediscussions: while recognizingthe limitatio ns of international pressure against governments that condone orencourage torture, the partic ipants were convinced of its very positive value.They urged Al and other international organizations to continue and increasesuchpressure, and to do so as persistently as possible during the entire period of


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24 25A further initiative was taken to str engthen the cam paign at the national levelwhen Al's British Section raised with the Bri tish Government, mem bers ofparliam ent and the nationa l media the question of the training curren tly bein ggiven to selected British serviceme n in res istance to interrogation and torture.The technique s involv ed in thi s training include hooding , wall-standing, restrict-

ed diet, sleep deprivation and the use of noise -making machine s - the very tech -niques that the British government in 1972 forbade the mil itary using inNor the rn Ireland.Al national sections and CA T groups have become increasingly active in carry-ing forward all facets of the campaign , includi ng widespread publicity, specia lprograms of researc h, representations to emb assies and foreig n ministries on be-half of victim s and the education of their own par liamenta rians about the needfor national and internat ional law s agains t torture.

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de tention. Some of them cited their persona l experiences of having had tortureprevented or short ened by the inte rvention of colleagues abroad, thus under-lining the importance of professional orga nizations in attempts to stop torture.The results of the workshop were published in a 15-page report that reviewsthe patterns of torture ove r the years in the two countries, the involvem ent ofdoc tors in torture , some evidence of the international training of torturers, andthe role of individuals and groups abroad in helping to stop or to decrease theseverity of torture.:he many conclus ions and recommendations of the workshop, as given in thereport, deal mainly with the followin g topics : publicity and ways to increaseits effectiveness; the need to take urgent action on likely cases of tor ture as soonas n ew s of an arrest has reached the outs ide world; the need to press consi stentlyfor detainees to be pe rmitted access to a lawyer immediately aft er arrest , thisbeing the period when torture usually takes place; missions by legal exper ts toobserve trials and to report to the outside world; action by professionalorganizations, trade unions, religious bod ies, etc., on beha lf of col leagues whoare, or are in danger of, being tortured; comm unications between AI and groupswithin a country that may be able to provid e inform ation about tortu re; andsupport for treatm ent and rehabilitation of torture victim s.Another effort to im prove Al's techn iques was initiated by a group ofDanish AI d octors and scientists who wish to develop effective methods foron-the-spo t-medica l invest igation of allegat ions of torture. Medical e vidence of

this kind cou ld be invaluable in mobilizing interna tional public opinion.Because no scientific wor k has been done on the subject, the doctors andscien tists beg an research in 1974 along three lines: the form ulation of a check-list for the med ica l examination of victim s of torture, tests to detect forcedmedication and tests to detect electrical torture. The check list for medicalexaminations will assist in the standardization of investigations, thus allow ingresul ts from different investigations ma de by medical personnel from dif ferentcoun tries to be comparable. A standard questionnaire, as well a s a standardprotocol for phys ical exam ination, have already been prepa red. The tests todetect forced me dication will allow for the length of time in which drugs can bedetected in the blood and urine after adm inistration.Because electrical torture has becom e mo re and more frequently used , teststo verify its use should prove very valuable. The resea rch is being carried forwardin the fie lds of pa thology, derm ato logy, and neurophysiology, focus ing on theduration of appl ication, voltage, localizat ion and the rate and exten t of tissueregene ration. a0.0

4 03

"Amnesty International has pro of that there is a world trade in sophisticated ins trumentsof torture.

"It's the best product on the market, Mr Preside nt. We 've heard nothing but moans about it." it

It is appropria te to conclude this account by paying tribute to the Al nationalsections and CAT groups. They have played and continue to play an indispen-sable role, not only by safeguarding the campaign's existence in financial termsand by providing the framework for efficient urg ent cam paigns on behalf ofindividua l victims, but also b y ini tiating a variety of imagin ative act ions at thenationa l level. It is clea r from the examp le cited of the medical research startedin Denmark that som e of thes e have a considerable potential im pact on the inter-national campaign .


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27Association of Democratic LawyersConfederation of Free Trade UnionsCouncil of Jewish WomenCouncil of Social Democratic WomenCouncil of WomenFederation of Free JournalistsFederation of Human RightsFederation of Women LawyersLeague for the Rights of ManMovement for Fraternal Union among Races and

Capital Punishment Peace BureauSocial ServiceYouth and Student Movement for the UnitedAmnesty International and 25 other non-governmental organizations signed aresolution during the past year calling on all governments to cease employingcapital punishment and on the United Nations General Assembly to promulgate adeclaration that would urge its total worldwide abolition. The resolution has beensubmitted to the Fifth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime andthe Treatment of Offenders, taking place in Toronto, Ca nada, in September 1975.The text of the resolution reads:

THE UNDERSIGNED INTERNATIONALNON-GOVERNMENTALORGANIZATIONSCONCERNED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

InternationalInternationalInternationalInternationalInternationalInternationalIntemationalInternationalInternationalInternationalPeoplesInternationalInternat ionalInternationalNationsPax RomanaWomens International League for Peace and FreedomWomens International Zionist OrganizationWorld Assembly of YouthWorld Confederation of LabourWorld Federation of United Nations AssociationsWorld Jewish CongressWorld Muslim CongressWorld Student Christian Federation

Affirming their unswerving commitment to the protectionof the right to life of every human being,Re-iterating their total opposition to any form of cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,Considering that the death penalty is in violation of boththe above principles,

Call on all governments that retain capital punishmentto cease employing it;Ca on the General Assembly of the United Nations topromulgate a declaration that would urge its total worldwideabolition;Call on all non-governmental organizations concernedwith human rights to make every effort at the national andinternational level to secure the abolition of capital punish-

ment.Amnesty InternationalArab Lawyers UnionCommission of the Churches on International Affairs of theWorld Council of ChurchesFriends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers)

Meanwhile, at its 58th session, held April-May 1975 in New York, the UNEconomic and Social Council reaffirmed its earlier position on the "desirability"of abolishing the death penalty.On 23 April 1975 he 27th session of the Consultative Assembly of theCouncil of Europe overwhelmingly rejec ted a request by its Legal AffairsCommittee that the question of capital punishment be dropped from thecommittee's agenda. The committee's request had been made on 23 January 1975and was challenged the same day in an Amnesty International news releaseexpressing Al's "dismay" and describing Secretary General Martin Ennals as"surprised a nd disappointed that a motion which ultimately affects the lives andhuman rights of people in all member countries of the Council of Europe shouldhave been dropped so casually".The motion in question, drafted in consultation with Al, had been submittedto the assembly by 11 European parliam entarians in May 1973. It calls upon"those members of the Council of Europe that retain capital punishment forcertain crimes to abolish it as a legal sanction". National sections took action topersuade parliamentarians from their countries to vote in the assembly to retainthe item on its agenda.A recent report prepared by the UN shows that, over the past few years, stateshave ignored the official position of the General Assembly. namely, that it isdesirable to abolish the death penalty in all countries, that it should not beintroduced for crimes to which it does not already apply, that the crimes to which


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28it applies should be progressively reduced and that it should only be employedfor the gravest of crimes.

Of the countries reporting to the UN on changes since 1969, only one hasabolished the penalty for ordinary crimes. One renewed its suspension of thepenalty for most crimes until 1977, while another confirmed its abolition after atrial period of suspension. One country abolished the penalty for al l crimes,including military crimes, making it only the 10th country to do so. Meanwhiletwo countries have expanded the list of crimes for which death is prescribed.Even more disturbing departures from international standards have includedthe denial of the right to appeal against conviction or sentence for a capitallypunishable offence, the denial of the righ t to pe tition for clem ency after sentenceof death and pronouncement of death sentence on persons under 18 years of ageat the time the crinw was comm itted. There has also been a resurgence of the useof the penalty fo r economic crimes.

In addition, there has been a sharp increase in what might be termed unofficialexecutions, whereby certain extra-governmental forces, unhampered by theproperly constituted authorities, are permitted to murder persons considered tobe criminals or political undesirables. Similarly, there have been reports ofper sons killed while allegedly trying to escape from custody, before or af er trial,in circumstances giving strong reason to doubt the o fficial explanation.

Although the present international climate may appear generally unfavourable,AI is determined to continue its grim task of seeking to prevent executions and toprotest their imposition.

Relations with otherrganizat ions

Much of Amnesty International's work on the international governmental andnon-governm ental organizational level has concentrated on maintaining themomentum of the Campaign for the Abolition of Torture (CAT). Accordingly,the major initiatives undertaken at the United Nations General Assembly andwith regard to the forthcoming Fifth United Nations Congress on thePrevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders are described in the chap-ter of this report dealing with the cam paign, as are parallel initiatives within theframework of the Council of Europe. Details of other work follow.

United Na tionsAt the 31st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, held in Geneva,3 February -7 March 1975, Al was represented by its perman ent representatives,Henry Jacoby and Freydoun Kadjar, and by Professor Frank C . Newman of Al'sUnited States Section. Portions of the session were also attended by Al SecretaryGeneral Martin Ennals and Legal Adviser Nigel S. Rodley.

Al had previously communicat ed information alleging consistent patterns ofgross and reliably attested violations of human rights in Brazil, Chile, Indonesiaand Namibia. W ith regard to Namibia, the Ad Hoc Working Group already inexistence was authorized to continue its work. A similar group w as set up toinvestigate the situation in Chile with particular reference to torture and cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.

No announcement was made concerning the outcome of private deliberationson a number of cases, including Brazil and Indonesia. However, press reportsindicated that the Brazilian authorities may have been requested to supplyfurther information. The same reports, corroborated by a letter from theIndonesian Ambassador in London to Amnesty International, suggested that noac tion would be taken on Indonesia. Such an omission would be most regret-table.

Al so in private session, the commission requested the Economic and SocialCou ncil (ECOSOC), its parent body with which Al has consultative status, totake measures that would im pose severe restrictions on non-governm entalorganizations (NG0s) comimmicating human rights violations to the UN.


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30 31Fortunately, the ECOSOC meeting of May 1975 confined itself to reminding Or ganization of American StatesNGO's of the rules already in existence and that non-compliance could lead to AI sent further material to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rightsthe suspension or termination of consultative status. of the OAS, with which Al has "cooperative relations", concerning its case

In addition to the communications on human rights violations it submitted regarding deaths and disappearances in Guatemala.to the commission, Al joined other NGOs in written statements calling for an It has also submitted information to the commission on prisoners of con-investigation into the Chilean situation and for recognition of the right to conscience in Haiti, pointing to the rarity of prisoners being brought to trial and thescientious objection. T he latter topic, which the previous 30th session of the absence of fair trial procedures when trials take place. The submission requestscommission had deferred to the 31st session for high priority consideration, has the commission to use its good offices to secure the fair trial or release of theonce again been deferred to the 32nd session for high p riority treatment. listed prisoners.

Meanwhile, Al's communication concerning the floggings in Namibia wasbrought to the attention of the General Assembly's Committee on Decoloniza- Organization of African Unitytion and of the members of the Council for Namibia, and it is to be brought Deputy Secretary General Hans Ehrenstrale and Deputy Head of Researchbefore the Commission's Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on human rights John Humphreys attended the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Coordinationviolations in southern Africa. The floggings have now ceased. In addition, on Committee of the Bureau for the Placement and Education of African Refugees18 July 1974, Malcolm Smart of the International Secretariat's Africa (BPEAR) on which Al has observer status. The session took place in AddisDepartment testified before the Ad Hoc Working Group on huinan rights viola- Ababa from 3-7 February 1975 and provided the occasion for several usefultions throughout southern Africa. meetings with senior officials of the OAU and other African organizations which

could pave the way for increased c ooperation on human rights issues in AfricaUN ESC O in the future. A t its April 1975 meeting, the International Executive CommitteeIn May 1975, the Execut ive Board of UNESCO approved th e application of agreed that Al should increase its grant to BPE AR for use for legal aid to

Al to be granted Category B consultative status with the organization. Al detained African refugees.previously had Categoty C status, called "mutual information relationship". Thenew relationship will permit much greater involvement by Al in UNESCO's pro- Non-Governmental Organizationsgram. Amnesty International has attended n umerous meetings of non-governmentalDuring the year Al had been in corre spondence with UNESCO regarding organizations (NG0s) in New York, Geneva and Strasbourg . Representation isvio lations of educational rights in Uruguay and in the context of general coop- carried out by its perm anent representatives in those cities, but Al's Secretaryeration on the question of torture, with special reference to the development of General and Legal Adviser have also participated on occasion. In addition, therecodes of professional ethics. has, been imp ortant liaison with Paris-based NGOs under the supervision of

International Executive Committee member Marie-Jos Protais.Council of Europe More than 20 broadly representative NGOs have signed the Amnesty Inter-Al was represented at various meeting of the Council of Europe, with which national resolution against torture which will be circulated to those attending

it has consultative status, by IEC member Eric Baker, Secretary G eneral Martin Al's seminars at the Fifth United Nations Cong ress on the Prevention o f CrimeEnnals, Legal Adviser Nigel S.Rodley, CAT coordinator Dick Oosting, and and the Treatment of Offenders being held in Toronto, Canada, in Septem berRoland Fischer, its official representative. The principal area of concern remained 1975. A similar number have signed the Al reso lution on capital punishm entthe question of torture an d the elaboration of a European Code of Police Eth ics. which will be circulated to the congress.The work on police ethics, in which concerned NGOs are playing an important At the September 1974 International Council in Denmark, a special meetingrole, is continuing. Other work on a Council of Europe approach to torture is was held of NGO repre sentatives w ho were attending the council as observers.described in the chapter on CAT. All participants felt that the meeting , which discussed methods of increased col-

Al has manifested its concern that plans to merge the Legal Directorate and laboration, specifically on prisoner-oriented work, was useful and should bethe Human Rights Directorate of the Council of Europe's secretariat should not repeated. The participating NGOs also played an important role in the meetingbe implemented, as this might be interpreted as a downgrading of the council's on the Cam paign for the Abolition of Torture.work on human rights. The section of the report dealing with capital punishment Since then, several organizatkins have passed resolutions pledging theircovers developments in the field at the council. It was confirmed that the council's commitment to work for the abolition of torture, sometimes explicitly referringCommittee of Ministers had agreed to put the question of conscientious objection to collaboration with the Amnesty International campaign , as did the Thirdon its short- and medium-term work program on human rights for the council. European Justice and Peace Conference. It is relevant here to mention that theWhat this will m ean in practice remains to be seen . United Nations Liaison Officer with Non-Governmental Organizations, Curtis


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32Roosevelt, asked the Al secretariat to arrange for a meeting in December 1974at the secretariat of all London-based voluntary organizations.

Amnesty International has itself attended various meetings of other NG Os .These included the Second World Conference on Religion and Peace (1974) heldin Louvain, Belgium; the 10th Congress of the International Asso ciation ofDemocratic Lawyers (1975) in Algiers, as well as the Inte rnational Sem inar ofLawyers on Vietnam (1975) held in Paris by the same organization; the EnlargedMeeting of the Steering Committee of the Continuing L iaison Council of theWorld Congress of Peace Forces (1974) in Moscow; the 24th G eneral Assemblyof the International Press Institute (1975) in Zurich, Switzerland; the 1975Conference of the International Con federation for Disarmam ent and Peace inCan terbury, England; and the 12 th Congress of the Union of Ar ab Lawyers(1974) in Baghdad.

In addition, Secretary General Martin EnnaIs was a principal participant in theWorld Council of Churches Consultat ion on Human Rights and Christian Respon-sibility held 21 -26 October 1974 in St Palten, Austria. Especially close coopera-tion continues to exist with the Inte rnational Commission of Jurists, particularlywith respect to the planning and execution of certain missions.

As a member of Sub-Committee on Racism and Decolonization of the SpecialNGO Committee on Human Rights (Geneva), Al was involved in convening themajor International NG O Conference agains t Apartheid and Colonialism inAfrica, held 2-5 September 1974 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Al wasrepresented at the conference by Clara Olsen, former researcher on southernAfrica and now member of the staff of the UN Commissioner for Namibia (SeanMacBride), and by Freydoun Kadjar of the Swiss Section.

Special mention should be made of the sec ond session of the DiplomaticConference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International H umanitari-an Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts which was convened in Geneva, FebruaryApril 1975, by the Swiss Government in collaboration with the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross. In addition to continuing its work at the conferencethrough the Non-Governmental Organization Working Group on HumanitarianLaw, Al representative Henry Jacoby, who was an observer at the conferen ce,delivered on 2 April 1975 a formal statement by Amnesty International, drawingthe attention of the assembled governments in the conference's first com mitteeto the recommendations made to the conference in the Al report of its missionto investigate conflicting allegations of torture in the Middle East. Of pa rticularimportance was the recommendation that the conference make provision for anautomatic system of independent international investigation into allegations ofinfringements of the Geneva Convention from an y source. This matter will betaken up again by the conference when it reconvenes next year.

Information and PublicationsThr ee new titles were added to Amnesty International's publications list in 1974-75. In September 1974, to coincide with the first anniversary of the coup thatov erthrew the government of Salvador Al lende in Chile, Al pub lished Chile: anAmnesty International Report in both English and Spanish. This i s an 80-pagestudy of the political imprisonment, executions, disappearances, systematic useof torture and abuse of legal procedures by the new military regime.

In April 1975 AI published the 34-p age Report of an Amnesty InternationalMission to Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic to InestigateAllegationsof Ill-Treatment and Torture (see chapter on the Campaign for th e Abolition ofTorture).

In May 1975, Al published a 168-page book comprising the English transla-tions of numbers 28-31 of A Chronicle of Current Events, the samizdat journalof the Soviet movement for the defence of hu man rights in the USSR. Thedecision to resume publication of the ChronicleAlpublished numbers 16through 27 in English before the journal was temporarily suppressed by theKGBwas aken by the International Council at its meeting in Denmark in Sep-tember 1974 after the new numbers had appeared in Moscow. The book, w hichcovers the period October 1972 to May 1974, rec ords the arrests, searches,detentions, trials, deaths and confinement in labour camps and sometimespsychiatric hospitals of intellectual, r eligious and national dissenters in theUSSR.

In addition to the new titles, a revised edition of the Amnesty Internationa lReport on Torture was published in January 1975. This second editionthe firstwas published in Decem ber 1973 and sold out completely within a yearwasupdated to include new material on torture. Dur ing the year of this annualreport, translations of the book ap peared in the Netherlands, France, Jap an,Portugal and Italy, and Greek and German tran slations are in prepara tion. AnAmerican edition was also published.

Sales of all Amnesty International reports increased markedly in 1974-75.Indonesia Special, Report on Allegations of Tortu re in Brazil and the Report ofan Inquiry into Allegations of Ill-Treatment in Northern Ireland hav e all sold outcompletely, the latter two only shortly a fter a new reprint. This reflects efforts


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Prisoners an d urn an Righ tsCount by Country

34made by the Information and PublicationsDepartment to develop better channels ofinternational distribution of AI reports . Thecoo peration of national sec tions in o peningsuch channels in their ow n country is vital tothis new prog ram.

Journal f the Human RIghti Mohamed n the US SR Another innovation during the year arosefrom the IEC-autho rized purchase of an IBM28-31 Com poser for typese tting. The Spanishedition of the ChileRe port, the new editionof A Ch ronicle f Curr ent Ev ents and thisAnnual Report were all type set, designed andlay ed out inside the International Secretariatby departme nt staff.

Efforts were made to increase the gen eralinform ation outflow from the Internat ionalSec retariat. In addition to the 50 new sAmnestyInt Publicatio ns relea ses and a n umber of feature articles

pro duced dur ing the year, individual lists o ftrade union ists, journ alists and women in prison were published and circulatedthroughout the world. Ther e was also an increasing interest shown in the specialSpani sh-languag e bulletin produced for distribution in Latin Ame rica and Spain.Fo r econom ic reasons , however , publication of the bulletin was cut bac k frommonthly to once every two months.After a proposa l by Sean MacBride that Amn esty International sponsor amu ltilingual international magazine devoted entirely to human rights, theInternational Council authorized the International Executive Committee toexamine the proposa l and also Al's entire public information policy. The IECestablished a special committee of internationa l publishing experts for this pur-pose, and the comm ittee's report will be submitted to the m eeting of the councilin St Gallen, Switzerland, in September 1975.Multilingualism in Al's information and publications outf low was taken a stepfurther with an IEC decision in principle to establish a translation and prin tingoperation in Paris to produce more material in French.The depa rtment also produce d the printed Wo rkshopon Hu man Rights:Rep ort and Recomme ndation, the results of the workshop held in London29 November-1 Decemb er 1974 by the Cam paign for the Aboli tion of Torture(see chapte r on CAT ). A new, illustrated CAT leaflet, a new genera l Al leaflet anda leaflet explain ing Al's posi tion on violence were also pro duced. In addition, thedepartment pro duced booklets in English, French and Spanish containing Al'sproposals to the Fifth United Na tions Congress on the Prevent ion of Crime and

the Treatm ent of Offender s, being held in Toronto , Canada, 1-12 Sep tember 1975.

0 "0 0 0

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Introductionby Stephanie Grant, Head of ResearchThis report describes initiatives taken during the past year for the release orrelief of prisoners in 107 countries. In a few instances the issues were new; inothers Ethiopia, Portugal or Mozambiquenew problems arose in familiar situa-tions. But in most countries Amnesty International has continued its traditionalpatterns of action, aimed at the release of prisoners of conscience, the ameliora-tion of legal and penal treatment for all political prisoners and the prevention oftorture and capital punishment.

Between June 1974 and May 1975, 2169 cases were written up for Al groups,and 1,699 of those already under adoption or investigation were released;missions were sent to 31 countries; a major report was produced on Chile, andsubstantive material published on imprisonm ent in India (West Bengal) and psy-chiatric treatment in the Soviet Union. Lists of imprisoned writers, journalists,trade unionists, lawyers and wom en have been prepared in response to appropri-ate international events. Al groups are now working on the cases of 3,650prisoners, a figure which represents only a no minal increase over the year. Thiswas caused by the unprecedentedly high rate of release among adopted prisoners.

The reasons for release have been many. In Por tugal, South Vietnam andGr eece, tens of thousands of prisoners were freed as the direct consequenc e ofradical political change. In South Korea e large-scale amnesty followed intensiveinternationa l pressure, particularly from the United States. In the Soviet Union,wo men prisoners of conscience were released in an amnesty to mark InternationalWomen's Year. In Chile prisoners could leave their prison and their country oncon dition that their air fare was paid. In Bahrein 26 adopted trade unionists werereleased by court decision. In Spain, ome of the "Carabanchel 10"also tradeuni onistsw ere released after a successful appeal attended by internationalobs ervers. A change of law in the Netherlands egarding conscientious objectionben efitted only one prisoner, but assured fu ture freedom to conscientiousobjectors.

Each situation had been a focus of Al activities, but in the majority of cases itis neither accurate nor responsible to trace any causal connection between Al workand release. Nonetheless the pages which follow report a number of instanceswhere adoption, a mission or public ity has been succeeded by the release of a

37pr isoner or the improvement in prison conditions. In each situation, the circum-sta nces and imperatives are different, and assessment is both a sensitive anddifficult procedure. The Research Department is now attem pting to identify thecriteria against which initiatives and organizational techniques can realistically beassessed .

The increasing extent and complexity of Al work is well illustrated by thelist at the end of this annual report of missions undertaken du ring the year. Italso denlc!istrates the operational nature of A l research: most missions originatewith the responsible researcher, who suggests the appropriate nationality andqualifications for each assignment, writes the brief and may accompany thedelegate. Last year delegates representing 18 nationalities carried Al mandates to31 countries. Trials were attended, inter alia, in Lesotho , Spain, Morocco, TunisTunisia, Chile, Yugoslavia, Rhodesia, Namibia and Egypt. Sub stantive legalinquiries were conducted in Ecuador in to the special tribunals), NorthernIreland (into he Emergency Provisions Act), Sr i Lanka (into the Cr iminal JusticeCommissio ns), and in South Korea into political trial procedures). All themission reports made specific recommendations to the governments concerned,and all extended Al's understanding of the legal mechanisms under whichpolitical prisoners are tried.

Th rough the Campaign for the Abolition of Torture, Al national sections andmembers have acted in response to reports of torture in many countries, particu-la rly in La tin America. Appeals against sentence of death have been made forprisoners in, inter alia, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Bulgaria, German DemocraticRepublic, Zambia , South K orea, Chile, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, the UnitedStates of America and several Caribbean countries, and against arbitraryexecutions in Equ atorial Guinea, Uganda and in many parts of Latin America.Al has protested in the strongest terms against the death of prisoners of con-sci ence in the USS R from medical neglect), and their murder in ran.

As Al becomes increasingly recognized internationally as the single source ofobjective information o n political imprisonment, more and more requests forinformat ion are made to the Research Department from outside the Alorgan ization. These can p resent a conflict of priorities. In a single week, aresearcher may have to decide whether the preparation of 20 case sheets onprisoners in the Philippines or South-Korea is likely to have more immediateeffect than the dispatch of a detailed brief to a US Congressman visiting M anilaor Seoul to report on human rights violations in the context of continuingAmerican aid. The two approaches are, at best, complementary, and the ResearchDepartment has discharged its parallel obligations to inform groups and nationalsections and to respond to requests for briefs and information from parliamen-tarians, churchmen and other groups in, for example, Holland, the United Statesor Japan.

The Research Department has been able to meet the needs of the growing Alorganization and also respond to outside demands as a result of a farsightedInternational Executive Committee decision (May 1974) to expand the depart-me nt's staff by 25% and thanks to the financial generosity of national sections.At the end of 1974, several highly qualified researchers and assistants w ererecruited. a number from outside Britain. The 14 present researchers come from


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3810 different countries. In April 1975, the International Executive Committeetook a step of considerable significance when it agreed to establish a formaldocumentation center to provide a professional information retrieval system forthe International Secretariat.

The increase in staff has also enabled the Research Department to wort( o ncountries which hitherto had been neglected because of the practical difficultiesof obtaining information in tightly controlled societies. Research on Cuba hasbeen a priority, and the extension of systematic work on eastern Europe hasresulted in two observer missions to Yugoslavia and a legal intervention to averta d eath sentence in Bulgaria. Between June and December 1974, the number ofadopted cases in "socialist" countries rose by 33%. But, increasingly, the concept ofof political balance is seen in regional rather than global terms. Classic examplesof this are the Syria/Israe l report and the mission to North and South Yemen.

Within the last 18 months, the Al organization h as firmly established itselfoutside Europe. Strong national sections exist in Japan, Australia and the UnitedStates. Field secretaries in South Asia and Latin Am erica have publicized Al workin countries which detain prisoners of conscience. In the past, pressure on theInternational Secreta riat to act came largely from individuals in Germany,Holland or Sweden. Now the appeals may also come from Tokyo or Californiaplaces much closer than London to Taiwan, Mexico and other areas ofimprisonment.

The effect of this development on the Research Department has been toemphasize the paramount importance of maintaining comprehensive and up todate information on cases and problems which may well fall outside the normalgroup work program. In this situation, the quality of research assumes criticalim portance in enabling the International Secretariat to decide the correctresponse to a request for action. When urgent appeals are made for an Alinitiative in response to reported torture or a threatened death sentence, accurateinformation is the single guarantee that the decision will rest on the facts of thesituation itself rather than on the imm ediacy with which the appeal is expressed.

fricaAmnesty International worked luring 1974-75 for prisoners of conscience in37 African countries. Due largely to political developments in the continent,full or partial amnesties were granted in a number o f states.

In Rhodesia, following moves for a political settlement between nationalistgroups and the ruling government of P rime Minister Ian Smith, approximately 80long-term detainees were released in the months following December 1974; but,at the same time, others havebeen detained.

In Morocco, a rap prochenient between King Hassan and the leading oppositionparties created the atmosphere for the release during the last months of 1974 ofmore than 70 adopted prisoners who had been held since September 1973.In Mozambique and Angola, the change of government in Portugal resulted inthe release of prisoners formerly held under the regimeof Dr Marcelo Caetano.

A military coup in Chad freed 172 political prisoners, including A I adoptees,and in M ali, the government of President Moussa Traor promised that 1975 wouldbe a year of national reconciliation marked by the release of political prisoners,and began to im plement this policy with the liberation of 15 detainees in June1975.

All these developments give cause for hope . However, in many areas of thecontinent, there has been a deterioration in the human rights situation in 1974-75.In spite of the releases in Rhodesia, over 250 prisoners remain in detention with-out trial. In South Africa, notwithstanding that country's policy of dtente withind ependent African states, political leaders of the African population have beenarrested, detained for considerable periods and then brou

Amnesty International Reports 1975

Documents

Transcript of Amnesty International Reports 1975