Amnesty International has found itself at the centre of a remarkable controversy after publishing – and then withdrawing – a report that accused Catholic and Christian non-profits of being part of an alleged “anti-rights movement”. The episode has raised uncomfortable questions, not simply about Amnesty’s internal processes, but about the disturbing mission drift the organisation has undergone since its founding.
The founder of Amnesty International, Peter Benenson, was himself a convert to Catholicism, which had a strong, lasting influence on his life. He said he first came up with the idea for Amnesty on November 19, 1960, when he read that two Portuguese students had been sentenced to seven years in prison for allegedly “having drunk a toast to liberty” under Salazar’s dictatorship. Peter’s indignation at this gross injustice precipitated the founding of Amnesty – and gave rise to the organisation’s enduring practice of raising a “toast to freedom” to conclude its meetings. Benenson published the now-famous appeal, “The Forgotten Prisoners”, on the front page of the Observer in 1961.
