Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IO Paper
IO Paper
Development Studies
The power of
Amnesty International
as a non-governmental
organization
2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 3
List of Abbreviations 5
1.Introduction 6
1.2 Relevance 7
2. Literature review 12
3. Theoretical framework 14
4. Methodological Framework 18
3
5. Background 22
6. Findings 29
7. Analysis 40
8. Conclusion 49
Reference list 52
4
List of Abbreviations
UN - United Nations
5
1. Introduction
The NGOs have become an important player for many, because through
them billions of dollars are distributed to various development partnerships
in the developing countries (Tvedt, 1998). There is a picture of them being
independent and that they therefore can be involved in the work of creating a
balance between the state and the market (Edwards, 2004; Tvedt, 2006).
They are also considered to be important as they can be involved in bringing
forward voices and opinions from both marginalized and minority groups
around the world (Tvedt, 2006).
6
Amnesty International is one of the largest international NGOs working to
promote human rights, emphasizing that all the people in the world are born
free and of equal value. However, around the world, many people live in fear
and oppression where their rights are not upheld. Amnesty International
works therefore to prevent and put an end to serious violations of human
rights (Amnesty International - Who we are, 2020) with help of naming and
shaming campaigns with hope that the governments will be pressured to
change the human right situationen in their country (Meernik et al, 2012).
Considering the high numbers of human rights abuses that occur daily all
over the world, there are only some nations that receive attention from
Amnesty International (Meernik et al, 2012). Some countries that are guilty
for many horrible abuses will never get any publicity, while there are other
countries who are responsible for only a few abuses that will get much more
attention (Hafner-Burton, 2008).
Therefore there are reasons to investigate and try to understand why some
countries get condemned by Amnesty International, while others do not. This
thesis will try to understand how much power the stakeholders have when it
comes to Amnesty International choices of cases.
1.2 Relevance
In the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan have been provided
for how to create peace and prosperity in the world will be done. The goals
includes equality between the genders, reducing of inequalities and
promoting of peaceful and inclusive societies (UN, 2020). To achieve these
sustainable development goals, it is recognized that human rights is an
essential part of the work, (OHCHR, 2020) since many of the Sustainable
development goals are based on the human rights (UNDP, 2019).
7
Amnesty International works to promote human rights and therefore it is
important to achieve the Sustainable development goals 2030. However,
Amnesty International can not work with all the human rights abuses that
occur, which forces Amnesty International to take different choices
regarding which issues and cases they want to focus on (Meernik et al,
2012).
The objective of this thesis is to make a qualitative case study on the NGO
Amnesty International. The aim of the study is to gain a deeper knowledge
on how Amnesty International chooses their cases, with a focus on the
relationships that exist between Amnesty International and its stakeholders.
The thesis will therefore analyze on how different stakeholders and interests
affects Amnesty Internationals focus and work.
8
1.5 Analytical framework
As an analytical framework for exploring how much power the outside have
when it comes to Amnesty International choses cases, this research will use
the Stakeholder theory. The stakeholder theory is based on understanding
that there are different interests and views in an organization that will affect
its work. There are also outside parties who may have an interest in the work
of an organization, which means that even there it will be a contributing
factor to how the focus on the work of the organization will be distributed.
Based on the stakeholder theory, various criteria, such as "Freeman’s five
different types of stakes; economic, technical, political, social and
leadership" and "the classification of the stakeholders as primary or
secondary stakeholders" will be used to analyze the NGO Amnesty
International. The first aspect of the criterion of the theory "Freeman’s five
different types of stakes; economic, technical, political, social and
leadership" is about different stakes, which can be used to understand the
causes and effects of a relationship between an organization and their
stakeholders. The second aspect the classification of the stakeholders as
primary or secondary stakeholders” concerns the criterion for classifying the
stakeholders, which is based on the stakeholders' own position and interest in
relation to the organization's positions. This analytical framework will be
used as a guide to increase the understanding of Amnesty International, and
thereby helping to improve the knowledge of NGOs.
9
International will be understood by using a theory, with the aim to examining
how powerful Amnesty International really is in improving human rights in
the world. Since this study will be focusing on qualitative methods, a case
study will be applied. A case study is good to use since it will provide a
deeper understanding of the chosen case. As for the data that will be used in
the study, it will be based on secondary sources. This means that the results
of the study's research will be limited to the data collected by others on the
subject. The secondary sources that are used comes mainly from reports and
other written documents from the NGO Amnesty International. It should also
be borne in mind when using information from others, the author writes from
her own perspective, which means that texts and information can be
influenced in the form of what focus and emphasis is placed on.
10
really is. Other aspects such as whether or not Amnesty International is
needed will therefore not be included in this study.
11
2. Literature review
The existing literature and research regarding the NGOs work for better
human rights have been developed over the years. Knowledge and
understanding of NGOs has been broaden and deepen, but literature
regarding why NGOs chooses to focus on particular countries and cases and
which factors that are behind those choices are still limited to some extend.
Despite this high level of public trust in NGOs, Stroup and Wong claims in
the book ”The Authority trap: Strategic choices of International NGOs” that
”in order to retain their authority, INGOs such as Greenpeace, Oxfam, and
Amnesty International refrain from expressing radical opinions that severely
damage their long-term reputation”. They argue that NGOs must pay a high
price, in forms of compromises and priorities, in order to retain the power
they have developed over the years to be involved and a part of the decision-
making. The power the NGOs have are therefore used to make small-bore
reforms instead of major radical changes, to maintain the equilibrium that is
needed to preserve their status (Stroup and Wong, 2017).
12
Gent et al (2015) also describes how the reputation of non-governmental
organizations plays a significant role in promoting their operations. NGOs
are dependent on their donors to survive, while on the other hand, donors
need NGOs to pursue a political goal. A bad reputation for a NGO could be a
catastrophe and could, because of that, mean that there will be changes and
re-prioritisations in the NGOs political cases and goals, in order to not risk a
deteriorating of reputation.
Based on this, there is a lack of major and significant research on how the
NGOs' relationships with their stakeholders affect their work and operations.
A gap in the research can be identified, and this study will therefore try to
investigate how NGOs, which in this case is represented by Amnesty
International, are affected by different stakeholders in terms of influencing
their focus and work.
13
3. Theoretical framework
This chapter presents the chosen analytical framework for this study, which
is the Stakeholder Theory. Different parts of the theory have been
categorized below where they will be introduced and discussed in different
ways, in order to then present the criteria that exist in the theory and that will
be used in the research.
14
companies, family businesses and non-profit organizations in order for the
application of the theory to be more comprehensive and better (Freeman et
al, 2003).
According to Donaldson and Preston (1995), there are three different aspects
of the Stakeholder theory: descriptive, instrumental and normative. These
three different aspects are very related to each other, but on the other hand
quite different as they are used for different types of evidence and arguments.
The normative Stakeholder theory can be seen as the core of the theory. The
objective of the normative Stakeholder theory is to answering questions such
as ”What are the responsibilities of the company in respect of stakeholders?”
and “Why should companies take care of other interests?”. This aspect of the
theory can therefore be considered to be linked to the moral and value issues
that exist within an organization when it comes to achieving different goals
(Donaldson and Preston, 1995). For Freeman, great emphasis is placed on
the moral dimension that exists in every organizational theory. The
relationship that exists between an organization and the stakeholders is
largely based on moral commitments. For the organization, this relationship
can be valuable because it is a reflection on which values and principles that
the organization considers to be important. All organizations should
therefore define the basic moral principles they want to adopt and then use
these principles as a basis for making decisions (Freeman, 1984).
15
3.3 Identification and classification of stakeholders
16
social stake as an organization's social status and the public opinion about an
organization contribute and influence the political process in order for a
social purpose to be achieved. Based on an organization view from the
political stake, an organization can either help or damage stakeholders
chances of succeeding in a political area. When it comes to the management
stake, stakeholders can influence an organization's management system by
forcing them to change how they lead and manage their operations and even
may also be forced to change their own values (Freeman, 1984).
There are also different criteria for being able to classify the stakeholders,
which is based on the stakeholders position according to the organizations
point of view and the type of issues that the various stakeholders promote.
There are different models used to classify the stakeholders depending on the
type of classification you are looking for. It can be an evaluation of the role
or power of the stakeholders to what threat they may pose to the organization
(Freeman, 1984). Clarkson classifies the stakeholders by dividing them into
groups of either primary or secondary stakeholders. The stakeholders that are
classified in the primary group are stakeholders who have a formal or official
bond to the organization, where stakeholders can directly influence the
success of the organization. The stakeholders who are classified in the
secondary group are stakeholders who do not have as strong ties to the
organization, such as the media and various interest groups. The big
difference between the primary and secondary stakeholder group is that the
primary group has more power to influence an organization, to either success
or failure which the secondary stakeholder group does not have (Clarkson,
1995).
17
4. Methodological Framework
In this chapter, the methodological framework for this qualitative case study
of Amnesty International’s powerfulness and effectiveness will be explained
and justified. It will begin with an explanation of the choice of case study
and the abductive approach. Then the sources and their validity will be
discussed, which is finally followed by a discussion of limitations and
delimitations in the research.
The chosen research method for this study will be a qualitative case study at
the NGO Amnesty International. Making the study a case study is useful
because it makes it possible to increase the understanding of how powerful
and effective a NGO really is. According to Saunders et al (2009) “The case
study will be of particular interest to you if you wish to gain a rich
understanding of the context of the research and the process being enacted”.
It is also emphasized that the case study method is good for finding answers
to "what", "how" and "why" questions, which is necessary in a descriptive
and investigative research.
18
made, examines how and why these decisions are implemented and analyzes
why various decisions have been taken (Thomas and Mohan, 2015).
To examine the question ”How does the relationship look like between
Amnesty International and the state they are working in?”, three different
cases will be discussed and analyzed. These three different cases are; the
conflict between Israel and Palestine, the human rights actions in India and
the abortion laws in Ireland. In all these cases, Amnesty International has
been and worked in, but they have developed in completely different ways.
This means that the choice of these three cases shows very different but clear
aspects of Amnesty International's power as a NGO.
19
Stakeholder theory. When it comes to a social science research, the rule is
usually a theory or a interpretive framework (Danermark et al, 2002).
As for the data that will be used in the study, it will be based on secondary
sources. This means that the results of the study will be limited to the
information collected from other researchers and experts on the subject. The
type of sources that will be collected and used for searching for data on
Amnesty International's work will be largely from reports written by
Amnesty International itself. Articles and research will also be used from
newspapers such as Foreign Policy and the BBC. When studying and using
documents that are written from Amnesty International themselves, one must
keep in mind that they have their perspective on the subject, which can affect
what information is studied and highlighted in the texts. There needs to be an
awareness of why the document was written and what the purpose of the
information is (George and Bennett, 2005).
The data collected for the study comes largely from electronic databases such
as Google Scholar and OneSearch, but also from articles and reporters from
Amnesty International.
20
4.4 Limitations and Delimitations
As for the limitation of this method and study, it is about that this research
will only be focusing on the NGO Amnesty International, which means that
the work will not be representative of all the NGOs working to improve
human rights in the world. There is also a delimitation in that the thesis will
focus on how powerful and effective Amnesty International's work for
human rights is. This means that other aspects such as whether Amnesty
International is needed or not or what Amnesty International can do to
improve their work will not be included in this thesis.
21
5. Background
This chapter will begin with a description of the concept of NGOs in general
and then have a background on both Amnesty International's emergence and
development over the years and how the structure within Amnesty
International looks like.
Tvedt (1998), on the other hand, states that NGOs should not be categorized
in a politically or culturally charged way, such as "independent
organizations" or "private voluntary organizations". The use of these terms is
not considered to capture the full spectrum of different organizations as the
22
terms are context dependent and there is no information about their
connections to the other parts of the society.
Since NGOs exist in all forms, from both small to large and local to
international organizations, I believe that Tvedt's definition of NGOs is broad
enough to capture all these different kinds of NGO. Tvedt's definition of
NGOs also sets clear boundaries, which does that this study will be based on
his definition.
In the year 1961, two Portuguese students took a toast for freedom and
because of this act, they were both sentenced to seven years in prison. For
the British lawyer Peter Benenson, this verdict was very outrageous and he
wrote to the British newspaper, The Observer, with the aim to launch an
international campaign to protect the "forgotten prisoners", and try to get
amnesty for the prisoners of conscience that existed around the world
(Amnesty International - Handbook, 2002).
Peter Benenson wanted that all the people around the world would protest
against the governments to force them to make an action and change. The
Observer magazine listened to this idea and released a full-length film with
23
the name The Forgotten Prisoners where ”The Forgotten Prisoners called on
people everywhere to protest – impartially and peacefully – against the
imprisonment of men and women around the world for their political or
religious beliefs” (Amnesty International - Handbook, 2002).
The campaign with the film ”The Forgotten Prisoners” aroused an enormous
attention. In one month, more than a thousand people had sent letters to show
their support and commitment. After six months, a group began to form an
international movement with supporters from all over the world. The new
organization created national bodies in countries and made representations
on the conditions for imprisoned persons. The purpose of the organization
was to review the international protection of the existence of the human
rights with the principle of impartiality and independence (Amnesty
International - Handbook, 2002).
Over the years, the organization called Amnesty International grew larger
and in the year 1977 their work was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. In
the year 1978, Amnesty International was also honored with the UN Human
Rights Award (Amnesty International - Handbook, 2002).
Today, Amnesty International has been around for more than 50 years and
have more than 7 million followers worldwide. They have gone from being a
large London-based organization to having regional offices in both Africa,
the Asia-Pacific region, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the
Middle East. Their campaigns to establish an International Criminal Court
(ICC) paid off when it was introduced in the year 2002 to bring those
responsible for crimes such as genocide and war crimes to justice (Amnesty
International - Who we are, 2020).
24
Amnesty International has become an important and respected organization
in improving the human rights of people around the world. They often act in
international debates on human rights issues and participate in work for
governments and other organizations. Amnesty International's goal is to fight
for a world where human rights are respected and can be enjoyed by all the
people and will fight for this to become a reality (Amnesty International -
Handbook, 2002).
25
taken (Amnesty International - Handbook, 2002). Amnesty International -
Structure and people (2020) describes the role of the International Secretariat
as follows;
26
To provide guidance and the provision of leadership, Amnesty International
has an International Board. The International Board is the unit that is
ultimately responsible for ensuring that the organization fulfills its
assignments and visions. It works to ensure that Amnesty International
complies its statutes and is involved in formulating strategic plans. In
addition, it reviews the finances and makes decisions on structural changes at
international level. (Amnesty International - International Board, 2020).
At national and local level, there are different country sections working for
Amnesty International. These country sections are found in over 70 countries
around the world. The tasks for the country sections is according to Amnesty
International - Structure and people (2020) following:
27
- Recruiting new supporters for the organization
- Conducting own research projects focusing on human rights abuses in
their own country – this must be developed from research work carried out
by and is agreed by the International Board.
The country sections consist of members who come from smaller local
groups, such as from a city or a university. The various groups are bound by
the vision of Amnesty International and works for the assignments that
Amnesty International has taken on to work for, but the groups still have
their own choices when it comes to the way they want to carry out
campaigns and fundraising. The groups also have the power to be involved
and influence when it comes to making decisions within Amnesty
International, as they can participate in the annual general meetings and
contribute to the international consultations (Amnesty International -
Structure and people, 2020).
28
6. Findings
This chapter contain data collected on the non-governmental organization
Amnesty International that will be examined and discussed in a structured
way based on the two research questions: ”How much power do the
stakeholders have when it comes to which cases Amnesty International
chooses to fight and campaign for?” and ”How does Amnesty International's
work get affected depending on how much power the stakeholders have?”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the human rights that
are fundamental for a human to be able to live with dignity and development
(Amnesty International - Handbook, 2002).
29
- Civil rights such as equality for everyone infront of the law and the right
to be able to love whoever you want
30
From the beginning, until the year 1973, Amnesty International's main focus
was on counteracting the death penalty. This focus then expanded in the year
1974, when they chose to also focusing on demanding fair trials for the
prisoners held on political grounds. In the year 1979, the expansion
continued, to also including demand the cessation of all extrajudicial killings
based on political reasons.This expansion of the mandate in Amnesty
International made that the insiders started to be worried about their
development, that Amnesty International took on issues that were too far
from their original focus and mandate. Sir Nigel Rodley, Amnesty
International's first legal adviser, noted that ”it was unsustainable for
[Amnesty], on the one hand, to insist that, for example, prisoners of
conscience be released, while ignoring on the other hand, lethal action by
which States could circumvent the need to imprison in the first place” (SIM
Utrecht, 2011).
31
In the article ”Why Are the United States and Israel at the Top of Human
Rights Hit Lists?”, a survey was conducted to see which factors affected the
selected cases of the NGOs. Based on the results of the survey larger
countries got more scrutiny from NGOs such as Amnesty International.
However, the size of the population did not seem to play a particularly large
role, but countries with larger economies received more focus and coverage
from Amnesty International. Something that can be explained based on that
”they carried more weight in global politics and economic affairs, or because
their abundant social infrastructure produced more accounts of abuse”. The
results also showed that countries that were in the media's focus received
more attention from Amnesty International. Because Amnesty International
wants to improve its power and efficiency, they will have to respond to the
media interest, as ”supply rises with demand; the more journalists who ask
about a country, the more information watchdogs will supply” (Foreign
Policy, 2009).
32
6.2 The affecting on Amnesty International's work
33
It was in November in the year 2012 that a lots of rockets were fired at the
Israeli civilian population, which resulting in that several people being
injured. The attack came from the Hamas, which is the Islamic Resistance
Movement, but no statement condemning the attack came from Amnesty
International. Amnesty International only issued a statement after Israel
resisted the Palestinian attack and killing Hamas' military chief of staff
Ahmed al-Ja'abari. Amnesty International issued the following statement on
the incident from Israel: “Israel’s assassination of Ahmad al-Ja’abari, the
head of Hamas’ military wing has placed civilians in Gaza and southern
Israel at grave risk by re-igniting the armed conflict there.” Thus, Amnesty
International does not blame the Hamas attack, but only condemns Israel for
violating the international humanitarian law (NGOMonitor, 2012a).
34
In the year 2012, Amnesty International also released a publication in which
it notes that Israelis imprisoning Palestinians without any form of trial.
Amnesty International wanted to campaign about the situation of the
Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Palestine and therefore try to
direct attention and political pressure on Israel. The publication that Amnesty
International released reporting on the situation of the Palestinians was
largely based on testimonies from the Palestinians themselves. There were
also no checks in the report that the accusations in fact were true or what the
Israeli government's responded to this (NGOMonitor, 2012b).
35
forces and the armed groups where it is about everything from murder, rape
and various disappearances. The authorities in the Jammu and Kashmir area
do not work for human rights themselves, but have itself been involved in the
human rights violations by deciding on long-term curfews. These exit
restrictions have been described by Amnesty International as ”restrict
people’s movement, mobile and internet service shutdowns curb free
expression, and protestors often face excessive force and the use of abusive
weapons such as pellet-firing shotguns” (Amnesty International, 2020b). In
India, there is also a major problem regarding the widespread violence
against women and girls. Many women and girls in the country live under
discrimination and violence every day, in both public areas but also in
private areas such as in their own homes. It is worst affected for the women
and girls in the marginalized groups such as the Dalit and Adivasi. Due to
their marginalization in the country, their ability to dare to make their voices
heard and hence be able to demand justice is very limited. The gender-based
violence that takes place against women and girls in India is underreported as
there are systemic and social obstacles such as for example the
marginalization in the country that make changes difficult to implement
(Amnesty International, 2020c).
36
There is a great deal of disagreement between the NGO Amnesty
International and the country of India. Amnesty International's various
offices in India have been looted several times when statements or reports
have been made with accusations against the Government of India. India has
strict laws regarding foreign-funded non-profit organizations, with a
particular focus on human rights organizations. Amnesty International has
been repeatedly scrutinized by the country's various authorities, where bank
account freezes have been implemented. However, this freezing of bank
accounts was according to Amnesty International ”the final straw” (BBC,
2020).
In the country of Ireland there was one of the world's most stringent laws
when it comes to performing an abortion. A woman could only undergo an
abortion if there was evidence that her own life would be risked in
connection with a birth. In the year 1983, Ireland held a referendum which
adopted provisions that "the unborn human" had the same right to life as the
pregnant woman. Due to this constitutional provision, access to both abortion
and health care for pregnant women became severely limited (Amnesty
International, 2017).
In the year 1992, a case occurred in Ireland where a 15-year-old girl had
become pregnant after being raped. The 15-year-old girl wanted to have an
37
abortion but was denied because it was forbidden to perform an abortion in
her case. The result for the girl was instead that she chose to commit suicide.
Following this case, the Supreme Court of Ireland chose to reinterpret and
amend the existing provisions on abortion. The Supreme Court ruled that the
provisions should be changed so that pregnant women had the right to have
an abortion if their lives, but not their health, were in danger, including if
there was a risk of suicide (Amnesty International, 2017).
38
In May the year 2018 in Ireland, a historic referendum was held where it
became clear that the country would legalize abortion. The new abortion law
means that Ireland offers;
- A free, safe and legal abortion for most people who require it
- Permits abortion on request to 12 weeks
- Abortion beyond 12 weeks can be performed under limited circumstances
Amnesty International's work showed that change can take place. The
country Ireland, which a few years ago had one of the most stringent
abortion laws in the world, has today changed its abortion laws. In Ireland
today, abortions are provided by more than 300 doctors and a majority of the
maternity hospitals in the country perform abortions (The Conversation,
2020).
39
7. Analysis
40
very different. In all the countries in which Amnesty International operates,
there is a unique relationship between Amnesty International and the
country. This is the basis for what the human rights situation looks like in the
chosen country and what view and opinion the country's government has
towards an improvement in the human rights.
In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, their relationship with
Amnesty International can be described as a political stake based on both
sides. As a NGO, Amnesty International has been attacked for being biased
towards Palestine and anti-Israel in its reporting (NGOMonitor, 2020). From
the Israeli side, this attack on Amnesty International, claiming that they are
anti-Israel, may be favorable to them as it may lead to that the outside world
gaining more sympathy for them and that they are considered to need more
support in the conflict. Amnesty International has made reports in which it
has been critical of Palestine, such as when it called on the UN Security
Council to impose an international arms embargo on both Israel and
Palestine (Amnesty International, 2012a). The critical part of reporting
against Palestine has been somewhat overshadowed, which will lead to
consequences such as that Amnesty International's reliability will deteriorate.
41
an interest in wanting to help Palestine succeed and win against Israel in the
conflict.
In this case, Amnesty International has been working in the ongoing conflict
between Israel and Palestine. This conflict has been going on for a long time
and people from the both sides have been injured and killed. However,
Amnesty International's work has developed into a complicated task since
the media and the Israeli side have attacked the organization for being biased
towards Palestine and anti Israel in its reporting. For Amnesty International's
own members, supporters and activists, this means that it will be difficult to
carry out any form of actions against any of the sides. An action for the
Israeli side, for example, can been perceived as Amnesty International
wanting to change the media's stamp of them, while an action for the
Palestinian side could been perceived as Amnesty International continuing to
be biased against Palestine. In this case, the media has shown great power in
the development of Amnesty International's work, which may be a basis for
how the public in both Israel and Palestine and around the world perceives
Amnesty International as a NGO.
42
India, which has resulted in that the Government of India have decided to
freeze Amnesty International's assets in its bank accounts. This decision has
meant that Amnesty International's operations in the country have been
forced to cease and that all the staff in the country have been forced to lay off
together with all the campaign and research work being forced to close down
(Amnesty International, 2020a).
When it comes to the various stakeholders in the conflict, it seems that the
government in India has the most power to be able to influence Amnesty
International's work. Parts of the population (minority groups and women) in
43
India lives with their human rights being violated every day, but based on the
country's social barriers such as marginalization, these violations will not be
taken seriously. For a large part of the population, such as men, human rights
are perceived to work well. The large part of the violations that exists in the
country comes from the men and it is also the men who have the power in
India. Amnesty International's work to try to improve human rights is
therefore difficult, as the people in power in the country are not willing to
make a difference. Although Amnesty International's own members,
supporters and activists works hard, the organization does not have that
power to change a country's view without a government's own willingness to
change.
In the case of Ireland and their strict abortion laws described in Chapter
5.5.3, Amnesty International has worked hard to change these laws and make
abortion in Ireland more legal. Amnesty International launched various
campaigns to reach out to the people of the country about how a change in
abortion was needed and some years later the country had a referendum
where a legal abortion stood as the winner (The Conversation, 2020). This
work Amnesty International was able to carry out in connection with making
abortion legal in Ireland shows how Amnesty International's relationship
with Ireland is an example of a social stake.
The social stake that can be seen in the relationship between Amnesty
International and Ireland shows how Amnesty International, with the help of
stakeholders, were able to change the country's opinion and position
regarding the abortion issue. A large part of the female population in Ireland
felt that the abortion laws were too harsh in the country, which made that
44
they were forced to seek help abroad to get help with basic health care. As
these harsh abortion laws were a violation of the human rights and there were
pressure from the people of Ireland, Amnesty International chose to focus on
this issue. Amnesty International chose to take a stand on Ireland's abortion
law by campaigning for a legal abortion in Ireland. The work Amnesty
International contributed with, together with the population, got pressure that
the abortion issue gained even a greater focus also by the media. All this
pressure and focus together made that the Irish government felt pressured to
make a change, as can be seen in their choice to hold a new referendum
regarding the issue of legal abortion.
From the beginning, Amnesty International had only its main focus on
countering the death penalty, but over time the organization chose to expand
the focus to also include fairer trials and to demand that all the extrajudicial
killings that was based on political reasons should be repealed. Amnesty
International's work was very limited and they felt that they therefore had to
45
broaden their focus and work in order to survive. Due to this limitation,
Amnesty International had to increase its membership base in order to retain
the power they had created as a human rights organization (SIM Utrecht,
2011).
46
explains how the media has created awareness of this conflict and that
Amnesty International must therefore engage in the conflict itself in order to
respond to demand from the outside. The publication showed on
deficiencies, but that Amnesty International had to found information to
write about in order to provide information to both the media and the people.
Everything so that the popularity of Amnesty International popularity would
not deteriorate.
47
speaking out strongly against the country's government and making
publications with reports on the serious violations that are going on in the
country. In response to Amnesty International's work on change, the
Government of India has chosen to freeze the organization's accounts and
forcing Amnesty International's operations to cease. As a result, all staff in
the country will be forced to resign and all the campaigns and research work
will have to be shut down (BBC, 2020). The government of countries, as are
primary stakeholder, has a very large power that are absolutely crucial for
Amnesty International's work in their chosen countries. Hence, Amnesty
International is forced to be influenced and take into account the
governments thoughts in order for their operations and work to be able to
live on.
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8. Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to examine how powerful and effective the
NGO Amnesty International really is in its work to improve human rights in
the world. The NGO Amnesty International was chosen because it is one of
the largest international NGOs working today to promote human rights.
Amnesty International as an NGO is independent from both governments
and corporations, and also from politics, economy and religion. They have a
non-profit basis which means that the organization is based on its volunteers,
supporters and activists. This in turn means that it is the organization itself
that, based on research and analyzes by experts from Amnesty International's
own headquarters, the International Secretariat (IS), chooses which topics
and countries Amnesty International should invest in and try to achieve a
change in. It is then up to the Global Assembly to approve a global strategy
to be used to achieve their chosen missions. The International Board section
has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the organization fulfills these
assignments. At national and local level, there are then smaller groups who
are working and campaigning for Amnesty International's selected missions.
From the findings of the study, it can be concluded (research question ”How
much power do the stakeholders have when it comes to which cases
Amnesty International chooses to fight and campaign for?”) that Amnesty
International had from the beginning a vision about a world where all people
should be able to enjoy the human rights. Based on this vision, Amnesty
International has worked to stop human rights violations by putting pressure
on governments where the violations occur. Amnesty International has
chosen to focus their work on counteracting government abuses carried out
in connection with the death penalty and imprisonment of prisoners of
conscience. However, over the years, Amnesty International has broadened
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its focus to address all kind of human rights violations that have arisen. This
expansion was the basis for Amnesty International, which is dependent on its
supporters, to maintain its large membership base and popularity in the
world. Due to this, Amnesty International chose to prioritize issues and
topics differently depending on the interest from the outside. This means that
it became the issues and topics that the media have the most focus on and
that the public has the greatest interest in that receive the most attention from
Amnesty International.
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International's bank accounts in the country shows how much power certain
stakeholders may have on Amnesty International as an actor.
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