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| Company type | Non-Governmental Organisation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Human Rights |
| Founded | 1991, South Africa |
| Headquarters | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Products | Research, Campaigning, Advocacy, Lobbying. |
| Revenue | R?(2005) |
Number of employees | 10 |
| Website | www.amnesty.org.za |
Amnesty International South Africa (AISA) is a South African organisation that works to end human rights abuses along with its affiliate organization Amnesty International.
Amnesty International South Africa was founded in 1990 and grew from modest beginnings to become a key player in South Africa's transition to democracy and an important part of Amnesty's international movement, hosting the Amnesty International ICM in 1997. Today Amnesty International South Africa continues to campaign on multiple fronts including human rights education, women's rights, arms control and Zimbabwe.
Amnesty International did not have a group presence in South Africa up to the end of the 1980s because mixed race meeting were not allowed under the apartheid regime. However, there were individual members linked to London. It was only in 1990 when the local situation improved with a reduction in repression and the unbanning of the ANC and its allied organisations, that the International Secretariat allowed the formation of groups in the country.
In 1990–92, four groups started around the country - Port Elizabeth was the first group, followed by Durban, Pietermartizburg and Pretoria. Members from these groups met in 1993 to form a national coordinating committee (some representatives Piotr Nowosad and Linda Stiebel). By that time there were additional groups in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Grahamstown. A national office was opened in Cape Town in 1995 and this moved to Pretoria in 1998. By that time a Board had taken the place of the NCC. A director was appointed for the first time in 2001.
Amnesty South Africa's achievements in the 1990s included lobbying to abolish the death penalty; developing a national police human rights training programme focusing on children's rights; and lobbying to stop South African arms sales to states such as Turkey, Rwanda and Burundi, whose human rights records were questionable. In 1995 Pierre Sane, Amnesty International's secretary general, visited South Africa and met the deputy president Thabo Mbeki to discuss human rights abuses in South Africa, Nigeria and the African Great Lakes region. In 1997, Amnesty South Africa hosted the international movement's ICM meeting in Cape Town, also attended by nobel prizewinner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
In 2006 the membership at the AGM voted for the Programme for Growth which allowed the International Mobilisation Fund, based at the International Secretariat, to take over governance and management of the organisation for a period of 2–3 years.
Amnesty International South Africa campaigns strongly to end gender-based violence, the protection of human rights defenders, climate change and education, to name a few areas. You can read more about Amnesty International South Africa’s campaigns here.
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.
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No Land! No House! No Vote! is a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking. The name is meant to imply that if government does not deliver on issues important to affected communities these movements will not vote.
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The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) [previously known as Forum-Asia] is a membership-based regional human rights organisation with 85 member organisations in 23 countries across Asia. It is committed to the promotion and protection of all human rights including the right to development.
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The Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) later known as the Institute for Democracy in South Africa was a South African-based think-tank organisation that was formed in 1986 by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Alex Boraine. Its initial focus from 1987 was creating an environment for white South Africans to talk to the banned liberation movement in-exile, the African National Congress (ANC) prior to its unbanning in 1990 by the President F. W. de Klerk. After the South African election in 1994, its focus was on ensuing the establishment of democratic institutions in the country, political transparency and good governance. Caught up in a funding crisis after the Great Recession, it closed in 2013.
GALZ An Association of LGBTI People in Zimbabwe is an organisation established in 1990 in Harare to serve the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Zimbabwe. GALZ's vision is "a just society that promotes and protects human rights of LGBTI people as equal citizens in Zimbabwe".
Amnesty International Nepal was founded in Nepal in 1969 by Nutan Thapaliya as an affiliate of the global human rights movement Amnesty International. Two years later, AI Nepal received the status of a "section" at the International Council Meeting (ICM) of Amnesty International in 1971. Due to the difficult environment caused by the repressive Panchyat regime and other difficulties, AI Nepal was dissolved as a Section in 1982. However, the Amnesty movement survived and continued on in Nepal at the membership level. After the restoration of democracy in 1990, the AI movement gained further strength in Nepal, and a Coordinating Structure led by Mr Chitra Niraula was constituted by the International Secretariat. The AI movement in Nepal was again recognized as a Section of Amnesty International in 1993. Currently, AI Nepal has over seven thousand active members affiliated through its various local structures such as Groups and Youth Networks.
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