Amnesty International Taiwan
國際特赦組織台灣分會
Amnesty International is a global human rights organization with 10 million supporters, advocating for the most comprehensive range of human rights issues worldwide. Guided by international human rights standards, we promote human rights through research, advocacy, and education.
We publish rigorous, independent reports and launch global advocacy campaigns based on our findings. These campaigns exert pressure on relevant authorities through worldwide petitions, policy lobbying, and by urging the United Nations and the international community to take action in accordance with international law. We also serve as a special adviser to the United Nations.
Since our founding in 1961, we have learned that the key to changing the world lies in ordinary people who believe in the power of change.
A global movement of millions began with a simple act of conscience. In 1961, a British human rights lawyer courageously stood up to defend two Portuguese students who had been unjustly imprisoned by an authoritarian regime for expressing their views. This marked the beginning of a global campaign to support prisoners of conscience—individuals imprisoned for their political views, race, gender, skin color, language, ethnicity, social origin, economic status, sexual orientation, religion, or other deeply held beliefs.
As early as the White Terror period, Amnesty International had been urging the international community to pay attention to Taiwan’s human rights situation. We collected information and conducted investigations on more than a hundred prisoners of conscience. In October 1976, we published our first formal report on Taiwan, which prompted then-Premier Chiang Ching-kuo to acknowledge the existence of 254 prisoners of conscience in Taiwan.
Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its broad work in the field of human rights, having "contributed to securing the foundations of freedom, justice, and peace in the world." We also declared that year as the "Year of the Prisoner of Conscience."
Amnesty International was awarded the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for its “outstanding contribution to the promotion of human rights.”
During Taiwan’s martial law period, civil society organizations were banned. After martial law was lifted in 1987, Amnesty International and its overseas members began visiting Taiwan to explore the possibility of local organizing. By late 1989, AI groups were established in Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. The Taiwan Section was officially founded in 1994 and renamed in 1999.
Since then, we have grown alongside Taiwan’s democratization, working with local civil society to promote human rights and stand in solidarity with the oppressed worldwide. Once a recipient of international support, Taiwan now plays an active role in the global human rights movement.