Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"With more than one million members in 160 countries, it receives information from all manner of sources about human rights abuses and then campaigns for reform. It is difficult to think of a government that has not been embarrassed by Amnesty’s reports one way or another—the USSR and the People’s Republic of China for cracking down on dissidents, Britain for abuses in Ulster, the United States for police brutality, Arab states for cruel punishments and the denial of basic human rights to women, Sierra Leone for arbitrary killings, Israel for its excessive force in the Gaza Strip, Indonesia for political “disappearances.” In 1977, Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. To its critics, Amnesty International is too interfering, too judgmental, too quick to take the case of the victim and not of the authorities, who may have genuine security reasons for, say, imposing martial law. Its local enthusiasms and self-promotion may outweigh prudence." [Kennedy: Parliament of Man, Kindle Edition, Location 3636]