might best be done in the Commonwealth by the Old Commonwealth
Members. He recommended that Amnesty International talk to the
Commonwealth Secretary General who was very much on this wavelength.
Miss Cooper replied that they had already done so.
THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
13. Mr Bull said that the thirtieth anniversary of
Amnesty International's foundation fell on 28 May this year. They
felt that celebration as such was inappropriate, since human rights
violations continued everywhere in the world. In answer to the
Secretary of State's question, he felt he could not really assess
whether there had been any progress since 1961.
Amnesty International now tended to look at patterns of violations,
rather than concentrate on individual cases. He agreed with the
Secretary of State that the world now was far more aware of human rights violations. He also thought that Amnesty International
itself was better known, and had gained experience. He asked
whether the Secretary of State would be willing to mark Human Rights
Day on 10 December by a statement to Parliament, with perhaps a
reference to Amnesty International's anniversary. The
Secretary of State replied that he could not see how that might work
in procedural terms. He knew that Amnesty International hankered
after a Parliamentary debate. But there was not much steam in such
debates. On the contrary, Amnesty International's success in stimulating real letter writing campaigns - individual letters,
rather than pro forma texts - was much more effective. Many MPs
nowadays only came to Foreign Affairs through human rights, usually
stimulated by Amnesty International letters. That was something
Amnesty International did well. He would consider what we might do
on Human Rights Day. He would not make a statement to Parliament,
but there might be some other way involving Parliament to mark the
occasion. Mr Bull revealed that the Parliamentary aspect was important to Amnesty International for the sake of showing their
Membership that they were able to influence policy.
HRRAAB