BACKGROUND
3.
Amnesty International (AI) are the leading international human rights organisation with a world-wide membership of over one million. The British Section, based in London, is one of the largest sections of Amnesty with nearly 100,000 members.
It is concerned with promoting Amnesty's campaigns in the UK, with the UK's legal obligations to international human rights instruments and with the promotion of human rights in general. The British Section would not raise specific, domestic human
rights cases.
request
4. Amnesty has had good Ministerial access. Mr Bull most
recently met with Mr Lennox-Boyd in July 1991 and will be
meeting the Secretary of State on 16 September. They have
just published their Annual Report for 1992 covering the human
rights situation and action taken by Amnesty over the last year in 142 countries.
5.
On
Mr Bull was appointed Director of the British Section of Amnesty International in late 1990. He is not particularly dynamic. But he does represent an influential and widely
respected NGO and Amnesty have been pressing for a meeting
since before the election. They are likely to persist. balance, I recommend that the Prime Minister agree to a
meeting, but not until well after the call on the Secretary of
State. A meeting could usefully take place two or three weeks
before Lord Howe's human rights mission to China (being considered for 11-23 November), to help focus public attention
on the visit. This would provide a useful opportunity for
Amnesty to brief the Prime Minister on their current concerns
in China, (including Tibet, on which they have recently published two reports) and for him to reassure Amnesty that
Lord Howe's delegation will have taken on board their