oct —— LANGUAGE LEVEL: B2 UPPER INTERMEDIATE THE OBSERVER The Forgotten Prisoners Con motivo del 50 aniversario de Amnistia Internacional, The Observerha publicado de nuevo elarticulo Los prisioneros olvidados que aparecid en 1961. Firmade por et fundador de Amnistia, significo el principio de su lucha pro derechos humenes. pen your newspaper any day of the week and you will find a re- port from somewhere | in the world of some- one being imprisoned, tortured orexecuted because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government. There are sev- eral million such people in prison —byno means all of them behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains - and their numbers are growing. ‘The newspaper reader feels a sickening’ sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into common action, something effective could be done. HUMAN RIGHTS In 1946 the founder members of the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and free- dom, either alone or in compa- ny with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship? and observance. Arti- cle 19: Bveryone has the right to freedom of opinion and expres- Human Rights are protected on paper. But we still need to find a way of translating theory into global practice. sion; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interfer- ence and to seek’, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regard- less of frontiers, IN PRACTICE ‘There is at present no sure way of finding out how many coun- tries permit their citizens to enjoy these two fundamental freedoms. What matters is not the rights that exist on paper in the Constitution, but whether they can be exercised and en- forced‘ in practice. There is a growing tendency all over the world to disguise® the real rea- sons for which ‘non-conformists' are imprisoned, Yet governments are by no means insensitive to the pressure of outside opinion. And when world opinion is concentrated on one weak spot’, it can make a government change its mind. The important thing is to mobi- lise public opinion quickly and widely’, before a govemment is caught up* in the vicious spiral” caused by its own repression andis faced with impending civil war. By then the situation will have become too desperate SE the government to make com cessions. The force of opinion. t0 be effective, should be broadly based, intemational, nomsecta- tian and all-party. VOLTAIRE ‘That is why we have started Ap- peal for Amnesty, 1961. The cam- paign, which opens today, is the result of an initiative by a group of lawyers, writers and pub- lishers in London, who share" the underlying" conviction ex- pressed by Voltaire: “Idetest your views, but am prepared to die for your right to express them.” We have set up an office in London to collect information about the names, numbers and conditions of what we have decided to call Prisoners of Conscience, and weThe most rapid Way to bring relief to ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ is publicity. define them thus who is physically (by imprisonment™ or othery from expressing (in 2: words or symb which he honest w done person: “Any person rest STRATEGY The technique of publicising the personal stories of a number of prisoners of contrasting politics isanewone. Ithasbeen adopted to avoid the fate of previous am: nesty campaigns, which so often have become more concerned publicising the political s of the imprisoned than zh humanitarian purposes How can we discover the state of freedom in the world today? ‘The American philosopher John Dewey once said, “If you want to establish some conception of ety, go find out’* who is in aol.” This is hard advice to a soc follow, because few govern- ments welcome inquiries about science they hold in prison. But there are other tests of freedom: the government? Does the gov- emment permit a pr sal op- Position? Do those accused of of- fences against the state reosive a speedy and publictrial” before an impartial court? Are they allowed to call witnesses", and is their lawyer able to present the de- fenoe in the way he thinks best? THE COLD WAR ‘The most rapid way of bringing relief to Prisoners of Conscience is publicity, especially publicity among their fellow 7 With the pressure of emergent nationalism and the tensions of the Cold War, there are bound to be situations where govern- ments are led to take emer- gency measures to protect their existence. It is vital that public opinion should insist that these measures should not be exces- sive, nor prolonged after the moment of danger. If the emer gency istolast a long time, then a government should allow its opponents out of prison, to seek asylum* abroad! SINCE 1961 ‘Thesuocess of the 1961 Amnesty jpaign depends on how pow- lly itis possible to rally public mion™ It depends, too, upon ampaign being all-embrac- mn its composition, intema- tional in character and politically impartial in direction. Any group is welcome to take part which is prepared to condemn persecu- tion regardless" of where it oc- curs, or what are the ideas sup- pressed. Inevitably, most of the action called for by Appeal for Amnesty, 1961 can only be tak- en by governments. But experi- ence shows that in matters such as these, govemments are pre- pared to follow only where public opinion leads. Pressure of opin- ion a hundred years ago brought about® the emancipation of the slaves. It is now for man to insist upon the same freedom for his mind as he has won for his body. his is an abridged version of the ot nal article which appeared in the Ob- ‘server on May 28, 1961. SICKENING: horrible, terrible 2WORSHIP: culto fOSEEK: buscar GTOENFORCE: hacer respetar, cumpli STODISOUISE: ocular /EAKSPOT: punto débil NDELY: exiensamente (CAUGHT UP: atrapado ICIOUS SPIRAL: circulovicioso TOSHARE: compartir UNDERLYING: subyacente RESTRAINED: imiposi tar IMPRISONMENT: encarcelarniento AG CONCERNED: preacupatio $8TOFINDOUT: averiquar 6 6AdL:carcel TRIAL: juicio ‘18 WITNESS; testigo 19 FELLOW CITIZEN: conciudadano TOSEEK ASYLUM: pedirasilo ‘ABROAD: en el extra TORALLY PUBLIC OPINION: ganarse la opinién publica 23 ALL-EMBRACING: que todo lo abarc REGARDLESS: sin tener en cuenta 5 TO BRING ABOUT: conseguir