Amnesty Internationals Lobby Work

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Amnesty InternationalsLobby Work
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• Lobby
• Advocacy
• IGO-coordinators (intergovernmental organisations
  like UN, EU etc.)
• EU-contact person
• Home government lobbyist

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What is lobby work?

• Direct and regular contact with
• -authorities
• -government
• -parliament
• -embassies
• -intergovernmental organisations (EU parliament,
  Council of Europe, or the UN)

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Swedish Section of Amnesty

• Lobby Coordinator
• Secretary General
• Refugee Coordinator
• Campaign Coordinator
• Volunteers
• Who are in contact with ILOP at the International
  Secretariat.

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ILOP, International Law and Organisation Program

• ILOP coordinates the lobbhy work with the
  different sections
• ILOP has 35 staff members, including 5 interns
• Most of the staff at IS, but also in NYC and
  Geneva
• EU office in Brussels

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IS staff

• Stay updated on what is happening in their field
  of expertise
• -UN Security Council discussions Human Rights
  Council meeting discussions General Assembly
  discussions.
• -Intergovernmental organisations the
  Organisation of American States the Council of
  Europe the African Union.
• -International Criminal Court and other regional
  courts.
• Focus what does Amnesty want to bring to their
  attention and what do we want them to do.

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IS contacts lobby persons in AI sections

• The UN Human Rights Council is meeting in 4
  weeks, we want you to contact your Ministries of
  Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and let them know of
  Amnestys concerns and which issues we think are
  important to bring up during this session. Make
  sure they get our report on the matter if
  possible, arrange a meeting with the relevant
  people to let them know our views. Please report
  any feedback back to us.

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Different ways of contact

• E-mail
• Fax
• Deliver reports
• Phone conversations
• -the sections then report back to ILOP and
  international collegues in order to build better
  understanding of which countries are for and
  against the different initiatives.

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Other Areas of Lobbying

• Parliaments
• -Human right groups in the parliament
• Swedish Parliamentarian HR-group
• -all parties represented
• -meet once a month
• -letters of appeal, ask them to take special
  action on cases
• -arrange seminars together
• -meetings with prominent HR activists (Manfred
  Nowak), ex death row prisoners from the US, etc.
• -also other parliamentarian groups of interest
  Tibet Group Burma Group Belarus Group, etc.

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Other Countries Embassies

• Send Amnesty Reports regarding their countries
  with recommendations.
• Visits to the Embassy to bring up concerns.

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Specific country related lobbying

• Initiatives to this come from researchers or
  campaigners at IS
• -contact the embassy, MoFA or State Aid Agency,
  like SIDA.
• -to bring up specific problems with their
  contacts from the country.

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Section lobby initiatives

• Sections can do their own lobby work depending on
  their national priorities.
• -to take advantage of special relationships
  between your country and other countries.
• -take advantage of state visits or commenting on
  official visits.
• -sending Amnesty info to delegations before they
  visit the country.
• -En Aktiv Röst
• -Almedalen, taking advantage of an already
  existing lobby forum.

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Interactive part

• The IS has sent an e-mail telling you that there
  is an international donors conference regarding
  Liberia coming up. They want you to use this
  opportunity for some Amnesty lobbying. What
  would you do?
• You see a press release from your Foreign
  Ministry saying that a big delegation from your
  country is going on an official visit to China in
  a few weeks, to build a stronger relationship
  between your countries. What would you do?
• You get an email from ILOP and the people
  responsible for the Council of Europe, they want
  to contact your representatives in the Council
  and ask them to support the European Convention
  against Trafficking. ILOP has attached a
  document they want you to send. What would you
  do?