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Amnesty International provides relief to prisoners and their families in an effort to help them deal with the effects of imprisonment or, in some cases, to help prevent them becoming prisoners of conscience or victims of torture or execution.
Prisoners are not the only ones to suffer the effects of imprisonment. A family whose breadwinner has been imprisoned, perhaps for a number of years, faces many hardships. Paying for food, school fees, rent and prison visits may become an insuperable problem. Help, either from an Amnesty International group or from general funds held at the International Secretariat can make a great difference.
Relief funds may help the prisoner directly, enabling him or her in some instances to buy the few small luxuries prisoners are allowed, or basic necessaties such as blankets and winter clothes in cold climates. Relief is not intended, however, to compensate the prisoner or their families for total loss of income during the period of detention. Nor does the provision of relief to the prisoners or their families imply acceptance of the government practises that have given rise to Amnesty International's concerns.
Assistance may be given to:
• prisoners of conscience, whether or not adopted by Amnesty International, and prisoners who might reasonably be expected to be prisoners of conscience, but where the organization does not have the information to enable it to say so conclusively;
• people who have lately been prisoners of conscience, or who might reasonably be expected to have been prisoners of conscience (whether or not adopted by Amnesty International);
• prisoners awaiting trial who might reasonably be expected to be prisoners of conscience if convicted;
• people threatened with forcible return from one country to another where they might reasonably be expected to become prisoners of conscience or to be subjected to torture, politically- motivated extrajudicial killing or the death penalty;
• dependants of all the above categories;
• dependants both of "disappeared" people and victims of political killings who might reasonably have been expected to be prisoners of conscience if they had been arrested and imprisoned rather than abducted or killed;
• people suffering ill-health as a result or torture, whose medical need is directly related to their torture;
• people whose emigration Amnesty International assists to prevent their imminently becoming prisoners of conscience or to prevent their being subjected to torture or politically-motivated extra- jucicial killing.
This list is not exhaustive. Detailed guidelines exist for Amnesty International's relief activities and the program is administered by an international relief committee and relief coordinators in the sections.
In some cases after a prisoner is released there might still be a need for assistance from Amnesty International. Aftercare activities focus on humanitarian aid, for example, sending relief funds and keeping up correspondence with the former prisoner and his or her family.
Long-term medical care and rehabilitation assistance may be needed for people who have been tortured. Amnesty International itself does not undertake such programs, but doctors and other health workers involved in the movement can be contacted where such treatment is needed. There are independent clinics and medical teams prepared to help in these cases.
Assistance is sometimes sent direct to prisoners or their families or sometimes through organizations, such as charitable bodies, on the spot that can distribute aid for Amnesty International.
Amnesty International does not fund the work of other organizations. Relief funds are sometimes sent through them to be passed on to the particular beneficiaries specified by Amnesty International.
Amnesty International opposes the forcible return of individuals to a country where they can reasonably expect to become prisoners of conscience or be subjected to torture, the death penalty or extrajudicial execution. Amnesty International appeals against such forcible return and presents information about the risks the refugees face in their countries of origin to specialized refugee agencies and to governments considering applications for political asylum. In rare circumstances it may also assist individuals who wish to leave a country where they are held as prisoners of conscience or are in imminent danger of becoming prisoners of conscience or of being subjected to torture or politically motivated extrajudicial execution.
Every person has the right to move freely within his or her own country and the right not to be forced into exile. Amnesty International holds that it is the duty of governments to release all prisoners of conscience without considerations. It takes no part in arranging prisoner exchanges.
