Amnesty’s credibility is based on consistency
Yet he admires Amnesty as “the scourge of left-wing and right-wing dictators”.
All regimes dislike disclosure of wrongdoing.
The truth is unpalatable if it “speaks to power”.
But why attack the messenger?
What Amnesty’s founding members, such as Seán MacBride, envisaged was the independent and impartial investigation of the treatment of political prisoners worldwide.
This it has duly discharged. Hence hostility in high places.
Your columnist wonders “if Amnesty had more credibility...”.
Yet the cornerstone of its credibility is its consistency.
Witness its consistent campaign to abolish capital punishment in all countries.
No exceptions. No executions.
JA Barnwell
5 St Patrick’s Road
Dublin 9
