What is the methodology used in Amnesty International’s research?
T.C. – It’s first necessary to see the trajectory of Amnesty and the manner in which it has always worked to understand today’s reality, which is quite different from time when Amnesty was begun. Initially the focus was the freeing of political prisoners which led to the campaign for freedom of expression, against the death-penalty, against torture, against state-sponsored exterminations. Action then was mostly in response to calls for civil and political rights and was based mostly on individual cases, seeking to understand reality based from them. It was not, therefore, something very scientific. The first report about torture was done in Brazil in 1972 and was completely researched using exiles that had been torture-victims, with lists of individuals who had been tortured. It’s clear that in that era the government did not agree with the report and would not allow Amnesty to enter Brazil in the 70s. What changed significantly in Amnesty was this opening for economic, social and cult
