An article on Peter and his life as founder of Amnesty International is titled: “The man who decided it was time for a change.” He is the architect of the human rights movement in a world that prior to his aspirations did not have the United Nations, any international human rights treaty, or The Universal Declaration of Human rights.

With almost 100 international treaties and legal systems in place, supported by thousands of human rights groups, the world is a different place.  Without Peter Benenson our march towards a global civil society could certainly have been truncated. This all stemmed from his complete conviction of seeing justice be passed onto to two Portuguese students who dared to toast freedom under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar’s autocratic regime in 1961. For the students’ ‘outrageous’ statement, they were imprisoned for 7 years. Peter stood up and fought for what he thought was right.

Peter commented in 1961 after lighting the first Amnesty candle, "I'm reminded of the words of a 16th century man sentenced to death by burning: We have today lit such a candle as shall never be put out."

Submitted by: Kit Bennett