ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the intertextual relations among five closely related Amnesty International (AI) genres, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the Geneva Conventions (GCs), especially Protocols I and II. It examines the relations among the participant roles implicated by these AI documents and how they are ideologically (re-)positioned across the documents and the linguistic choices that enact these relationships. Human rights are fundamental rights articulated in legal instruments enacted by authoritative international bodies such as the United Nations and are designed to protect individuals and groups “from severe political, legal, and social abuses”. Amnesty International (AI) initially campaigned on behalf of freedom of speech, though this focus has been substantially broadened since 1961. It has also adapted to changing communications media – from hand- or type-written appeals to mobile apps. It is currently represented online by multiple webpages put up by various regional offices, e.g. Amnesty International USA, AI Canada, and AI Australia.
