most people working for amnesty are volunteers. many people praise the organization for setting the standard for human rights around the world. but amnesty has also been criticized by some countries, including israel, the united states, russia, and china for what they perceive as a bias. here now is a look at amnesty's fight for human rights for half a century. >> ♪ a political word peace is not welcome at all away from the door put up against the wall ♪ >> amnesty's basic demand is clear and simple -- set free all non-violent people in prison for speaking their minds. this is the man who launched the movement. in 1961, the british lawyer was outraged at the fate of two portuguese students who had been imprisoned because they had raised their glasses in a toast to freedom. portugal was an authoritarian regime back then. he wrote a newspaper article calling on the people of the world to write letters of protest. he triggered an avalanche. >> the basement room overflowed with material. and upstairs we continued to receive letters fro

is there any chance that he might get amnesty? >> to latin america now, people have died in the shooting in the mexican state. a gunman opened fire on tuesday. no one has been arrested and police are still trying to find a motive for the killings. the highest court in guatemala has approved the divorce of the president and his wife. the clears the way for her to stand for election and to be his successor. they overcame a constitutional ban on close relatives for the president running to the top office. the 27 victims of a cattle ranch in the country. the state of the siege following the killings, it was the work of the drug cartel. one person so far has been arrested. and only the second procedure of its kind anywhere in the world, a man has chosen -- >> alive changing operation. it was a motorbike accident a decade ago. his hand still has no function. he is deeply frustrated. he feels the hand isn't even there. he has now decided to have his hand cut off and replaced with a bionic lamb. -- limb. >> it cannot be better. the only w

. >> explicit amnesty. >> a way of saying amnesty. >> amnesty of up to two million people. >> paying the price far crime you've committed isn't amnesty. >> jon: but illegal immigrants are still committing a crime. >> or is it entrapment? america the beautiful, purple mountains majesty? this place has got it all. mexicans can see las vegas from their casas, jon. hmm, what am i going to do? i can get beheaded on this side of a border for driving down a street controlled by some scarface wannabe, or i can go over to the shiny place where big boob blonde girls in dolphin shorts serve me cocktails while i play blackjack. hit me. >> jon: i guess we make it kind of hard not to come here. >> you're getting something out of it, too. >> jon: like a cheap labor force? >> and self-esteem. undocumented workers aren't just taking the jobs you don't want to do, they're taking the stair types you don't want to be called, like lazy. >> jon: al, everybody calls americans lazy. >> yeah, but the good kind of lazy, rich lazy, spread out on a leather couch watching "the price is right" while the roomba va

the third argument is amnesty will be get more amnesty. by allowing people to gain legal status, that will encourage us endless flow of illegal immigration. the 1986 act, what happened was eventually illegal immigration came back relatively quickly. there are two issues with that. there has been some research that looked at this issue, economists looked at this, did not see a discernible difference in illegal entry before and after the 1986 act. main issue is the failure of the 1986 act wasn't offered amnesty. the reason illegal immigration increased was there was no legal way put in place for people to come in and work particularly at lower skilled jobs. what you end up doing was put in harsher enforcement penalties and started some of the increases, but you didn't allow a more marked earning intelligent way of dealing with illegal entry which was to have ways for people to work legally. related to this argument is the question of what would constitute amnesty. amnesty would be you don't have any obligations. ways to structure legislation

reagan did an amnesty in eighty six the all amnesty does is incentivize more illegal behavior more people coming across the river versus illegals and forcing the laws against employers that i think that was the big immigration is a problem at this point of broken system that there are a lot of people who you know are on the pathway and then because of administrative rules have kind of have been put on the outs and we have a lot of twelve million people that are off the books that are just out there and we need to find a way to get them back on the books and you know out into the sunlight in terms of in terms of immigration policy it is incredibly important that it become an emotional and that people go in and actually try to do what i think the saddest thing i thought was that dick lugar has removed his name i believe and i think he's going to make his name from immigration reform republicans have been leaders on this issue in the past and they're kind of about face and running away but it's really tragic because they're ignoring important that this is one of john mccain's he was going ov

for the twenty twelve election and why doesn't anybody mention reagan you know he actually did an amnesty for three million people. by wedge issue you mean that you know obama is now going to give a speech and not really provide any leadership and try to dump all this. and yes this is going to be a wedge issue look what we need is some real leadership on the immigration reform you need to do more to secure the border you need something that allows people from other countries to come in and find gainful employment but the last thing you need the real leadership you need is a clear we're not going to do an amnesty reagan did an amnesty in eighty six the all honesty does is incentivize more illegal behavior more people coming across the border this is illegal and forcing the laws against employers that i think that was the big immigration is a problem at this point a broken system that there are a lot of people who are on the pathway and then because of administrative roles have kind of have been put on the outs and we have a lot we're probably a people that are off the books that are just o

amnesty sees the push for greater freedom and democracy as an opportunity to endq repression. by closing their doors to refugees, it believes e.u. members are undermining arab calls for justice. it wants a different message in a watershed year for human rights. >> i think there's no question that what's happened is unprecedented. we haven't seen anything like this after the fall of the berlin wall. >> and he says it's optimistic that the organization also founded a note of caution, saying developments in the arab world could go either way. it says the international community should support the uprisings to ensure the arab spring does not become a false dawn. >> the white house has confirmed the resignation of its middle east envoy, george mitch. mitchell led mostly fruitless missions between the palestinians although he did start peace negotiations in 2010, the talks broke down over israeli settlement building in the west bank. the resignation comes days ahead of a u.s. visit by israeli. benjamin netanyahu. >> over to ben now, the german economy is proving to be the locomotive

amnesty and others are worried. a lot of people when they are released have been abused or tortured or beaten. there's a lot of worry about the kind of conditions they are living in. many people are disappearing without a trace and nobody knows where they are. lawyers and relatives don't get a look at them at all when it comes to getting in touch with them. >> thank you. the judges of the u.n. war crimes tribunal in the hague has started ruling on whether to sheshel. in the 18 years of proceedings at the tribunal, no defendant has ever been acquitted while still on trial at the u.n. court. >> they have acquitted people before, but not under the rules that he has invoked their this is a special rule of the court which allows a defendant to ask for acquittal or dismissal of the case or a reduction of the indictment after the prosecution has laid out its case. that is what he did a couple months ago because he says that in the four years he's been on trial, the prosecution has failed to prove his guilt on any count. he

but amnesty international says it was civilians, not soldiers, who bore the brunt of the violence.it calls for an end to impunity on all sides. mark doyle, bbc news. >> there's been intense fighting in the yemeni capital between the security forces and the country's biggest tribe, which has joined the uprising against the president. gunfire has been heard in the streets throughout the day. at least 38 people have been killed according to reports. >> fierce gunfire has rattled through the streets of the yemeni capital for the last 48 hours. the tribal fighters determined to force the president to step down. he is determined not to. the president has been under pressure to resign for months. mass protests of anti-government demonstrators have been held nationwide, calling for him to leave office immediately. but they've had little influence on the yemeni leader, who's been in power for 32 years. on sunday he was supposed to sign a deal that would give him immunity from prosecution in exchange for his resignation. but once again, the president refused to sign it. the government has ac

think that's part of the reason why you don't see immigration, comprehensive immigration reform or amnesty being discussed at one of the top three issues here in the country. because when americans say, okay, look, there are people here, they beat the system and they have been able to survive, what are we going to do with them now? are we going to mass deport them, what are they going to do with the kids? they feel conflicted. but when they start to realize how it affects their communities, the cost that it inflicts, california, perfect example, california is budget deficit of $25 billion. $10 billion a year goes to pay for illegal immigration issues, whether it's education, 1.4 billion that have goes to the health care costs of illegal immigrants. that's just the state of california. the medical program in california services about 780,000 people, illegal immigrants on that program. these are enormous costs, when the average person finds that out they say, why are my tax dollars subsidizing the activity of illegal immigrants in this country and that's why becomes a problem when -- in the

but it was an attempt but that's how it was then reagan did two things number one he granted this amnesty the brought you know millions of people three million four million depends on whose number you're looking into the workforce but in addition to that he basically stopped enforcing the law against employers who were hiring illegal immigrants the consequence of this is no president since then has started in forcing those laws actually throwing employers in jail and i say this is somebody who was an employer before during and after reagan and i can tell you and and i've had immigrants working for me and i've had to go through what used to be called the ins and convince them that i wasn't exploiting this worker that i couldn't find somebody else and things have really really changed so anyhow after after the amnesty more people stayed. basically we don't have an illegal immigration problem in the united states we don't employ illegal employer problem it's like we've got this giant magnet illegal employers are using people who aren't licensed or bonded it makes union busting super easy foo

the third argument that is made is that another amnesty will beget more amnesties, by having -- by allowingple to gain legal status, it would just encourage and in list below of illegal immigration. mostly what is looked at is the 1986 act for we did provide amnesty and then what happened, we eventually relent -- came back very quickly. there has been some research that has looked into this issue. an economist has looked at this and did not see a discernible difference in illegal entry before and after the 1986 act. the main issue is that the failure of the 1986 act was not that it offered amnesty. the reason illegal immigration increased is because there was no legal way put in place for people to come in at work at the lower skilled jobs. what it ended up doing was put in harsher enforcement penalties and started some of the increases, but you did not allow the more market oriented intelligent way of dealing with illegal entry, which was to have ways for people to come in and work legally. related to this argument is the question of what would constituteconstitute amnesty. generally, that

the third argument is also made is that amnesty will get more amnesty in other words by having, by allowing people to gain legal status that will just encourage an endless flow of illegal immigration and mostly it is looked at as the 96 act where we did provide amnesty and then what happened? eventually ease legal immigration came back very relatively quickly so there are two issues. first there has been some research that has looked at this issue, an economist looked at this and basically did not see that you could see the difference and illegal entry before and after the 1986 act, but the main issue was the failure of the 1986 act was in that offered amnesty. the reason the illegal immigration increased is because there was no legal way you put in place for people to come and work particularly of the lower skilled jobs. so really what you ended up doing is put in harsh enforcement penalties and start some of the increases in the enforcement personnel but you didn't allow the market oriented intelligent way of dealing with illegal entry which was to have ways for people to come and work le

that he's been linked to different things in there's no way that we're going to agree to providing amnesty for illegal workers i mean you know compassionate i feel sad for them but this country is not in the mood to resolve that issue right now it's years before we'll come to grips with it in the meantime we have all this gold american scientists you know doctors engineers you know researchers who are stuck in limbo there who they are going north from all over the world that want to come here and start companies to create jobs we're not letting them do that so we're holding up we're basically holding these skill immigrants hostage to the plight of the unskilled which is really selling the president basically is saying the right things but he's not pulling up his action with the right words to walk us through some of the anger is now even if we go to let's say silicon valley how many of the employees there how many of the founders are coal founders certain startups there really are made up of immigrants yeah you'd be surprised that fifty two percent of all of startups in silicon valley more

the third argument is another amnesty will beget another amnesty. by having -- by allowing people to gain legal status, that will just encourage an endless flow of illegal immigration. and most of us looked in the 1986 act where we did provide amnesty and then what happened? eventually, illegal immigration came back, you know, relatively quickly. well, there's two issues with that. first of all, there's been some research that's looked at this issue. an economist has looked at this and basically did not see that you could see the difference in the illegal entry before and after the 1986 act. but really the main issue is that the failure of the 1986 act wasn't that offered amnesty. the reason illegal immigration increased is because there was no legal way put in place for people to come in and work particularly at the lowered skilled jobs and what you end up doing is put in harsher enforcement penalties and started some of the increases in enforcement personnel but you didn't allow the more market-oriented intelligent way of dealing with illegal entr

i accuse you of earning her the amnesty of certain fractures of the industry in order to get her fired. secondly, i accuse all representatives of a lack of fraternal solidarity with the cab drivers. >> good afternoon. 26 years driving. as you can hear, there is a pervasive malaise in the industry. it is complicated and the verse. his is very deep, why don't we have our own division? why do we have to demonstrate, strike, lose time and money in the discussion to be heard. we should have our own division. we deserve as much respect and concern as the other drivers. [applause] >> [reading names] >> i have been a cab driver for 21 years. yes, we are treated as employees. we have a compromise with the waiting lists. some money could go to the city. what did we get? it charges the credit card that makes a lot of money for the banks and robs us of our honest work. we will be bombarded. we have been -- [unintelligible] it is quite a sizable sum of money for a cabdriver. to work, we transport, and we care for the people of san francisco. director nolan: we have several lines of what we get to t

>>he campaigng organization amnesty iernaonal say north korea is senng increasing number of people t pitical pris cam spread information is hard to very. evidence of both - of new constructi. arod 200,000 prisone are tortured a staed in the cas. the governme of pyongya denied they exist. the money will save it -- stave f economic collapse after three months of confct. meers of bahin mical profession who treated ai- government proteers are arged with actg against the stus. ey are no accused of promoting efforts to topplehe overnment. a human rights group h acced ahrain. 5 smler palestinian factions -- leaders of hamas held foal ceremony sialinthe en of it. netanyahhas urged the to cancel the dl and to keep peace with israel itead 80 peoplere suspected to having linkshave -- tohe mafia had been detained. they are accusedfextoion and drug smuggling andhey re arreed around the city of naples. portugals interim gernment has agreea fincial bailout paage -- the caretakeprim minier said the loan amount to $115 billion, but it still needs the agreement othe position part >> after two weeks ne

what we can say, as amnesty international is that torture continues in egypt.re are testimonies that we have gathered, before mubarak and after his fall. that point to similar abuses that we saw at the hands of the police and security agents, being implemented or committed by military police and armed forces. this means that low-informant officials are committing the same violations that we saw in the past. the police might have withdrawn as law enforcement officials or martyrs. what we can see is the current law enforcement officials which are the military, have resorted to similar patterns of violations. >> what are you hoping this report will do? >> it's very important to reveal the truth about what has happened during that 21st of january revolution. many people have many accounts of what has happened. we look at them from a perspective of human rights and we document objectively and scientifically what has happened during this period. and we noted that beside the killings where a lot of people have spoken about already, killings of protesters, we want to p

amnesty international releases its annual assessment. it includes recommendations on how the u.s. government can promote freedom in the middle east and north africa. >>> an baemgtsed superhero returns tonight. spider man comes back after a three-week hiatus. >>> it's the anniversary of the lindbergh tragedy. it was 79 years ago that the baby of charles lindbergh, the famous aviator was found dead ten weeks after being abducted from his family's home. all day long stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here's a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. >>> what officials are learning through the journals of osama bin laden. >>> they tack to angelina jolie, jack black, and dustin hoff man live from the cannes film festival. >>> i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

on the weeke, th rege ga its oppents a window of two eks for amnesty to surrender themselves and therm but more dramatic and unverified otage have come out of e secretive count sho peoe withheirhands about, face down on theround, solers keeping them tre atunpot the ternional red cross is still demanding whout scess imdiate and unrestricted access to all detainees and those injured in t figing. thmportant and - the imrtan and significance of whats hpenicrossyria ouldot be underestimated if this governmentere all, an thais still a very bi if, it wld have tremendous implications for regional security and polits. >> om t prospectof charges in libya to new photogphs emergingrom the damaged nuclear cili in japan, ese are all oriemaking news ound the wor. the chief prosecution for t internionacriminal court says he believes he has grounds to crge libn leaders with crimes against humanity. in a report tthe security council, ty said tha such charges could include murr, unlawful detenon, torre, and persecutione intends to appl for the first arrest warrants in the next few wee. the leaders of c

. >>> the human rights group amnesty international is celebrating its 50th anniversary.oup was founded by a british lawyer who wrote an article defending two students in portugal who had been jailed for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom. amnesty now claims more than 3 million supporters in more than 150 countries. >>> and in the netherlands the so-called drug tourism, it may be on the way out. the infamous coffee houses in amsterdam and other cities well-known as purveyors of legal marijuana. now the dutch government wants to make them off limits to tourists. part of a campaign to curb drug use and crime and under the new policy even dutch citizens could have their access severely restricted. >>> forget wind surfing. why not reach higher? try kite boarding this summer. a rapidly growing sport that uses a kite to propel surfing across the water. take a look. >> i'm billy bosch in cocoa beach at the ron john surf school and we teach people how to kite board. ♪ >> we get a lot of professionals, doctors, lawyers, the most we probably get are pilots and engineers. >

my name is james patrick carroll, representing amnesty international. i'm also a democratic candidate seeking the mayoral position in november. i very much appreciated ms. lee's comments. i share her concerns for sanitation and cleanliness in the city. supervisor newsom, in his seven-year tenure as mayor did nothing to clean the feces and urine which still exist in the tenderloin. he was handed 31 businesses and ended up costing the city over $300 million in total. i'm also concerned are about the $40 million in cuts, which are proposed to the substance dependent adults programs in the city, as well as the services, which are now in place for marginally-housed adults. these programs have saved the city tremendous amounts in human will capital as well as in dollars and cents. a human being who is housed has a five times less chance -- lesser chance of making a police contact. a human being is -- >> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> -- has five times lesser chance of going into an emergency room. it's saving the city a great deal of money. i wo

on the weekend, the regime gave its opponents a window of two weeks for amnesty to surrender themselvesnd their arms. but more dramatic and unverified footage have come out of the secretive country shows people with their hands about, face down on the ground, soldiers keeping them there at gunpoint. the international red cross is still demanding without success immediate and unrestricted access to all detainees and those injured in the fighting. the important and -- the importance and significance of what is happening across syria should not be underestimated. if this government were to fall, and that is still a very big if, it would have tremendous implications for regional security and politics. >> from the prospect of charges in libya to new photographs emerging from the damaged nuclear facility in japan, these are all stories making news around the world. the chief prosecution for the international criminal court says he believes he has grounds to charge a libyan leaders with crimes against humanity. in a report to the un security council, they said that such charges could include m

as the regime gave a window of a key weeks and amnesty to surrender themselves and their arms, this footage also came out of the secretive country. it shows people with their hands bound, face down on the ground. soldiers keeping them there at gunpoint. the international red cross demanded immediate and restricted access to all detainees and all those injured in the fighting. -- immediate and unrestricted access to all detainees and all those injured. the regime is using brutal methods to end the rebellion. the president and his generals show little sign of weakness. the protesters are taking extraordinary risks and they will not back down and they demand fundamental reform. the situation is increasingly dire. >> several leaders are appealing for up to $3 billion in international loans. they say the money will stave off economic collapse after almost three months of conflict. the loans secured against colonel gaddafi's frozen assets. the swiss governor has recovered money in the name of the leader. members of the bahrain medical profession are to be charged with acting against the state. 23

new life after amnesty, a lot of people were not able to immigrate because of a lack of money. still to this point, i see a lot of immigrants who want to get their work permits. i ask them how long they have been here. sometimes they have been here since the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's. a lot of them are elderly who are ready to retire. i had 165-year-old man who is alone, no family -- a 65-year- old man who is alone, no family here, but he does not have any papers to get that social security that he has contributed to for 30 years. he will be homeless after working for many years. i faced this situation with my clients a lot. i help low income people. sometimes it is very difficult. sometimes i think about how small the world is a and i see how immigration laws are changing. immigration rates started about 40 years ago and i started to see my client to come to me. my husband has been here 10 years and all of a sudden, his employer is asking for a work permit. we have two children. we just bought a home. what are we going to do? i could not provide a work permit, so i said, just hop

the third argument that's also made is that another amnesty will be get more amnesties.words, by having -- by allowing people to gain legal status, that that will just encourage an endless flow of illegal immigration. most people looked at the 1986 act where we did provide amnesty. and then what happened? we eventually -- illegal immigration came back. relatively quickly. there's two issues with that. first of all, research look at this issue, basically did not see that you could see difference and sort of illegal entry. but really the main i shall is that the failure wasn't that offered amnesty. the reason illegal immigration increased is because there was no legal way put in place for to come in and work at particularly the lower skilled jobs. so what you ended up doing with the put in harsher enforcement penalties and started some of the increases in enforcement personnel. but you didn't allow the more market oriented, intelligent way, of dealing with illegal entry, which was to have ways for people to come in and work legally. question is what would constitute an amn

syrian president bashar al-assad issued a general amnesty for all political prisoners today.elevision reported the amnesty covers all crimes committed before today, possibly affecting thousands of people. at the same time, syrian troops attacked the town of rastan with tanks and heavy machine guns. activists said at least one person was killed. and the u.s. state department condemned the tortured killing of a 13-year-old syrian boy, identified as hamza ali al-khateeb. "the new york times" reported the boy was arrested at a protest, and his mutilated body was returned later to his family. north and south sudan have agreed to set up a demilitarized border zone patrolled by both sides. the african union announced the arrangement today, after escalating clashes in recent days. i spoke this afternoon with rebecca hamilton of the pulitzer center, reporting from juba in south sudan. rebecca, what is the assessment there of how this talk of an agreement that would stop the dispute in the central region might affect the kind of problems of refugees being displaced in the central regio

we're asking for a one-year only amnesty of the fees that city college pays to the city and county of san francisco. it is $2 million from several departments. i have 1600 signatures here from students that i would like to give to you. we have finals going on right now, so students were not able to come here. we are going to have some students later this afternoon visit some of your office is to tell their stories. supervisor mirkarimi: may i ask him a question, please? thank you whore being here. i am very sympathetic to this need and i endorse this idea. we have to be even about the stats and the numbers. is it in exemption that we should consider as a one-time, but are other institutions also obligated in the city, like school districts, like other departments were also required to pay. >> the mayor gave the school district funding to help with a summer school. that was just announced recently. the school district also gets funding through an approved a measure -- the rainy day fund is what is called. the school fund also gets staffing. the city pays for staffing. the mayor did not