Behind the scenes at Amnesty International

The meeting is at Amnesty International Luxembourg, one of more than 70 local sections in a network of 10 million activists, volunteers, donors and supporters in 150 countries and territories around the world. Bright yellow flags point out the location of the local section from afar, housed in a narrow house in the Gare district of Luxembourg. Under the porch, a fresco depicts a barbed wire fence turning into a stem topped with a flower. No words are needed to express the ultimate goal of the human rights NGO: hope for a better world. Inside, the house has been left as it was, the space optimised to allow the 10 employees to work on the NGO's various campaigns.

Luxembourg is not just another section of the movement. "It's a bit like the nucleus of Amnesty International global, because it was in Luxembourg that the first meetings to set up the organisation took place in 1961", explains Marc Cascant, Amnesty Luxembourg's commitment coordinator. The organisation was born out of indignation and solidarity with two young Portuguese men who had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for toasting freedom under Salazar. "At the time, the Grand Duchy was chosen for these meetings because of its central geographical position in Europe and its tradition of neutrality, allowing activists from different backgrounds to meet in a politically stable environment, sheltered from the major tensions of the time" – and not just for Amnesty.