research paper amnesty international

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3 Amnesty International: The NGO That Made Human Rights Important

• Published: July 2012
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This chapter focuses on Amnesty International, the classic case of an NGO which has a centralized system for proposal and enforcement powers and a decentralized system for implementation. Amnesty forged a structure and a technique that led to its political salience as an important agenda setter in terms of both ideas and organizational salience during the Cold War. While previous transnational organizations had largely struggled with centralized agenda setting, Amnesty was the first to have a strong central office—the International Secretariat—which controls proposal and enforcement powers of the agenda despite strong national sections throughout Europe. Since the end of the Cold War, this body has gone through some changes, which have solidified the Secretariat's agenda-setting powers.

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Encyclopedia of Global Justice pp 37–38 Cite as

Amnesty International

• Michael Minch 2  
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Amnesty International is known throughout the world for its relentless education about, and work to secure, human rights for all persons. Amnesty undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave human rights abuses, and works for freedom of conscience, expression, and from discrimination. Amnesty International (also known as “AI”) has fulfilled this mission, on a global scale, without peer. Amnesty is an independent, global movement, primarily funded by membership dues and private donations, with more than three million supporters, more than 2.2 million members, and activists in more than 150 countries. It conducts research and generates action to prevent grave abuses of human rights, and demands justice for those whose rights have been violated. AI works to end violence against women, abolish the death penalty, stop torture, free prisoners of conscience, and protect the rights of refugees and migrants.

Amnesty International was founded by a British Lawyer, Peter...

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Amnesty International (2009) Freedom: stories celebrating the universal declaration of human rights. Broadway, New York

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Amnesty International (2010a) Amnesty International report: the state of the world’s human rights. Amnesty International Publications, London

Amnesty International (2010b) Free?: stories about human rights. Candlewick Press, Somerville

Clarke A (2001) Diplomacy of conscience: Amnesty International and changing human rights norms. Princeton University Press, Princeton

Hopgood S (2006) Keepers of the flame: understanding Amnesty International. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

Power J (2001) Like water on stone: the story of Amnesty International. Northeastern University Press, Boston

Ronand J et al (2005) Transnational information politics: NGO human rights reporting, 1986–2000. Int Stud Q 49:557–587

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Department of Philosophy/Humanities, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA

Michael Minch

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Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Deen K. Chatterjee

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Minch, M. (2011). Amnesty International. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_514

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Articles on Amnesty International

Displaying 1 - 20 of 27 articles.

After 50 years of global effort to abolish torture, much work remains

Christopher Justin Einolf , Northern Illinois University

Why is Canada rejecting evidence of Israeli apartheid against Palestinians?

Michael Lynk , Western University and Alex Neve , L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Is there a ‘right to disobey’? From the Vietnam War to today’s climate protests

Jon Piccini , Australian Catholic University

Unequal power relations driven by poverty fuel sexual violence in Lake Chad region

Emeka T. Njoku , University of Birmingham

War devastates the lives of children: what the research tells us, and what can be done

Roos van der Haer , Leiden University

Campaign shows that political tectonic plates are shifting in Mozambique

David Matsinhe , Carleton University

Human rights 70 years on: important victories as well as major misses

Henning Melber , University of Pretoria

Marikana: it’s time Ramaphosa moved on accountability and reparations

Mia Swart , Human Sciences Research Council

When the poor sponsor the rich: Rwanda and Arsenal FC

Filip Reyntjens , University of Antwerp

Despite a reduction in executions, progress towards the abolition of the death penalty is slow

Amy Maguire , University of Newcastle

Why the election of a black senator won’t make a dent on racism in Italy

Cristiano d'Orsi , University of Johannesburg

What Oxfam can learn from charities that survived scandals

Mark Hurst , Lancaster University

Accusations of deliberate, cruel abuse of refugee children must prompt a more humane approach

Amnesty-Human Rights Watch investigation reports medical neglect and assaults on Nauru

Michelle Grattan , University of Canberra

Should prostitution be decriminalized?

Kari Lerum , University of Washington, Bothell

Heavy-handed police tactics raise concerns about democracy in Uganda

Sophie Nakueira , WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

Vila Autódromo: the favela fighting back against Rio’s Olympic development

Adam Talbot , University of Brighton

Amnesty accuses Australia of violating international law – but any prosecutions are unlikely

Amnesty alleges criminal activity in border control

Scientists score one over celebrities in battle to decriminalize sex work

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Amnesty International: The good, the bad and the ugly?

For the past 60 years, Amnesty International has put its finger in the wound of human rights abuses in all shapes and forms around the world. But it's also faced widespread criticism for some of its more opaque actions.

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

Little did Peter Benenson know at the time that an article he wrote in 1961 would come to shape Amnesty International's code, encapsulated in the words above.

On May 28, 1961, the London Observer published an article entitled "The Forgotten Prisoners," penned by the British lawyer. Perusing the morning papers, he had come across an article about two Portuguese students who were jailed after raising their glasses in a toast to freedom in a restaurant. At the time, Portugal was ruled by the dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

Outraged by their detention, Benenson in his piece called for their release and urged readers to write letters to the Portuguese government. But Benenson didn't stop there. His article also listed other human rights violations around the world. He used the term "prisoners of conscience" to highlight the plight of "any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing … any opinion which he honestly holds and does not advocate or condone personal violence."

His campaign, Appeal for Amnesty 1961, was effectively the precursor to what would become Amnesty International.

The organization's initial focus of work — forgotten prisoners — gradually expanded as part of its development "from mandate — to mission." In the 1970s, it focused on the treatment of prisoners in several Latin American dictatorships, launching campaigns against torture and the death penalty.

For its work against torture, Amnesty was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

New issues emerged in the 1980s, including extrajudicial killings, political killings and forced disappearances . Toward the end of the decade, it turned its attention to the growing number of refugees around the world.

Shift in focus

In the 1990s, Amnesty International honed in on armed conflicts, uncovering atrocities in East Timor, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia. As of the 2000s, there was a shift in its focus towards naming and shaming economic and social injustices that stemmed from the growing effects of globalization.

The impact of its work in its first 30 years was very different to that it has and could have today, says Dr. Anja Mihr, program director of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Center on Governance through Human Rights, and a former board member and chairman of Amnesty International Germany.

"Amnesty International, in the early years, developed the mechanisms of raising awareness, calling on governments and the public through letter-writing campaigns. And therefore, during these first 30, 40, maybe even 50 years of its work, it didn't matter so much whether Amnesty International, with its actions, would actually cause a direct response from governments."

Of course, the world has changed dramatically since those times, not least due to globalization and the era of information technology.

"I'm not always sure whether the strength of Amnesty of doing good research, having evidence, is still needed to the same extent today where we have many other entities [such as NGOs and researchers] ... We have other means of finding out what is happening on the ground. We don't need an NGO anymore to tell us  what is happening in Myanmar or what is happening in China or elsewhere," says Mihr.

Not all that glitters is gold

It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Amnesty over the last 60 years. It claims that it doesn't pursue political ideology or "support or oppose any government or system." However, its detractors say that is precisely what it is doing. There have been allegations of one-sided reporting, or a failure to treat threats to security as a mitigating factor.

Part of the problem is that the organization is stuck in the past, says Stephen Hopgood, professor of international relations at SOAS University of London, who specializes in the international politics of humanitarianism and human rights and is author of the book "Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International."

"Amnesty is a Cold War-era organization, and the way it was set up and the way in which it functioned, it's a miracle it survived for 60 years in many ways. And it doesn't necessarily represent a failing on Amnesty's part, more a sort of inevitable complexity in a world that's a lot different than the world of the 1960s and the 1970s."

Some of the strongest criticism pertains to its alleged foreign policy bias against either non-Western countries or Western-supported countries. However, Hopgood says that kind of assessment needs to be put into the perspective of the time.

"It was one of the few international organizations campaigning on the principle of freedom of expression. And it tried to do that in the most neutral, fairest way it could by picking prisoners of conscience from the West, from the East and from the developing world ... It was in many respects a very simple time when Amnesty could see who the enemy was, and the enemy was authoritarian governments everywhere."

The policy of neutrality and taking up a position that doesn't take sides has become increasingly difficult to maintain due to today's complex challenges.

"Take the recent war between Hamas and Israel: If you come up with what you think is a neutral position, one response is to say it's terrible when innocent civilians are injured anyway. But those people who are either strongly pro-Israel or strongly pro-Palestinian see this as siding with the enemy, if you're not with us, you're against us effectively. How can the stakes be equal when Israel is so much more powerfully armed and so much more in control?," says Hopgood.

A new era of priorities

In essence, there's been a shift from an era when  human rights were viewed as neutral in conflict and war situations — or the way certain governments treated their citizens. And to some degree that is no longer applicable in today's world, say experts.

"That world has been overtaken by popular mobilization around a whole range of deeply problematic and complex issues, such as sex work or abortion ... Both sides will often claim human rights as part of their ideological or ethical position," says Hopgood.

Beyond that,  a report  published in 2019 found that Amnesty International has a "toxic" working environment, with incidences of bullying, public humiliation, and discrimination. Such problems are often inherent in complex and bureaucratic organizations that bring together people with different perspectives and ethics.

In his book, Hopgood describes how personal sacrifices for a good cause can take their toll, especially without a supportive working environment.

"People would spend two months interviewing prisoners in horrendous prison conditions who have been tortured, and then come back. And nobody in the central organization would want to hear that. You have to keep two months worth of torture inside, write it up and put it out. And you have to live with knowing that for every torture victim you do something positive for, there are tens of thousands of others. And if after all of this, you have a drink at the hotel bar next to the prison where there are people being tortured, that takes a terrible toll on people.

"I think Amnesty is a good example of that kind of deeply ethical but deeply problematic culture."

It is yet to be seen how Amnesty will fare over the next 60 years. Amnesty's role will be shaped by the political landscape in which it finds itself.

"How can we have the biggest and strongest impact? Is it still by raising awareness? Is it still by calling on governments predominantly? Are those who are responsible for human rights violations and those who can change the situation on the ground in favor of human rights still the same actors as 20 or 40 years ago? I would say no. I think the scenery has changed. And so Amnesty's methods have to adapt to the current situation," says Mihr.

Related topics

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Amnesty International Materials are covered by the Creative Commons Licence allowing for limited use of publications provided the work is:

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Yes. The Creative Commons licence applies to all Amnesty International Materials on the website, as well as all other written materials which carry the licence wording set out above, together with the Creative Commons logo.

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Copyright in the images on our website and in the body of our reports is generally owned by third parties. In such cases, the copyright owners are separately attributed and this material is not subject to our Creative Commons Licence.

Amnesty International cannot grant reproduction permission, but we will attempt to provide contact information for the copyright holder when available. Please contact us at [email protected] with your question about a specific photograph, map or graphic and include the link on our website where it appears.

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No. You are free to link to any Amnesty International webpage, unless otherwise indicated on that page.

10. I want to reproduce an Amnesty International report in its entirety on my Internet site. Is this allowed?

All Amnesty International reports are covered by this Creative Commons Licence which allows for limited electronic reproduction of our documents. Please carefully review our licence before reproducing any Amnesty International Materials. By reprinting Amnesty International Materials, you agree to abide by the terms of our Creative Commons Licence.

Please note that Amnesty International does not always own the copyright for certain materials – including some photographs, sound recordings or audiovisual works – included within Amnesty International Materials. In such cases, Amnesty International cannot grant reproduction permission through the Creative Commons Licence, but will attempt to provide contact information for the copyright holder when available.

Please contact us at [email protected] with queries about specific photographs, sound recording or audiovisual work and include the link on our website where it appears.

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No. Normally, Amnesty International does not own the copyright in such publications, and therefore cannot grant permission for the reproduction of such materials. You must obtain permission from the owner of the copyright in such materials, which often (but not always) will be the publication in which the materials originally appeared.

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Amnesty International handles such requests on a case-by-case basis. Permission is necessary for such uses of Amnesty International Materials. Amnesty International reserves the right to review the translated document for accuracy and use of terminology to ensure the language is aligned to Amnesty International’s values and policies. Approval of the translation will be a condition of permitting the desired use. We will consider requests to sell the translation and, if approved, will provide a contract for such purposes. Please send all such requests to [email protected]

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Research Paper On Amnesty International

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Introduction

Amnesty International (AI) is an IGO (Intergovernmental Organization) which boasts of a global membership in approximately over 150 countries and a total of approximately three million members (Amnesty International, 2011). Its main area of interest is in protection of human rights and campaigns to stop crimes against humanity. The vision of Amnesty International describes a world where all individuals enjoy international standards of human rights as per the International Declaration of Human Rights. AI is independent of any religious, political, governmental or economic interests.

History of Amnesty International

AI began in 1961 as a result of the outrage of a British lawyer called Peter Beneson. He was outraged when he learnt of the arrest of two students from Portugal who had been arrested for making a toast to freedom. He wrote an article named ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ which was published and reprinted in various newspapers across the world (Amnesty International, 2011). This led to the global campaign known as ‘Appeal for Amnesty 1961’that drew international reactions to the plight of the two students. This appeal led to the formation of Amnesty International, an international movement aimed at defending individual liberty of opinion and of religion.

The 1960s saw the establishment and expansion of the membership of AI. In this period, AI was involved in the rights of prisoners. The Prisoner of Conscience Fund was established in 1962 so as to give prisoners and their family members some relief and advocates for the release of prisoners of conscience. By the end of the 1960s, over 2000 prisoners were released as a result of efforts by AI. The 1970s witnessed the continual growth of AI and in 1972; a global campaign to end torture was established. In 1975, the United Nations adopted a Declaration on Torture which was advocated by AI. In 1979, AI became involved in efforts to prevent political killings and began this campaign by publishing approximately 2665 names of people who had disappeared in Argentina after a military coup by Jorge Videla (Anna, 2011).

In the 1980s AI continued its campaigns established in earlier years. In 1985, an educational pack on human rights was published. The 1990s saw AI expand its operations to include hostage situations, discrimination due to sexual orientation and human rights abuses by armed militia or groups. In 1997, AI began its campaigns for the rights of refugees from all over the world. In the 2000s focus also expanded to women’s rights with the ‘Stop Violence against Women’ campaign being established in 2004 (Parry, 2005, 356). In 2009, AI launched the campaign dubbed ‘Demand Dignity’ which advocated for corporate accountability, maternal mortality and formulation of rights laws.

Contributions and Success of Amnesty International

Amnesty International is a global movement with members from all walks of life. Since inception, AI took upon itself the Herculean task of advocating for the rights of all individuals. The membership of AI has grown to over two million members. It began by advocating for the rights of prisoners of conscience like political prisoners. This led to the release of over 2000 prisoners by the close of the 1960s in a number of countries globally with more releases continuing into the following years. The campaigns by AI have been instrumental in securing the release of political prisoners by making their cases public and subject to international condemnation. The campaign to end torture, which was launched in 1972, has been instrumental in the reduction of torture across the globe. Their campaigns led to the formal denunciation of torture by the United Nations with the UN passing a Declaration on Torture in 1975 (Mutua, Terlingen and Vega, 2008, 331).

The contributions of AI globally can be appreciated in regions as the issues are region- specific. In Africa, AI has been instrumental in fighting for the rights of civilians as the continent has faced many armed conflicts. Examples include resolved conflicts in Liberia, Angola, Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Angola and those currently in progress like Libya. Whether resolved or in progress, these conflicts lead to long term human rights abuses. AI has worked with other bodies like the African Union and the UN to mediate for peace treaties and to advocate for reduced civilian casualties in addition to maintaining the dignity of human life even in war situations. It has also been instrumental in advocating for the rights of women, children and refugees on the continent. Through the efforts of AI and other interested parties, the death penalty was abolished in Rwanda, and while several other countries may still give the death penalty, campaigns by local AI and other interested groups lead to a reduction into life sentences (Amnesty International, 2011).

In the Americas, human rights have become largely embraced, and return to civilian rule in many states in contrast to military rule has caused a corresponding reduction in extrajudicial killings and political assassinations. The biggest debate with regards to human rights is the anti-terror war. Terror suspects being held in prisons like Guantanamo Bay where they are subjected to torture and lack of trials. While AI and other bodies have campaigned vigorously for the rights of these suspects, they continue to be detained and subjected to torture like sleep deprivation, waterboarding and others. Latin America has reported great progress in reducing violence against children and women. Many Asia-Pacific countries have recently attained independence and therefore aspire to achieve a state of human dignity. AI advocated for the respect of human rights in some regions when they were in conflict like Myanmar. AI is part of the bodies which are advocating for the respect of human rights, including women and children. In some countries, the rights of women are greatly violated as they are forced into prostitution through human trafficking in addition to violence and other violations. Asia-Pacific countries have recently become part of the Human Rights Council where they have vowed to uphold human rights. AI will be instrumental in monitoring and advocacy. The Middle East and North Africa has not made great strides in upholding human rights because of complex reasons. AI reports that its efforts and those of interested bodies to advance human rights have been misinterpreted as an attempt to ‘westernize’ them. In 2008, the Arab Charter on Human Rights was put into action; however, it has not prohibited child execution which is in contravention of international human rights laws. Europe and Central Asia are considered a leader in the preservation of human rights. AI has played a significant role in enhancing accountability, and encouraging the upholding of human dignity (Rouke-Boyer 2011, 282). In this region, AI has played a role in fighting for the rights of refugees, reducing domestic violence, fighting racial discrimination and human trafficking. In countries like Turkey, Chechnya, Russia and Uzbekistan, AI has been instrumental in advocating for freedom of expression.

Since inception, AI has been at the forefront in advocacy for human rights and its membership has increased to over two million globally. AI is associated with the advances in human rights and its enforcement. As a result of its efforts, many milestones have been reached in different regions. While AI advocacy has been more successful in certain regions than others, it continues to advance its work because no region can claim to be perfect in the observation of human rights.

Amnesty International, Accessed ,26 May 2011, ‘Amnesty International’, www.amnesty.org. Anna Tomforde. "Amnesty urges backing for Arab Spring "human rights revolution"." McClatchy - Tribune Business News 13 May2011. Mutua, M., Y. Terlingen, and C. de la Vega. "Just Back From the Human Rights Council." American Society of International Law. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (January 1, 2008): 329-338. Parry Ann. Humanitarian Organizations: Amnesty International. (South Yatta: MacMillan Education, 2005) 354-370. Rouke-Boyer. International Politics on the World Stage, Brief. (New York: McGraw Hill Companies, 2011) 131-383.

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Amnesty International: Background Information and Objectives Essay

Origin and growth, what ai does, organizational structure, funding and example of the agency’s success.

Amnesty International (AI) is one of the most prominent advocacy agencies in the world. The agency is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in the United Kingdom (Amnesty International, n.d.). AI focuses on protecting human rights, whose scope of violations constantly changes every day (Amnesty International, n.d.). Despite challenges and criticism over the years, AI has tirelessly pushed people towards an international community with minimal human rights violations. The organization mobilizes public opinion to exert pressure on governments where the human rights of innocent people are abused, forcing the administration to refrain from such actions.

Peter Benenson, a British lawyer, founded Amnesty International in 1961 after publishing the article “The Forgotten Prisoners” (Amnesty International, n.d.). Benenson was outraged by the jailing of two Portuguese students, who raised a toast to freedom, prompting him to write the article. The agency’s mission statement is to “undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of human rights” (Righter, 2018, para. 2).

Since its inception, AI has been collaborating with other organizations and intergovernmental human rights bodies to enforce and expand the protection of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Righter, 2018). AI has established offices in more than 70 countries in different regions (Amnesty International, n.d.). Cattaruzza (2019) adds that the agency’s members exceed 7 million and are allocated in over 150 nations and territories, campaigning to abolish human rights abuses. Indeed, the agency’s operations have grown from advocating for the release of political prisoners to safeguarding the whole human rights spectrum worldwide.

The agency acknowledges that a change in human rights begins with facts. Therefore, AI has a team of experts who accurately research and cross-check into human rights violations by governments, companies, armed political groups, and other actors in the global society (Amnesty International, n.d.). They then analyze the collected information and expose the culprits in newsletters, annual reports, and background papers, influencing them to do the right thing. Members campaign internationally through protests, petitions, and letters to press for action from institutions and individuals who can implement changes (Amnesty International, n.d.).

The main areas that AI deals with include ending torture, human dignity protection, refugees’ rights, prisoners of conscience’s rights, abolition of the death penalty, and women’s, children’s, as well as minorities’ rights. AI also has a significant role in sponsoring human rights education worldwide.

The agency has a complex organizational structure with operations controlled by the International Secretariat (IS). According to Cattaruzza (2019), a team of senior directors headed by the secretary-general, the CEO, leads the IS. The primary responsibilities of IS include researching and reporting, ensuring the agency speaks with one voice internationally, monitoring its financial health, and providing materials for campaigning and legal analysis for researched information. AI also has an international board comprised of nine individuals, ensuring that the agency complies with global standards and policies. The members of the international board are elected by Global Assembly (GA) every year. Notably, members who participate in AI’s operations join the agency voluntarily.

The operations of AI are mainly financed by donations and fees from international membership, allowing the agency to be independent of any economic interest, government, and religion. According to Cattaruzza (2019) indicates that individuals who donate to AI are more than 2 million. While the average monthly donation is approximately $10.19, AI raised $ 359.78 in 2017 for human rights work. The International Criminal Court (ICC) establishment is an example of the successful campaigns of AI. Righter (2018) indicates that the agency started publishing documents and papers that advocated for the court’s creation in 1994. The court prosecutes people involved in serious violations of human rights.

Amnesty International. (n.d). Who we are . Amnesty. Web.

Cattaruzza, E. (2019). Amnesty International- An analysis of the communication strategy [Ebook] (pp. 1-90). Web.

Righter, V. (2018). Amnesty International: Successes and criticisms . The GSP Journal. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 26). Amnesty International: Background Information and Objectives. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amnesty-international-background-information-and-objectives/

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IvyPanda . (2023) 'Amnesty International: Background Information and Objectives'. 26 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Amnesty International: Background Information and Objectives." October 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amnesty-international-background-information-and-objectives/.

1. IvyPanda . "Amnesty International: Background Information and Objectives." October 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amnesty-international-background-information-and-objectives/.

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Winners of national penmanship contest crowned as handwriting is 'having a moment'

It’s regarded, hands down, as the Super Bowl of penmanship tournaments.

The Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, now in its 33rd year, crowned its 2024 grand champions on Monday, rewarding nine students from six states for their picture-perfect letters.

Ten-year old Zita Miller of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, took top honors in the fifth grade category. Her winning submission was one of the contest’s 80,000 entries.

“I like handwriting because it’s like art, drawing swirls and vines and curls,” Miller said, adding that she enjoys penning original mystery stories by hand.

Namuun Baasanbold, from Carmel, Indiana, was named grand champion in the first grade category, and said she likes to give handwritten “love notes” to family and friends.

“Writing by hand makes me feel special,” she said.

The contest celebrates a centuries-old practice, but the victories come as handwriting is experiencing a kind of renaissance in the U.S. In January, California became the 22nd state to require cursive to be taught in schools — a significant jump from 2016, when just 12 states mandated it.

At the same time, various studies published over the past decade have detailed how writing with pencil and paper can benefit memory, cognitive development, reading comprehension and fine motor skills.

“Handwriting is definitely having a moment,” said Sharon Quirk-Silva, a member of the California state Assembly who sponsored the bill. She said she heard from people from all over the country who penned “beautifully handwritten notes” of support for the new law.

“We live in a very polarized nation. So many issues are contentious. But with this handwriting bill, we had full bipartisan support and goodwill. The importance of handwriting is something people seem to agree on,” she said.

Quirk-Silva said she backed the bill, in large part, because of her own experience — before becoming a lawmaker, she taught elementary school for 25 years.

“For years, technology has been taking over the curriculum in schools, with many kids being dormant in front of the screen, using two or three screens a day. Now, there’s a feeling of, ‘Let’s get pens and pencils back in kids’ hands,’” she said.

Although the California law mandates that first through sixth graders in the state receive cursive instruction, Quirk-Silva said she believes that writing by hand — in print or cursive — is an important language arts tool.

“It’s a way of slowing down a little bit, taking your thoughts from your brain to your hand and physically doing the writing,” she said.

Sophia Vinci-Booher, an assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University, said her research found that writing by hand enabled preschool students to form connections in the brain that likely support early letter recognition.

For that study , published in 2016, 20 children were asked to practice certain letters by writing them over and over, and practice others by pressing a button.

“Then we asked the children to go into an MRI scanner and look at those letters they’d been practicing,” Vinci-Booher explained. Her team analyzed the children’s brain activity to assess the functional connectivity between different areas of their brains.

“We found that the connection was stronger with letters they wrote by hand than those they tapped,” she said.

The research underscores the importance of the physical act of forming symbols, Vinci-Booher added.

“Writing by hand is a good thing for kids because it supports early reading development and it engages the fine motor system, which is developmentally important,” she said.

A 2021 study measured people’s brain activity during a memory task, this time finding that University of Tokyo students exhibited stronger activity and better recall after they had written information down on paper than when they did on a smartphone or even with a stylus on a tablet. The researchers suggested that the physical act of writing on paper provides the brain more details that trigger memory, and concluded that using paper notebooks can help students retain information in part because of their “tangible permanence.”

A similar study published in January compared the brain activity of students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who took notes by hand to the activity of those who typed their notes. The findings suggested that the students who wrote by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across a wide range of brain regions responsible for sensory processing and memory.

The results come as little surprise to many educators.

“I’ve seen firsthand that the kids learn more when they write by hand,” said Geeta Kadakia, who teaches second through fifth grade at the DAV Montessori School in Houston. “The lightbulb goes off through those achievements in handwriting, and handwriting leads to achievements in other areas, even math. When students make their numbers more neatly, their math scores improve.”

Laura Gajderowicz taught elementary school for 33 years in Indiana before retiring in 2022. She said she worried as she watched handwriting take a back seat to technology in U.S. classrooms in the early 2000s.

“Writing by hand does so much to help with the development of a student’s eye-hand coordination,” Gajderowicz said, adding: “I’m not against technology — I just think there’s a place at the table for both technology and handwriting when it comes to learning.”

This year, Gajderowicz served as a regional judge in the Zaner-Bloser contest.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see how many entries we had, especially from children in the upper grades,” she said.

Gajderowicz selected winners using criteria that analyzed the mechanics and precision of the letters students wrote, including their shapes, sizes, slant and spacing.

Contestants were asked to write the sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” because it includes the entire alphabet, as well as a sentence explaining why handwriting makes them a better reader and writer.

Baasanbold said she was “over the moon” to find out she won: “I screamed and celebrated with friends at a restaurant with pizza and an appetizer and a sundae for dessert,” she said.

Her prizes include a trophy and $500 — plus bragging rights.

“I like to use my handwriting to impress people,” she said.

Mary Pflum is a national field producer for NBC News, based in New York.