Eric Baker (22 September 1920 – 11 July 1976) was a British activist and one of the founders of the human rights group Amnesty International, and the second Secretary-General of the organization. He was also a founder of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

(CND). Baker was a member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

(Quakers), and served as head of the

Quaker Peace and Social Witness Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), previously known as the Friends Service Council, and then as Quaker Peace and Service, is one of the central committees of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends - the national organisation ...

, an organization of Quakers in Britain working to promote and practise the

Quaker testimonies Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

simplicity Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or complex depending on the way we ...

and

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belie ...

. His resting place is the Quaker Meeting House in Maldon, Essex, England where he attended Meeting For Worship on a Sunday. The Meeting is still active today.

Life and career

A pacifist, Baker was registered as a conscientious objector during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His description of justifying this to his tribunal remains in the current (Fifth) edition of British Yearly Meeting's

Quaker Faith and Practice A Book of Discipline may refer to one of the various books issued by a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, setting out what it means to be a Quaker in that Yearly Meeting. The common name for this book varies from one Yearly Me ...

. During the war, Baker worked on the "Famine Relief" campaign, raising funds to send food to the war-torn European continent, educate the British public, and pressure the government. From 1946 to 1948 he was appointed as a joint secretary of the Quaker Centre in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, India, with his wife Joyce. Baker was general secretary of the

National Peace Council The National Peace Council (NPC), founded in 1908 and disbanded in 2000, acted as the co-ordinating body for almost 200 groups across Britain, with a membership ranging from small village peace groups to national trade unions and local authorities. ...

from 1954 to 1959. In this role he wrote an article entitled 'Psychological warfare a challenge to democracy', and a policy statement on a 'Campaign to secure international agreement on the prohibition of nuclear weapons', in December 1959. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Baker made four peace missions to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

on behalf of the Friends Peace & International Relations Committee (now part of

), writing about the peace settlement there. While working on the Cyprus issue Baker became a friend of

Peter Benenson Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 31 July 1921 – 25 February 2005) was a British barrister, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International (AI). He refused all honours for most of his life ...

, the primary founder of Amnesty International (AI). They discussed political, ethical and religious issues. Benenson described Baker as "a partner in the launching of the project" and together they directed the 'Appeal for Amnesty 1961', speaking almost daily on the phone, jointly corresponding with politicians, churches and the media, and gathering a small number of other supporters. Their shared ideas were often written down on napkins in bars, and influenced the 1961 ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

'' article by Benenson which initially attracted worldwide publicity to the cause. Baker assisted Benenson with both the research and shaping of Benenson's book called ''persecution ’61'', which listed case-studies of current

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s. Benenson noted that without Baker's work it would not have been achieved.Buchanan, T. (2002
The Truth Will Set You Free': The Making of Amnesty International.
''Journal of Contemporary History'' 37(4) pp. 575-597 It was at Baker's suggestion that the now-famous term ' prisoner of conscience' was adopted and became central to Amnesty International, as did Baker's view that they should support those who were not themselves advocating or condoning violence. Baker subsequently explained his view that AI represented the response of men and women ‘who are tired of the polarized thinking which is the result of the Cold War and similar conflicts but who are deeply concerned with those who are suffering simply because they are suffering.’ Baker became secretary general of AI in 1966. The organisation was in something of a crisis as a result of Benenson's resignation as president, originating in his concerns that AI activities critical of the British Government were being suppressed and his wish to move the organisation headquarters to Switzerland. The position of president was abolished, and Eric Baker was chosen as secretary general. It is reported that Baker faced a formidable task, with morale at its lowest and distrust in the London office running high, and that he had to reestablish AI's stability and sense of purpose. By July 1968, when

Martin Ennals Martin Ennals (27 July 19275 October 1991) was a British human rights activist. Ennals served as the secretary-general of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 in 198 ...

was appointed secretary general, the number of AI groups was growing again, and more than a tenth of the prisoners of conscience the group adopted were freed. Baker also became Chairman of the British section of Amnesty International, Vice Chairman of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty, and Chairman of Amnesty's Sub-committee for the Abolition of Torture. Baker continued his peace activism in the context of the Religious Society of Friends. He organised sessions on political prisoners and torture at the 1974

Yearly Meeting Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of constituent meetings or churches within a geographical area. The constituent meetings are called Monthly Meetings in ...

of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain and at the Triennial Meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation in 1976, resulting in agreed statements calling for activism to end the use of torture.

References

External links

Amnesty International (AI) Timeline 1960s
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20041212121601/http://www.amnesty.ee/english/history.php History article from the Estonian division of AI {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Eric 1920 births 1976 deaths Amnesty International people British Quakers British activists British pacifists British conscientious objectors English Christian pacifists 20th-century Quakers