AI exposes human rights violations by governments, armed political groups, companies, and other nonstate actors in newsletters, annual reports, and background papers. It relies strongly on the worldwide distribution of “adoption groups,” each of which, staffed by three to eight persons, takes on a limited number of cases of prisoners of conscience and barrages the offending government with letters of protest until the prisoners are released. Other activities include organizing demonstrations and vigils, sponsoring human rights education, and circulating online petitions and alerts. The research department at AI’s London headquarters is in contact with human rights activists and other interested parties around the world and provides a network of information for all the organization’s publications and activities.