Kumi Naidoo to head Amnesty International
‘I have been an activist and campaigner all my life’
FOR the first time in its history, Amnesty International will have a secretary-general and board chairperson from Africa following the appointment of SA civil society leader Kumi Naidoo.
The human rights body announced that Naidoo will be its secretary-general from August 2018 when he succeeds Salil Shetty. Naidoo’s appointment is groundbreaking in the organisation’s 56-year history.
The current chairperson of the board Mwikali Muthiani, who is from Kenya, was appointed to her position in October but is not board chairperson.
“We are delighted to be welcoming Kumi as our new secretary-general. His vision and passion for a just and peaceful world make him an outstanding leader for our global movement, as we strengthen our resolve for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all,” said Muthiani.
Naidoo’s duties will include being the main spokesperson for the organisation and the chief executive of its international secretariat. Amnesty International is the largest human rights movement globally with a global presence including offices in more than 70 countries with 2600 staff and 7 million members, volunteers and supporters worldwide. Naidoo was excited about his new job and looked forward to learning new ways of doing things.
“I have been an activist and campaigner all my life, so I am excited to be joining the world’s largest people movement for human rights at a time when we need to counter increasing attacks on basic freedoms and on civil society around the globe,” he said.
“Amnesty International’s campaigns for justice and equality today are more urgent than ever, and I am humbled and honoured to be leading the organisation in these challenging times,” he added.
Naidoo is an activist and civil society leader and his previous leadership roles include executive director of Greenpeace International, chairperson of the Global Call for Climate Action, founding chairperson of the Global Call to Action against Poverty.
He holds a BA in Law and Political Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford.
Shetty said: “The world is at an exciting moment when people across the world are mobilising in large numbers to fight against injustice and hold leaders in governments and corporations to account for human rights abuses.
“I can’t think of anybody better than Kumi Naidoo to build on Amnesty International’s mission to become a truly global people’s movement for human rights.”