Amnesty’s first ever South African Secretary General sets out his vision for the direction of the world’s largest human rights organisation as he starts his tenure visiting Johannesburg
The human rights movement needs to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive if it is to tackle the challenges that people face today, said seasoned activist Kumi Naidoo as he officially started his role as Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“Our world is facing complex problems that can only be tackled if we break away from old ideas that human rights are about some forms of injustice that people face, but not others. The patterns of oppression that we’re living through are interconnected,” said Kumi Naidoo.
“You cannot talk about the climate change crisis without recognising that it is also an inequality and race issue; you can’t address sexual discrimination without recognising that it is bound up in the economic exclusion of women; and you can’t ignore the fact that people’s civil and political rights are often suppressed exactly when they are trying to demand basic economic justice.”
