Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: cosa succede in Amnesty

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/25/gita-sahgal-amnesty-international
Mark Townsend
The Observer, Sunday 25 April 2010
It has been a strange, disorientating and upsetting few months for Gita
Sahgal. The former head of Amnesty International's gender unit was
suspended in February after a very public and acrimonious dispute with
her bosses. Two weeks ago she left it altogether. Her departure was
provoked, according to a statement by Amnesty, by "irreconcilable
differences".
The row – over Amnesty's links with Islamist pressure groups – has led
to a succession of negative headlines for a body unused to such bad
publicity. According to Sahgal, the affair was symptomatic of an
organisation that has lost its moral bearings and risks alienating whole
swathes of liberal sympathisers.
In her first newspaper interview since leaving the charity altogether,
Sahgal delivers a withering critique of her former employers, describing
the modern Amnesty's leadership as suffering from "ideological
bankruptcy" and"misogyny". Although Amnesty is still one of the best
known advocates of women's rights in the world, Sahgal told the Observer
that an "atmosphere of terror" prevailed inside the organisation in
which debate is suppressed and staff are cowed into accepting the
prevailing line.
"I think the leadership is ideologically bankrupt, as has been shown in
the handling of this," said Sahgal. "There have been systemic failures
even before I went public. Questions need to be asked of the political
and senior leadership. There is a deep misogyny in the human rights
movement and the kinds of issues that women have to face tend to bring
that out."
Sahgal was born in Bombay and is the daughter of novelist Nayantara
Sahgal and great-niece of former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
She became part of a feminist network that fought against rape and dowry
laws. She moved to London to study, becoming heavily involved in
Southall Black Sisters, the London-based group that campaigns against
domestic violence, sexism and racism.
She became head of Amnesty's gender unit in 2003. The explosive falling
out in one of the world's leading human rights organisations took place
after the publication of an e-mail Sahgal sent to the leadership,
complaining that Amnesty had become too closely linked to a "pro-jihadi
group". The email appeared in a national newspaper in February. Sahgal
claimed the charity's links with Moazzam Begg, a former inmate at
Guantánamo Bay, and his group Cageprisoners were undermining its
campaign for women's rights.
Begg, she claimed in the leaked email, was "Britain's most famous
supporter of the Taliban". She believed it was legitimate to give a
platform to Begg's account of his experience of unlawful detention and
torture, but his beliefs meant it was a "gross error" to associate
Amnesty with his organisation.
"It's something that undermines every aspect of the work we have done on
discrimination against minorities. I cannot underestimate the level of
horror expressed throughout the global women's movement," she told the
Observer.
The problem, for Sahgal, is Begg's championing the rights of "hate"
preachers and alleged defence of the notoriously misogynistic Taliban,
which has used its power to systematically suppress the rights of women.
After seven years in Amnesty championing women's rights, Sahgal felt
deeply compromised by the platform afforded to Begg. She says many UN
specialists, lawyers, philosophers and influential figures in the global
women's rights movement have jumped to her defence since her suspension.
Some have threatened to cut their association with Amnesty, the world's
oldest human rights group. Others are said to have withdrawn donations
to the charity in support of Sahgal, who left the organisation two weeks
ago.
Among the groups that have stepped forward to support her are the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan, Women Human Rights Defenders Coalition,
Women Living Under Muslim Law and Inform, a Sri Lankan human rights
organisation. Amnesty, which has 2.2 million members, has faced few
stickier periods since it was was founded in London in 1961 to support
prisoners of conscience.
"Women's groups are watching events with some anxiety," said Sahgal.
"They are particularly appalled by what is happening and are very scared
that the good relationships they have built up with people on women's
rights issues with Amnesty all over the world are going to be under
threat because of this".
She added: "People are very disturbed but also extremely worried about
going up against Amnesty."
Sahgal first aired concerns over Amnesty's alliance with Cageprisoners
in 2008. "I was completely ignored," she said. "There has never been a
debate on this issue, even in the middle of this global crisis, inside
Amnesty International. They, the leadership, were silencing and ignoring
the issue."
Her confrontation with the Amnesty leadership, which she says exhibits
"multiple systemic failures", has left her disillusioned and worried for
its future, given a culture of quashing debate and a deliberate policy
of "silence" towards contrary views. "There is a fault-line running
through [Amnesty]," she says, "and this has been exposed on a range of
issues wider than what Begg believes."
Amnesty disagrees. In a statement issued after Sahgal's comments were
put to it, the organisation said: "Begg speaks powerfully from personal
experience about the abuses there. He advocates effectively detainees'
rights to due process, and does so within the same framework of
universal human rights standards that we are promoting."
Amnesty does, though, concede that Begg holds other views, arguing that,
for example, the jihadist ideology of the Taliban can be kept separate
from defending human rights.
"On whether one should talk to the Taliban, or on the role of jihad in
self-defence: are such views antithetical to human rights? Our answer is
no, even if we may disagree with them."
It added that if any evidence emerged that Begg or Cageprisoners have
promoted views antithetical to human rights it would disown its
advocacy. Sahgal maintains that a number of experts recommend "caution"
when dealing with Begg and that efforts should have been made to
investigate him before working with him. Begg, for his part, has
dismissed Sahgal's claims as "ludicrous" and says he champions women's
rights.
Amnesty also refutes Sahgal's allegations that debate within the
organisation is discouraged, stating: "We are an organisation of
activists with strong and different views on how best to achieve our
common goals; dissent is inevitable, indeed welcome. Decisions are
reviewed."
But there can be little doubt that Sahgal's views have struck a chord
with many who would normally consider themselves active backers of Amnesty.
Heavyweights supporters of her stance include author Salmon Rushdie and
Yakin Erturk, a former United Nations expert on violence against women.
Hina Jilani, a UN representative on human rights and Asma Jahangir,
another key UN figure, are also believed to be deeply concerned. Nawal
el-Saadawi, the Egyptian writer and activist, and the respected
Bangladeshi barrister Sara Hossain have also backed her.
"Amnesty is trying to message this as my concern only," she says. "But a
lot of people have been raising private questions, including those who
have been involved with Amnesty for years. They are wondering what the
hell is going on."

swathes of liberal sympathisers.
Amnesty International non � la sola organizzazione a tradire i valori
di fondo che ne avevano giustificato la nascita. Anche altre
organizzazioni internazionali hanno conosciuto la stessa involuzione.
Fra pochi giorni, probabilmente si arriver� a nominare anche l'Iran
alla presidenza della commissione per i diritti umani.

 alla presidenza della commissione per i diritti umani.
hanno ritirato la candidatura...tanto non li votava nessuno 

hanno ritirato la candidatura...tanto non li votava nessuno 
Questa � una buona notizia!