2 current and 6 former staff members from Amnesty International UK have issued a statement alleging that senior management of the organisation “knowingly upheld racism and actively harmed staff from ethnic minority backgrounds.”
The statement called on senior management of AIUK, as well as the board of directors, to resign over the issue.
“There’s a hegemonic white middle-class culture that seemed to be protected and reproduced. White privilege was pervasive,” said one individual, Katherine Odukoya, according to the Guardian.
https://twitter.com/BenQuinn75/status/1384436640547065856
“Working for AIUK destroyed my self-confidence, my belief in my capabilities,” said another, Kieran Aldred.
“I didn’t think I was skilled enough to do my job, that any organization would ever hire me, let alone promote me, and I suffered from ongoing depression and anxiety.”
The Guardian based its initial coverage on an internal Amnesty International report from last October, which was commissioned in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The report found that there was a “culture of white privilege” at many branches of Amnesty International – not just the United Kingdom – and described “systemic bias including the capability of black staff being questioned consistently and without justification, and minority ethnic staff feeling disempowered and sidelined on projects”.
Additionally, the report claims there are examples of “senior staff using the N-word and P-word, with colleagues labelled over-sensitive if they complained.”
Prior to the report, Amnesty had sent an email around to staff about the killing of George Floyd, saying that racism was built into the “very organizational model” of Amnesty International, because it was shaped by “colonial power dynamics and borders” during the organisation’s founding in 1961.
In addition, the Guardian claims that Amnesty International has a “toxic working environment.”
“In February 2019, it was revealed that Amnesty International had a ‘toxic’ working environment,” the Guardian article reads.
“A review into workplace culture, commissioned after two staff members killed themselves in 2018, found widespread bullying.”
‘Widespread bullying’ of staff identified at Amnesty International https://t.co/1WSjRIbMca via @IrishTimesWorld
— Irish Times World (@IrishTimesWorld) February 6, 2019
Amnesty lost 5 of its top bosses following that report.
"Across many interviews the word 'toxic' was used to describe the Amnesty work culture as far back as the 1990's. So were the phrases 'adversarial', 'lack of trust', and 'bullying'," the report said. https://t.co/lAmJEuxBpD
— Dlshad ☀️ (@dlshadothman) May 29, 2019
Amnesty’s executive director for their English-speaking Canadian branch, Jayne Stoyles, was either fired or resigned last week following accusations of “systemic racism” – it is unknown whether Stoyles exiting the organisation was voluntary.
“We need to dismantle the systemic and structural elements of racism that are embedded deeply within our organization in order to credibly lead this work externally."https://t.co/Ax6dPfmFXy
— VICE Canada (@vicecanada) April 14, 2021
Amnesty International UK’s director, Kate Allen, has said that all these allegations are currently under investigation.
“We know that institutional racism exists in the UK and, like any other organization, we aren’t immune to this very real problem,” she said.
“We recognize that we have not done enough to ensure that our organization is a truly inclusive one where everyone receives the same level of respect and opportunity, is valued equally and is able to be heard.”