Amnestys Secretary General to visit New Zealand [1]
Friday, September 30, 2011 - 10:50. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Next week Amnesty Internationals Secretary General Salil Shetty will visit New Zealand as part of the organisations 50th birthday celebrations.
While in the country, Salil will meet with New Zealand members of parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the human rights situation in the country and the rest of the Pacific to ensure human rights are at the forefront of the countrys 26 November General Election agenda.
As Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand seeks to prioritise its engagement in the Pacific, Salil will also be meeting with several Pacific Human Rights Defenders to determine how the organisation can strengthen its campaigns in the Region and support local organisations in their work to promote and protect human rights.
Salil will also be speaking at two public engagements on how Amnesty has grown as an organisation over the past five decades and how the New Zealand public can continue to contribute to positive human rights change in the next 50 years. The Auckland event will be held on the evening of Monday 3 October at the University of Auckland, and the
Wellington event on the afternoon of Tuesday 4 October at the Spectrum Presentation Theatre.
A long term activist on poverty and justice, Salil Shetty joined Amnesty International in July 2010 and, as Secretary General, leads Amnesty Internationals worldwide work to end grave human rights violations.
He is the organisations chief political adviser, strategist and spokesperson and takes Amnesty Internationals campaigns to the highest level of government, the United Nations and business.
Salil has ambitious plans to strengthen Amnesty Internationals work in the global south and Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealands Chief Executive Patrick Holmes says his visit reinforces how important it is to recognise the leadership role New Zealand can play in seeing this become a reality.
New Zealand is one of only two Pacific sections in the Amnesty International movement and we have a powerful role to play in supporting those who speak out on human rights issues and those who dont have a voice to be heard, says Holmes. - Amnesty International media release. 30 September 2011.