CB BureauAmnesty International, a global human rights body, is keen to
have a ‘more vibrant’ presence in India and other developing countries in its
efforts to make it truly international, said its new Secretary General Salil
Shetty.
Shetty, who came to Amnesty after seven years as director of
the UN Millennium Campaign and five years at Action Aid, is the first Indian to
lead Amnesty. He took charge of the organization last month.
‘Our presence in the developing world needs to expand. We
need a more vibrant presence in India, Brazil and Africa so that it is the
people there who are doing the research and the campaigning, and not people
sitting in London,’ Shetty said, emphasising that the challenge for Amnesty lay
in making the organization truly international.
Shetty told The
Observer, ‘One of the biggest attractions that drew me to come into the
Amnesty International fold is the membership of 2.8 million who are
able to push from the bottom.
‘If that didn’t exist, then one of the most powerful
rationales for its legitimacy would be weakened, so that is at the heart of my
interest because Amnesty has a unique ability to speak truth to power.’