Amnesty CEO letter in response to article about charities spend huge sums on non-charitable work

[singthing]

I read this pompous letter earlier in the week and it has continued to irritate me till now.

Mainly the gigantic elephant in the room of not getting round to explaining how, for example, driving a coach and horses through women's rights, safety and legal entitlements is "protecting human rights" and "respecting the rule of law" - despite the fact she is replying to a piece that specifically mentioned how identify politics and DEI activism is detrimental to performing work on the ground.

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Lobbying is a vital part of charities’ work
SIR – Chris Snowdon, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, suggests that the public may not be aware that Amnesty International spends money on lobbying governments (“Britain’s bloated charities are paying the price for corporate greed and identity politics”, Features, October 24). Campaigning in order to make governments protect human rights and respect the rule of law is why we exist.

We research human rights abuses, expose them and mobilise public pressure until they stop. It works. Our research and action have helped free countless people imprisoned for their beliefs and bring about a world where more than two-thirds of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

In 2024 alone, our evidence on arms pouring into Sudan’s civil war contributed to US sanctions on companies involved.

Our work on Myanmar pushed the UN, for the first time, to call for an end to fuel supplies for the junta’s air strikes.
This is what research, campaigning, activism and lobbying buy: real change that improves lives across the world.

Kerry Moscogiuri
CEO, Amnesty International UK
London WC1

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Letter: https://archive.ph/eraNI
Features article she was responding to: https://archive.ph/TVZ1M

Thanks for the link, the article rang some bells with me. They are all full of 'professional' third sector types, they've lost sight of their grassroots core of being, it's now more about the careers of the affluent upper middle class.

"We research human rights abuses, expose them and mobilise public pressure until they stop. It works."

If they were that good then by now none of these things would exist in the world. An indignant puff piece from a grifter lobbyist, who's deflecting from the fact that they're misusing the funds that are donated to them and use them to create nicely paid careers with.

If they were that good then by now

... they'd be out of a job. Stonewall comes to mind.

I worked in the charity sector for a number of years and there is a big difference between management goals and frontline worker goals. The professional management class were the same in each charity, earning silly money for the amount of actual work they do, more concerned with lobbying for funds while at the same time rationing the money spent on their core group of charity recipients, and always the same small pool of well-paid people with no real world experience moving between senior and executive posts in the sector.

It put me off donating to the big charities.

Never ever donate to a big charity, they without fail over pay the empire building CEO.