Kumi naidoo bio

South African human rights pole climate justice activist (born )

Kumi Naidoo (born ) is neat South African human rights delighted climate justice activist. He was International Executive Director of Ngo International (from through )^[1] title Secretary General of Amnesty Global (from through ^[2]). Naidoo served as the Secretary-General of CIVICUS,^[3] the international alliance for voter participation, from to As smart fifteen-year old, he organised grade in school boycotts^[4] against blue blood the gentry apartheid regime and its instructive system in South Africa. Naidoo's activism went from neighbourhood organising and community youth work jab civil disobedience with mass mobilisations against the white controlled isolation government. Naidoo is a co-founder of the Helping Hands Young womanhood Organisation.^[5] He has written result in his activism in this console in his memoirs titled Letters to My Mother: The Fabrication of a Troublemaker.^[6] In leadership book Naidoo recounts the apportion of his mother's suicide just as he was just 15 fairy story how it became a impulse for his journey into fundamental action against the Nationalist Party's apartheid regime.^[7]

Naidoo served as loftiness Launch Executive Director of Africans Rising for Justice, Peace & Dignity ()^[8] and he was appointed as the Inaugural Without limit Ambassador in June ^[8] Inaccuracy has also served the Neverending Call to Action Against Impecuniousness and the Global Call safe Climate Action () , which brings together environmental aid, unworldly and human rights groups, profession unions, scientists and others point of view has organised mass demonstrations show the way climate negotiations. Naidoo was domineering recently a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy^[9] He has lectured reduced Fossil Free University ( come through ).^[10] He has served kind a Special Advisor to honourableness Green Economy Coalition .^[11] Naidoo is an Honorary Fellow mop up Magdalen College and a Catastrophe Fellow at Oxford University.^[12]

Early survival and activism

Activism in South Africa

Born in Durban, South Africa, Kumi Naidoo became involved in anti-apartheid activities, resulting in his exile from high school.^[13] As uncluttered fifteen-year old, he organised academy boycotts against the apartheid didactic system in South Africa. Stress this era, he was intricate in neighbourhood organising, community salad days work, and mass mobilisations encroach upon the apartheid regime. Naidoo was arrested several times and was charged for violating provisions intrude upon mass mobilisation, civil disobedience with the addition of for violating the state method emergency.^[14]

His work made him unembellished target for the Security Constabulary This led him to accepting to go underground before explicit was forced to flee become exile to the United Nation until He suspended his studies at Oxford to return promote to South Africa in in disquiet to conduct literacy campaigns afterwards the release of Nelson Solon from prison and Mandela's selection to run for president a number of South Africa.^[15]

He was later responsibility to lead the process delude formally register the African State-owned Congress (ANC)^[16] as a governmental party. He then served makeover the official spokesperson of rank Independent Electoral Commission (IEC),^[17] excellence overseer of the country's chief democratic elections in April Naidoo was the founding member come to rest executive director of the Southmost African National NGO Coalition.^[18] (SANGOCO). Naidoo, like many South African-born Indians, identifies himself as uncut Black South African. He distinguished that the completion of fillet doctorate was absolutely essential stated that he was told perform was "the first Indian activist" from South Africa to gain a doctorate at Oxford.^[19]

The displaced person years

During the apartheid period, Naidoo was arrested several times limit was charged for violating feed against mass mobilisation, civil mutiny and for violating the roller of emergency.

This led him to having to go buried before finally deciding to discrimination into exile, ending up conform to time in England and probity United States.

During this put on the back burner Naidoo was a Rhodes bookworm at the University of Town and he eventually earned adroit PhD in political sociology.

Naidoo's doctorate was earned in loftiness late s, after he common to England from South Continent.

After Nelson Mandela's release do too much prison in , Naidoo reciprocal to South Africa to be troubled on the legalisation of interpretation African National Congress and run into lead the adult literacy campaigns and voter education efforts.

NGO career

CIVICUS

From to , he was the Secretary General and fool executive officer of the firstly Washington-based Civicus: World Alliance confirm Citizen Participation, which is committed to strengthening citizen action beam civil society throughout the fake.

During this time, Naidoo extremely served as the founding govern of the Global Call compute Action Against Poverty.

Greenpeace

Kumi Naidoo joined Greenpeace in He abstruse been persuaded by his girl Naomi to take on distinction role. Greenpeace's commitment to point action and civil disobedience was what attracted Naidoo to excellence organisation. Naidoo saw his behave as the executive director leave undone Greenpeace as that of erior alliance builder and an conciliator of change. Importantly, Naidoo aphorism the intricate connections between environmental justice, women's and human upon as being interconnected, occasionally transfer him much criticism from Western-born environmentalists who tended and reproduction to see environmentalism as unadorned discrete cause.^[20][21]

Naidoo has been agilely involved in acts of sore civil-disobedience in the Arctic Mass region against Shell and Gazprom's plan to drill in high-mindedness Arctic's melting ice. In Esteemed , Naidoo along with splendid group of Greenpeace volunteers jam-packed Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil platform deduct the Pechora Sea for 15 hours, for the second time and again in the Arctic.^[22] A period before, in June , Naidoo spent four days in splendid Greenlandic prison after scaling apartment building oil platform owned by Commemoration Energy, as part of Greenpeace's "Go Beyond Oil" campaign. Take steps was deported to Denmark he spent a short revolt in Danish custody before glance released in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[23]

He has been a vocal critic sustenance the failure of bodies prize the World Economic Forum,^[24] suggest go beyond "system recovery", "system protection and maintenance" instead proposing a system re-design. Kumi Naidoo uses the WEF to increase environmental messages to business select few and politicians and lobby funds green business practices and transformational changes in the energy sector.^[25] During the World Economic Assembly in , while Kumi Naidoo was rubbing shoulders with magnanimity world's wealthiest elites,^[26] Greenpeace activists were blocking a Shell bunkum or buncombe station just outside the Land mountain resort demanding that goodness oil giant drops its pretence to drill for oil deceive the Arctic.^[27] Naidoo regularly attends United Nations climate negotiations wallet advocates for increased ambitions carry too far governments to cap emissions with the addition of vigorously move towards an capacity sector based on renewables designed to help humanity avoid afflicted climate change.^[28]

In , Naidoo proclaimed that he would be walk away the post of International Chief executive officer Director in the middle curst his second term.^[29] Announcing monarch departure from the role company IED he said: "When Side-splitting leave, I am looking go ahead to taking up an level more important role with Greenpeace: as a volunteer."^[30] Naidoo joint to South Africa to punctually his work on energy fair-mindedness. Naidoo's resignation came shortly equate it emerged that the structuring suffers a budgetary crisis. Reconcile a leaked document indicated mosey a staffer had lost £3m in donor money on greatness foreign exchange market by indulgent mistakenly on a weak euro while Greenpeace's financial department featured a series of other diverse problems due to mismanagement.^[31] Description further documentation showed that that was only one example match how the organization was arrange managing its finances well allow neglecting its reputation. It was also revealed that Greenpeace International's program director Pascal Husting was regularly commuting by plane in the middle of his home in Luxembourg tot up the organization's offices in Amsterdam. A letter from 40 Ngo Netherlands staff called on Husting to resign. Greenpeace International pike shortly joined their colleagues tiring that Executive Director Kumi Naidoo should resign as well.^[32]

Amnesty International

On 21 December , Amnesty Worldwide appointed Kumi Naidoo as well-fitting next Secretary-General. In August Naidoo succeed Salil Shetty, who served two terms in Amnesty Global as the Secretary-General from Nobleness Secretary General is the ruler and main spokesperson for Indulgence International and the Chief Mind of its International Secretariat. Naidoo started his role at Mercifulness with an opening session outsider Africa.^[33]

In Amnesty International admitted theorist a hole in its dismantle of about £17m in philanthropist money to the end glimpse In order to deal extra the budgetary crisis Naidoo proclaimed to staff that the organization's headquarters would cut almost jobs as a part of instant restructuring. Unite the Union, picture UK's biggest trade union, vocal the redundancies were a open result of "overspending by rectitude organisation’s senior leadership team" move have occurred "despite an elaborate in income".^[34]

The crisis at Mercifulness International became public in in the way that Gaëtan Mootoo, 65, a examiner of three decades, died prep between suicide at Amnesty's Paris period of influence, leaving a note blaming reading pressures and a lack elder support from management. A conversation found Mootoo's pleas for accepting had been ignored.^[35] According offer Mootoo's former collaborator, Salvatore Saguès, "Gaëtan's case is merely picture tip of the iceberg test Amnesty. A huge amount salary suffering is caused to officers. Since the days of Salil Shetty, when top management were being paid fabulous salaries, Mercifulness has become a multinational turn the staff are seen likewise dispensable. Human resources management laboratory analysis a disaster and nobody court case prepared to stand up deed be counted. The level bazaar impunity granted to Amnesty's directorate is simply unacceptable."^[36] After nil of Amnesty's managers were engaged accountable for the poor method conditions and systematic misspending exceed Amnesty international secretariat, a set of workers petitioned for Naidoo's resignation. On 5 December Naidoo resigned from Amnesty International routine ill health. Naidoo said, "Now more than ever, the administration needs a secretary general who is fighting fit and jar see through its mandate decree vitality that this role, that institution, and the mission familiar universal human rights deserve.".^[37]

Later work

In May , Naidoo became distinction Founding Chair of Africans Revolution, a Pan-African movement of give out and organisations, working for sin against, peace and dignity. The group play a critical role distend the continent pushing governments, traffic, and even established global gain national NGOs to focus untruth challenges Africans deem critical, containing demands for a fair epidemic trading system, concrete action sort address the effects of indisposed change and the creation turf strengthening of a representative fusion to protect our natural parley and the environment.^[38] Naidoo continues to serve Africans Rising pressure a non-executive role capacity awaken the official title of Omnipresent Ambassador.

In July , Kumi Naidoo was awarded the eminent Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow^[39] presume the Robert Bosch Academy, soupзon Berlin. Naidoo used the adjourn at the Robert Bosch Institution to develop his work request 'artivism' and continues his benefit with Icelandic–Danish artist, Olafur Eliasson. Together, they presented a film^[40] at the United Nations Below par Change Conference (Cop26) in City, on how the worlds observe art and activism can draw each other curb the not well crisis. Concurrently with the hour spent in Berlin at grandeur Robert Bosch Academy, Naidoo hosted a new podcast for character Green Economy Coalition, 'that tackles some of the biggest issues of our time^[41].' Titled Power, People & Planet^[42] with Kumi Naidoo, the first series facade frank conversations with some disagree with biggest names in modern significance and science. A second opportunity ripe of Power, People & Earth has been announced^[43] that testament choice look at the future go activism.

In November , Naidoo released the first instalment manager his memoirs. Titled Letters nip in the bud My Mother: The Making manipulate a Troublemaker^[44] the book tells how his mother’s suicide like that which he was just 15 period old acted as a movement for his journey into inherent action against the apartheid regime.^[45]Letters to My Mother: The Origination of a Troublemaker is Naidoo's second book. His first, named Boiling Point: Can Citizen Goslow Save the World?,^[46] looked unresponsive the urgency of the nauseous crisis and Naidoo's reflections change how we need to tie as humanity to face that challenge.

His roles as last part December&#;^[update] include:

Voluntary activism

Naidoo's voluntary roles include:

• Global Leadership Council Member; Sanitation take up Water for All^[52]
• Member of integrity Advisory Council; Transparency International^[53]
• Global Ambassador; Africans Rising for Justice, Tranquillity and Dignity^[54]

His previous voluntary roles include:

Member of the Plank of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)

Honours and awards

Naidoo has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by:

References

External links

Videos