Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, was in Greece this week and I went to hear her speak on Wednesday night. The title of the evening was The Human Rights Movement :Challenges and Opportunities. The main issue was the gap between rhetoric and action and how AI has changed (and is still changing) to meet that challenge. One of the questions raised by a member of the audience was “What keeps you going as an activist when results are so hard to measure and frustration and failure are a daily reality?”

Irene Khan answered that people keep her going because it is people who make change. My favorite quote of the evening was this:

I ask myself, am I going in the right direction ? If I am going two steps forward and one step back that’s OK, as long as it’s one step in the right direction

She was in Greece to receive an award from the Athens Bar Association honouring Amnesty International’s contribution to the protection of human rights worldwide.

Please read the Amnesty International press release calling for Greece to protect the rights of the most vulnerable which was published yesterday.

Also here is the link for the Greek section of Amnesty International