AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND ANNUAL REPORT 2013
CONTENTS
2012 Annual Meeting attendees wear glasses in support of then imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng. © Amnesty International
2
Vision, Mission & Values
3
Chair’s Report
4
Executive Director’s Report
6
Campaign Roundup
8
Fundraising & Membership
10
Treasurer’s Report
11
Our Finances
Physical address: Te Piringa, 68 Grafton Road, Auckland 1010 Postal address: PO Box 5300, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Telephone: +64 9 303 4520 Facsimile: +64 9 303 4528 Web: www.amnesty.org.nz Email: info@amnesty.org.nz General enquiries: 0800 AMNESTY (266 378) Chair: Helen Shorthouse Executive Director: Grant Bayldon
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Published by: Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand Cover Image: A ‘Gangnam Style’ dancer in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. December 2012. © LICADHO Feedback: We appreciate your feedback and ideas. Please email info@amnesty.org.nz WWW.AMNESTY.ORG.NZ
MISSION & VALUES Amnesty International is a movement of ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. Our purpose is to protect individuals wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied.
OUR VISION A world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
OUR MISSION We are dedicated to promoting all human rights for all people and campaigning to stop serious violations of those rights whenever and wherever they occur.
OUR VALUES
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Universality and indivisibility of human rights Global coverage and international solidarity Effective action for the individual victim Impartiality and independence Internal democracy and mutual respect
CHAIR’S REPORT
“
I feel confident that we are well set to achieve our strategic goals in order to maximise our human rights impact.
HELEN SHORTHOUSE
”
CHAIR / AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ
I AM free and I continue to be grateful for the life I lead and the choices I am free to make. The fact that not everyone is as fortunate as I am is what keeps me focused on playing my part in Amnesty’s vision of a world where everyone has access to all human rights. In late 2011 the Governance Team developed Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ’s strategy of human rights impact, growth and organisational health. In early 2012 the Governance Team worked on recruiting the right new Executive Director to lead the implementation of this. Grant Bayldon joined the team in June. The remainder of the year has been spent on supporting and guiding the Executive Director and management team, reviewing our priorities, building our team and skills, and focusing on maximising our governance effectiveness. At this point I would like to thank Angie Heffernan who is standing down at the Annual Meeting after being on the Governance Team for two years.
This implementation has not been without its challenges, in particular, how the changes will affect individuals - especially in London - whose roles are directly impacted. As I write this, we seem to be moving towards a resolution which will enable us to move forward. Two trial hubs have also been set up enabling feedback on what is working and what needs improving to be fed into long term planning. We are currently preparing for the biannual International Council Meeting in August. This is where global strategy is agreed and decision making undertaken for the whole of Amnesty. This enables us to act as a strong organisation with ‘one voice’,
focusing on agreed priorities to maximise our impact. We will be talking more about this with you over the coming months. I feel confident that we are well set to achieve our strategic goals in order to maximise our human rights impact. Whatever part you play in Amnesty – donating, signing petitions, fundraising, working in our office or on the Governance Team, you continue to play a vital and valued role. Thank you. And thank you for our freedom.
Helen Shorthouse Chair
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The Governance Team has also participated in several key international moments. I attended the Chairs’ Assembly and we have also participated in a number of international phone conference calls and email discussions.
The Movement continues to implement the Global Transition Programme – that is the decentralisation of our International Secretariat head office from London to a number of regional hubs. The purpose of this is to develop a stronger organisation which has a presence in all key global locations. The reasons are clear – we want to grow our income, but primarily increase activism and impact to really ensure human rights for all. We need local input to ensure we are relevant, effective and fast moving, but without losing what Amnesty is known and respected for – our ability to report and campaign based on facts and evidence.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
“
So, just over a year into the new plan, how are we doing and what’s left to be done?
”
GRANT BAYLDON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ
I THOUGHT I knew a lot about Amnesty International when I started this role in mid 2012.
pose and dedication. This is something that takes time to build and can’t be faked.
able to recruit and retain high-calibre staff was identified as a prerequisite for success.
In fact I had no idea of the breadth of work being done around the movement. At last count there were 170 active campaigns being worked on, all requiring significant rigour and resource.
And secondly, to be the most effective we can be as a small section, we need to relentlessly focus on the areas where we can have the greatest impact. These won’t always be the most popular campaigns, but they will be the most important for us.
So, just over a year into the new plan, how are we doing and what’s left to be done?
Which means that it’s not easy to sum up a year of our section’s activity. From a personal perspective it’s been a whirlwind of new campaigns and new challenges. But as we recently completed the international report back on New Zealand’s involvement in all the 2012 campaigns, there were a couple of themes that jumped out for me.
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Firstly, we are a movement of dedicated people. That’s easy to say, but from teams, to frontline fundraisers, to interns, to supporters, to the Governance Team - I get a strong sense of shared pur-
The 2015 strategic plan
Back in late 2011 the NZ Governance Team adopted an ambitious new four year strategic plan covering the period to the end of 2015, which identified the need to narrow the focus and increase the measurement of our work to increase our impact, and to increase our Asia-Pacific and local focus. To support the increased human rights impact, a significant increase in the Amnesty supporter base was targeted, doubling it by the end of the plan period. This growth, done cost effectively, was to be an important part of returning the Organisation to financial health, while being
Focus and measurement
The team took on the call to narrow the focus down in late 2011, and for 2012 New Zealand identified a smaller number of priority campaigns to hone in on: some of these are listed in the campaigning report. Measurement of human rights impact is always difficult. We know that we get results – we see these especially when we take on individuals at risk cases like Mao Hengfeng, a relentless campaigner for human rights in China who was released recently after years of imprisonment and torture. The fact that other campaigns are harder to measure doesn’t stop us from taking them on, but it does mean we need to work harder to evaluate and learn from them. Helpfully, our International Secretariat has recently developed a set of
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Amnesty volunteers campaigning on behalf of Russian punk band Pussy Riot at the Coldplay concert in November 2012.
resources to help with this, and we have identified this area as a key focus for 2013.
Growth & organisational health
Amnesty International has been a household name in New Zealand for many years, but our resources haven’t kept pace - in fact, when the new strategic plan was written our finances were looking pretty bleak. A previous attempt had been made back in 2007 to balance the budget, but with the benefit of hindsight we can see that not only were some expendable costs cut, long term financial sustainability was compromised by cutting our investment in recruiting new regular supporters our future income.
And is it working? Yes, absolutely. See the Fundraising & Growth and the Treasurer’s reports for the latest results.
Development Director and IT & Database Manager Vivian Chandra who are responsible for the increasingly strong position we now find ourselves in. It’s been a privilege to meet with many of the teams and supporters over the last year and to see how much strength there is in our membership. Thank you for continuing to be part of Amnesty International.
2013 & beyond
The themes in the strategic plan are as current now as they were when the plan was developed, and the 2013 phase of the plan is already well under way. I want to acknowledge here our staff and interns – it is remarkable just how high the calibre of our people is, not to mention their commitment to our cause. I especially want to recognise our management team: Rebecca Emery our Campaigns, Research, Advocacy & Communications Director, Cyrille Koolhaas our
Grant Bayldon Executive Director
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Since 2011 we’ve realised that what’s been lacking for us to get our finances back on track - especially given our strong profile - has been as simple and as difficult as getting out and talking to people directly and asking them to join us. Rather than flashy marketing campaigns we’ve focused on being on the streets, at events, on the phone and at people’s
doorsteps – anywhere we can be to engage directly on human rights issues we know New Zealanders care about. Do we risk annoying some people by doing this? Yes, but if we believe in our mission it’s clear that we risk far more by not having the conversations and allowing far more people to join us.
CAMPAIGNING
2012 saw the first ever International Criminal Court conviction, as Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years for war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This historic decision came in a year when people in the DRC were caught in yet more violence and insecurity.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND WRONGS
The verdict sends a strong message, a message that no one, not even presidents, are above the law. It shows that we must never take our eye off the ball. We must always keep watch, highlight and protest against human rights abuses, and demand justice.
Forced Evictions Housing is a human right we all share. Forced evictions are a major human rights violation facing people living in slums and informal settlements around the world. That is why here in New Zealand in 2012 we prioritised our campaign for the adoption of national laws to prohibit forced evictions. We led international campaigning to oppose forced evictions in Cambodia, where tens of thousands of people are being unlawfully evicted from their land and their homes destroyed, often due to the money-driven demands of big business.
Darth Vadar and his storm troopers took to the streets of Auckland in a bid to buy weapons in June 2012.
Arms Trade Treaty Around the world the Amnesty movement prioritised its 2012 campaigning toward an effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) - one that would stop countries and corporations selling guns, bullets and teargas to dictators and tyrants who've use them to kill and violently repress civilians. In New Zealand our teams and staff took to the streets and festivals to ask New Zealanders to join our call for a bulletproof ATT. Along with our partners from Oxfam we presented 9000 Kiwi signatures, calling on New Zealand and Pacific delegates to stay strong at the negotiations in New York, to representatives from the National, Labour and Green Parties outside of Parliament in Wellington on 27 June. These signatures were added to a global total of 620,328, which were handed over to United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon before the negotiations began on 3 July. Sadly, in the last hours on the last day of negotiations in July, a call for more time was made by the United States, supported by Russia and with China taking the opportunity to make a few conditions of its own. In early 2013 we continued our calls for an ATT as world’s leaders were again meeting in New York in March. We used the opportunity to lobby hard and say “Enough: No Arms for Atrocities”.
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Around the world we have worked extremely hard to ensure that the final text was not watered down and full of loopholes big enough to drive tanks through.
This campaign was led by our Youth Groups, who campaigned hard during 2012’s Freedom Challenge on behalf of individuals and communities at risk of forced evictions in Cambodia and Israel & the Occupied West Bank. They called on Governments in both countries to ‘Stop Bulldozing People’s Lives’. The 4000 New Zealand signatures collected for Cambodia were added to a global Amnesty total of 40,000 and sent to Cambodia where they were part of International Human Rights Day actions around the country, as Cambodians took to the streets calling for an end to forced evictions.
Corporate Accountability Throughout 2012 we continued our call on oil giant Shell to ‘Own Up, Pay Up, Clean up’ in the Niger Delta. With a particular focus by our Environmental Defenders Network and our Youth Network we contributed over 1700 signatures to the global total of over 300,000 delivered to Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands, calling on the company to commit to an initial $1 billion to assist in the cleanup of the Niger Delta. During the global Write for Rights campaign we put a focus on the Bodo Community - a small township in the Niger Delta - and called on the Nigerian Government to see justice for the people of Bodo by ensuring a proper clean up takes place .
CAMPAIGNING
Middle East & North Africa (MENA) The popular protests that swept the MENA region in 2011 changed the political landscape in the region to an extent that few could have foreseen. However the processes of change and transformation were far from over in early 2012 and by year’s end the region had seen almost two years of turmoil. Nowhere has the human cost of the ‘Arab Spring’ been higher than in Syria, where the bloodshed only intensified throughout the year. In New Zealand, Syria was set as our priority MENA country and we lobbied the Russian Government to end the bloodshed in Syria. Amnesty reported on the abuse carried out by both sides of the conflict and concluded that crimes against humanity were being committed in Syria. We repeatedly called for the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court and for the international community to take concrete action, to stop violations on the ground and hold all those responsible to account.
Death Penalty We continued in our fight to see the death penalty abolished worldwide. The campaign targeted retentionist countries to adhere to and implement the international prohibitions and standards on the use of the death penalty, to achieve moratoriums on executions and abolition in a limited number of countries and to stop executions in specific individual cases. At an advocacy level we worked to lobby all Pacific governments to vote in favour of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN at the end of 2012 and, in Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Nauru and Fiji, to undertake domestic legal reform to prohibit the use of death penalty.
Amnesty volunteers and staff call on Russia to end the blood shed in Syria at Auckland University in May 2012.
Refugees/Asylum Seekers
Individuals at Risk
On 30 April the New Zealand Government announced that an Immigration Amendment Bill would be introduced to Parliament on 3 May for its first reading. The Bill raised a number of concerns, including seeking to mass detain asylum seekers, restricting family reunification and making asylum seekers re apply for refugee status after three years if they arrived as a group of 11 or more by boat. The alleged purpose of the Bill was to deter people smugglers.
Every year, people face intimidation, are imprisoned, tortured and killed for peacefully expressing their beliefs or defending the rights of others. In 2012 we took action on behalf of many individuals at risk.
We launched an action - ‘Detention of asylum seekers in NZ. Not in my name!’ And over 1600 New Zealanders demanded better from the New Zealand Government, telling MPs that the Bill did not represent them. While it seemed that support for the Bill had wavered it was extremely disappointing to see New Zealand head even further down the wrong path when it came to asylum seekers as the Government made a new refugee deal with Australia in February 2013.
In November a vote to establish a moratorium on the death penalty at the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee gave a further boost to the global goal of ending the use of capital punishment. 110 states voted in favour, 36 abstained and 39 voted against the resolution.
We called on New Zealand to stand with 15 year old Malala - shot in the head by Taliban gunmen on her way home from school. She has since been released from hospital in the UK and is recovering well. Around the world and here in NZ we put on black sunglasses to stand with Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng. In April the Chinese activist escaped from illegal house arrest into American diplomatic protection in China, from where he was granted asylum in the US.
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January 2012: Russian punk band Pussy Riot sing a song in Moscow’s Red Square. © REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
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The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and Amnesty opposes it in all cases without exception.
We wore fluorescent balaclavas and called for the freedom of Russian punk band Pussy Riot - jailed for performing a protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral.
FUNDRAISING & MEMBERSHIP
“ GROWTH
Following the successful launch of our growth strategy in 2011, we are right on track to double the number of supporters (and income) by 2015: we finished the year on just under 6500 Human Rights Defenders pledging to make monthly contributions and more than 3000 additional people who made one or more donations during 2012. Income from our Human Rights Defenders programme grew by 20% in 2012 and this growth is expected to further accelerate during 2013. Income from our appeal programme increased by 4%, while income from events and group contributions showed a 4% decline compared to 2011. Other programmes that showed healthy growth were our high donors income (30%) and income from members which tripled compared to 2011.
Amnesty International’s strength is about raising awareness and mobilising the public.
”
If we take out two one-offs from 2011 - a significant bequest and a grant from Amnesty International Netherlands - core fundraising income increased by a very healthy 17% in 2012. Even with these 2011 one-offs the 2012 growth is still 6%.
MORE THAN JUST RAISING MONEY
Our fundraising activities are more than just raising money to fund for our work. Amnesty International’s strength is bringing about awareness and mobilising the public. Our fundraisers engage with literally tens of thousands of New Zealanders every year about human rights issues and as such improve public awareness and offer people the opportunity to take action. Newly recruited supporters are also informed and encouraged to become active in one of our many networks or groups.
Nuba refugees in Yida refugee camp, South Sudan, April 2012. © Pete Muller
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WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO?
FUNDRAISING & MEMBERSHIP
What your donation does in New Zealand It enables New Zealanders to take action whenever and wherever there is a human rights crisis It ensure that our Government meets its international human rights obligations It helps protect human rights in New Zealand and overseas through awareness raising and enabling the public to take action where needed You support local human rights defenders in their activities You help support human rights education programmes in schools through information, resources and speakers
What your donation does internationally
Why we need your support We never accept funding from governments or political organisations for our campaigning work. We are funded by individual supporters who speak up for those whose rights are denied. This financial independence means we are free to criticise or applaud with objectivity and impartiality.
It allows us to work with local human rights defenders around the world It supports extensive field research in areas experiencing human rights violations It allows us to respond to crises such as the recent civil unrest in Syria by sending observers to volatile regions It publishes and translates reports and other media to optimise awareness of our campaigns worldwide It allows us maintain a presence in key decision making bodies such as at the UN headquarters in New York and at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands It helps increase Amnesty International’s impact in emerging economic powers such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa through human rights education training, collaboration with local organisations, monitoring policy, lobbying and campaigning
Your financial support goes towards: human rights research and campaigning protecting people in immediate danger pushing governments to change practices and policies to uphold human rights
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A young girl holds a message at an Auckland vigil for the people of Syria held by Amnesty and Syrian Solidarity NZ
TREASURER’S REPORT
“
2012 was a year of real progress
”
IAIN WORSLEY
TREASURER / AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ 2012 was a year of real progress. After a slow start, we finished the year having developed real momentum in the Growth Strategy which was approved at our Annual Meeting in May and, in spite of even greater than planned investment in increased membership and support, we returned a deficit of only $126K. As I noted last year, because of the upfront investment required for sustainable growth we had no expectation of breaking even before 2014.
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I am pleased to report that our income of $1.6M was our highest level ever, and an increase of 6% over last year, an increase made more remarkable if we consider that 2011 benefited from an unexpected bequest of $90K. Fundraising and Donations including bequests went up by 6% to $1.4M and it is again pleasing to see that the increase was dominated by the fundraising team’s success in building our Human Rights Defender Programme for regular financial contributors whose income was up by 16% - $122K. While our Face to Face recruitment income increased by some 44%, or $29K, a combination of a lack of capacity from our preferred supplier, and underperformance by the chosen alternative meant that this figure was less than half what was expected. Rather than push ahead regardless, the decision 10 was taken to seek further growth through Door to Door campaigning, and, after initial successful trials in September, this avenue was pursued with vigour
from October onwards. Income of $18K was generated in 2012, and Door To Door has now completely replaced Face To Face from external suppliers. Overall, our total expenditure increased by $50K. Fundraising investment increased by $149K, and we were able to increase spending on our core campaigning, research, advocacy and communications work by $78K while bringing Operations capability up to 2010 levels largely as a result of the $231K decrease in our International Campaigning Contribution. I refer to the significant upfront investment which sustained fundraising requires and you will see from the Statement of Financial Position that we have recognised $320K of Donor Acquisition Costs as an asset. This allows us to fairly match the cost of acquiring supporters with the future income stream we know they provide. You will also see that our indebtedness to the International Secretariat has increased by $300K following our successful application for an additional Fundraising Investment Loan. The total application was for $600K, of which half has so far been granted and received. Reorganisation at the Secretariat has meant that future access to funds for growth in New Zealand may be difficult to get, so we took the opportunity, knowing that the return on fundraising investment is so high, to secure what we needed before the door closed. At the time of writing, we await a decision on the final $300K and hope we are
successful as this avenue of growth finance may close. As you can see from the Budget for 2013, our intention is to continue to invest heavily in growth using the additional funds we were granted, building on the momentum we have generated in our Door To Door campaign, while augmenting this with a modest in-house Face To Face programme. We fully expect the Door To Door programme to deliver the expected results given performance to date and the excellent relationship with our chosen partner, and our in house Face To Face campaign allows us to tap untouched markets in a nimble, and cost efficient, manner. Income of $2.8M and a return to surpluses seemed an impossible dream three years ago but it is now within our grasp, and the forecast return from our current and future investment should see us not only financially robust and debt free in five years’ time, but with the resources and active membership to really make an impact in our fight against human rights abuses all over the world. Thank you for your continued support in these challenging but exciting times.
Iain Worsley Treasurer
OUR FINANCES AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ INC STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE For the year ended 31 December 2012
Budget 2013
Actual 2012
Actual 2011
25,000
22,061
14,262
1,899,149
1,390,178
1,310,020
835,253
187,807
129,367
10,000
14,826
67,412
Interest Received
3,889
12,112
17,094
TOTAL INCOME:
2,773,291
1,626,984
1,538,155
INCOME Membership Income Fundraising & Donations New Initiative Income Other Income
EXPENDITURE Operations
468,638
392,626
342,991
Campaigns, Research, Advocacy & Comms
497,629
402,499
324,625
1,523,218
758,192
608,875
7,800
7,479
7,786
Finance Charges
60,787
44,415
28,700
Depreciation
26,595
19,593
22,486
(4,828)
3,335
Fundraising Audit & Accounting Fees
(Gain)/Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets Total Expenditure Before ICC International Campaigning Contribution
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: Surplus / (Deficit) for the Year Includes salaries & wages of:
2,584,667
1,619,976
1,338,798
174,540
133,089
363,952
2,759,207
1,753,065
1,702,750
14,084
-126,081
-164,595
908,051
774,803
667,704
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OUR FINANCES
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ INC STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE For the year ended 31 December 2012
Budget*
Actual
Actual
2013
2012
2011
NON CURRENT ASSETS Property Plant & Equipment
38,009
54,905
46,110
238,880
423,737
483,236
58,791
58,791
13,885
Intangible asset: Donor Acquisition Capitalised
458,062
319,749
0
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
755,733
802,277
497,121
Accounts Payable
48,028
125,552
17,536
Accruals
25,267
25,267
19,640
Holiday Pay
62,635
62,635
43,304
International Secretariat Current Account
-1,080
-1,080
156
CURRENT ASSETS Cash At Bank & In Hand Prepayments & Accrued Income
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Total Current Liabilities
134,850
212,374
80,636
Net Current Assets
620,883
589,903
416,485
1,085,382
1,085,382
777,088
-426,490
-440,574
-314,493
14,084
-126,081
-164,595
Accumulated Funds Brought Forward
-440,574
-314,493
-149,898
TOTAL ACCUMULATED FUNDS:
-426,490
-440,574
-314,493
NON CURRENT LIABILITIES International Secretariat Loan - Non Current NET ASSETS Represented By:-
12
Current Year Surplus/ (Deficit)
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* Budget updated 4/4/2013