AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND ANNUAL REPORT 2014
CONTENTS
2
Vision, Mission & Values
3
Chair’s Report
4
Executive Director’s Report
6
Campaign Roundup
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.
8
Fundraising & Growth
OUR VISION
10
Treasurer’s Report
11
Our Finances
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.
CONTACT US 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 Published by: Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand IMAGE ABOVE: Amnesty International staff and supporters hand over the Sri Lanka petition outside parliament, November 2013. © Amnesty International COVER IMAGE: Graffiti found in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, 2013. © Amnesty International FEEDBACK: We appreciate your feedback and ideas. Please email info@amnesty.org.nz
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 • • • • •
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 look forward to the day when people no longer ask “what is the relevance of Amnesty International to New Zealand” when everyone recognises why we exist and wants to be a part of it.
HELEN SHORTHOUSE
CHAIR - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ Amnesty International New Zealand has three prongs to its strategy – the first two, operational health and section growth, underpin the third, most vital strategy: human rights impact. This year I write my annual summary with a great degree of pleasure – after five years, Amnesty International in New Zealand has returned to financial surplus; a direct result in our strategy to invest in fundraising growth. This doesn’t mean we are able to sit back just yet, but it does mean two key things to me. The first is that this is an incredibly significant milestone and marks the first steps to financial recovery, section growth and fulfilling our role as part of the global movement; Iain writes more about this in his Treasurer’s Report. The second, and just as significant factor, is that it provides comfort to you our members that you have been right to have confidence in the fundraising strategy we proposed to the Amnesty membership a couple of years ago.This has not always been an easy journey and the Governance Team (GT) is exceptionally mindful of all views during our decision making. I want to thank all of our members and supporters for their belief and confidence in the GT to enable us to follow a strategy of investment in fundraising to achieve growth.
I look forward to talking with you more at the Annual Meeting, taking a moment together to celebrate what we have achieved so far, and then looking forward to our shared vision of the future of Amnesty International in New Zealand. I have been fortunate enough to lead a very strong management and governance team in 2013, making my role of Chair much easier. Chennoah Walford joined the Governance Team this year to bring a youth perspective to our decision making and is adding value around the board table in all discussions. Grant Bayldon and his team have really worked hard to deliver on our plans for ‘operational health’. In addition to financial health this encompasses having the right people in the team, as well as supporting and rewarding them appropriately to ensure they can do the best job possible. Grant will talk more about our achievements and human rights impact in his Executive Director’s Report. Once again we participated fully in international movement decision making and meetings. We have worked hard to build stronger relationships with the International Secretariat and have received recognition for both our fundraising activity and our good governance practice. Fundraising
growth remains a key focus for the global movement, as well as the continuation of the Global Transition Plan – which means moving many secretariat functions out of London and into regional hubs which can research locally, take action speedily and support membership growth through increased local relevance. I look forward to the day when people no longer ask “what is the relevance of Amnesty International to New Zealand” - when everyone recognises why we exist and wants to be a part of it. Thank you for continuing to allow me to serve Amnesty International as the New Zealand Chair; I look forward to continuing in this role and truly seeing our dreams coming to fruition.
Helen Shorthouse Chair
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03
Wins that big don’t come along every day. But when they do come they remind us of the importance of our reach and our tenacity in holding on to even seemingly hopeless causes.
GRANT BAYLDON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ By most counts twenty years is a long time, but in diplomatic terms (where progress is often glacial) it’s the blink of an eye. But that’s how long it took from its first conception to get a global Arms Trade Treaty signed last year. Throughout that time most people who paid any attention at all said Amnesty International was wasting its breath. After all, nothing smells of money and power like the global free trade in weapons. I start with this for two reasons: first because when we look back in decades to come I believe this will have been one of the most significant moments in human rights history, and second because it illustrates so well the strength of our movement. Over the years of hard work through lobbying, campaigning and research, we together helped build awareness and support - eventually gaining enough momentum to make it unstoppable. Wins that big don’t come along every day (a lot of smaller ones do though). But when they do come they remind us of the importance of our reach and our tenacity in holding on to even seemingly hopeless causes. Because, while there are so many obstacles on the way and so much work to be done, the overall direction of human rights change is unstoppable.
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. ANNUAL REPORT 04 AIANZ 2014
To support the increased human rights impact, a significant increase in the Amnesty International 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 able to recruit and retain high-calibre staff was identified as a prerequisite for success. So, halfway through the plan period, how are we doing and what’s left to be done?
Focus and measurement The team took on the call to narrow the focus down in late 2011, and over 2012 and 2013 identified a smaller number of priority campaigns to hone in on: some of these are listed in the campaigning report. 2014 will take us further down this track with support now from the international movement which has identified two global priority campaigns. 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 – but tracking that impact is important. So during 2013 we further developed our impact measurement system, which focuses on the changes in peoples’ lives brought about through our work, as well as on indicators of long term progress.
Growth & organisational health Amnesty International has been a household name in New Zealand for many years, but our supporter base (and hence our resources) hasn’t kept pace with that awareness.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Throughout 2013 we increased our focus on getting out and talking to people directly, asking them to join us. Rather than flashy marketing campaigns we’ve been on the streets, at events, on the phone and at people’s doorsteps – anywhere we can be to engage directly on the human rights issues we know New Zealanders care about. During 2013 our wonderful front-liners had tens of thousands of conversations about human rights and the issues we are working on and signed up thousands of new supporters – they are true heroes within our movement. And is this strategy working? Yes, absolutely – see the finance report. We are now far and away the fastest growing Amnesty International section in the world. But the best bit is that the 60% income growth we achieved in 2013 is largely from growth in regular giving, which also snowballs into future years.
2014 & beyond The themes in the strategic plan are as current now as they were when the plan was developed, and the organisational focus for 2014 is to bring more coherence to our communications, more growth to our supporter base and especially more impact to our campaigns. I want to acknowledge here once again 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 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 more of the teams and supporters through 2013 and to see how much strength there is in our membership. Thank you for continuing to be part of Amnesty International. Some of the change you are bringing you can see, but much of it will only be realised in years to come.
Grant Bayldon Executive Director
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GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS 2013 saw 20 years of campaigning culminate in one amazing moment, when the world approved the first ever Arms Trade Treaty. It showed that activism can be a long game, but if we persevere, don’t give up, we can do it. Change can happen. As 2014 begins many challenges lie ahead. Human Rights continue to be violated on a large scale, from Syria to the Central African Republic. But we stand by the mandate that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere and if we continue to document and map violations, campaign and lobby for change, truth and justice will happen.
Security and Human Rights
© Mira66
Sri Lanka’s persistent failure to ensure justice for alleged war crimes during 26 years of civil war and its continued threats towards human rights advocates, critics and journalists sparked serious concerns over the country hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2013.
Arms Trade Treaty After 20 years of campaigning by Amnesty International and others, the UN adopted the Arms Trade Treaty after 154 countries voted ‘yes’, including the world’s biggest arms exporter, the United States. The treaty is the first ever global law to properly regulate the international trade and transfers of conventional weapons. Now in action, it will and has helped stop weapons being sold to countries where they are likely to be used to commit human rights atrocities. Over half a million people worldwide, including 9000 in New Zealand, supported Amnesty’s petition for the treaty.
Amnesty International supporters handed over a global petition of 200,000 signatures to parliamentarians in Wellington on 5 Novevember calling on Commonwealth leaders to stop Sri Lanka from becoming Chair of the Commonwealth.
“The truth is out there. What is needed is the will to act by the World Community.” Kandiah Pathmanathan, Sri Lankan Refugee, Auckland
Pacific Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country where two thirds of women are hit by their partners and 55 per cent of women have been raped, made some positive steps towards change. PNG’s Parliament introduced a Family Protection Bill and removed the Sorcery Act, which offered a reduced sentence for someone who had committed murder or assault if they accused their victim, in most cases a woman, of practising ‘witchcraft’. However, in a backwards step, the PNG ANNUAL REPORT 06 AIANZ 2014
Parliament agreed to expand the crimes for which the death penalty applied, and methods of execution. Fiji’s proposed new constitution was finalised in September 2013 and predictably failed to meet international standards. Ongoing restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful protests, as well as attacks on human rights advocates, continued. In March, a video was released online showing the torture and sexual assault of two men, apparently by security forces. So far police have failed to independently investigate the incident.
In March 2014, following sustained pressure from Amnesty International and the global community, the United Nations Human Rights Council finally passed a resolution to launch an official, independent investigation into war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka. This is great news and a significant victory for all the Amnesty supporters who have helped us with this long campaign. Meanwhile the Hawkes Bay regional team took up the case of disappeared Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda as their group’s Individual at Risk.
2013 GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS LGBTI Rights Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) rights took a huge leap forward in New Zealand when we became the 13th country in the world to commit to marriage equality and enshrine it in law when the NZ Parliament voted 77-44 to pass the Marriage Equality Bill on 17 April. Brazil, Uruguay and France also took the important step to allow same-sex couples to marry. But there were also serious setbacks. Uganda’s AntiHomosexuality Bill dramatically increased the criminal penalties for consensual sexual activity between adults of the same sex. Nigeria’s Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill imposed a prison sentence of 14 years for anyone found guilty of engaging in same-sex relationships.
Amnesty International supporters take part in Auckland’s Pride Parade, February 2013.
Death Penalty 2013 was marked by some challenging setbacks on the journey to abolition of the death penalty. Four countries – Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and Viet Nam – resumed executions and there was a significant rise in the number of people executed during the year compared with 2012, driven primarily by increases in Iraq and Iran. In an encouraging move, in November Singapore commuted the death sentence of Yong Vui Kong, a 25-year-old Malaysian man, to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane. It was the first time in history that a death sentence under Singapore’s draconian drug laws had been commuted.
Middle East & North Africa
Refugees & Asylum Seekers
The conflict in Syria remained at crisis levels in 2013. Both the Syrian Government and rebel troops were accused of mass murder. Over two million people fled the country in 2013 alone, at least half were children. World leaders continued to flounder on how to manage the sheer number of people fleeing the conflict.
Amnesty International was appalled with the New Zealand Government’s decision to implement a law that breaches the rights of people seeking protection from persecution. In June, the Immigration Amendment Bill passed its third reading by 63 votes to 53.
In Egypt as sexual assaults on women protesters took place amid the political turmoil, youth around New Zealand took a stand in August, during Freedom Challenge and called on Egypt’s political leaders to clearly condemn sexual violence and bring attackers to justice. From Orewa to Waitaki, Tauranga to Wellington youth collected 7,280 signatures on petitions and raised over $20,000.
We were also concerned about a number of other amendments in the legislation that apply to all asylum seekers, including limits to judicial review and the suspension of claims. In Australia the reintroduction of offshore processing saw thousands of asylum seekers transferred to detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. In December Amnesty International uncovered the degrading and humiliating conditions for asylum seekers at the Manus Island detention centre in a report, This is Breaking People.
Individuals at Risk In 2013 Amnesty International NZ took action on behalf of many individuals at risk, including:
imprisoned Ethiopian journalist who has been denied the right to freedom of expression.
Ihar Tsikhanyuk, an openly gay man and activist from Belarus who was beaten by the police simply for being himself. 1363 supporters took action on his behalf. Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist who has been missing in Sri Lanka since 2010. He was targeted simply for doing his job. Eskinder Nega, an
We also celebrated several releases: Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was released in September, and Cambodian housing rights activist Yorm Bopha was released from prison in November. We continue to call for the charges against her to be dropped. AIANZ ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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YOUR DONATION, YOUR REBELLION AGAINST INJUSTICE Despite a prolonged difficult economic context, the loyalty of our supporters has not wavered. In fact, this year, our supporter base has been larger than it has ever been. During 2013 over 5,000 new Human Rights Defenders joined our already swelling ranks in our fight against injustice. Many of our new supporters also picked up their pen, their keyboard or joined a local group to help achieve lasting human rights progress. It is this dedication and generosity that allows us to be effective and mobilise against violations of human rights. Without your support nothing is possible. We are particularly excited about our face-to-face campaigns team. Campaigning is what Amnesty International does and talking to people in person is campaigning in its purest form. Our teams have literally tens of thousands of conversations about human rights every year, changing hearts and minds all around New Zealand. Not forgetting of course that our teams inspire thousands of people to join the fight for justice. Our work is far from over. Although we grew our income by 60% in 2013 and nearly doubled the number of supporters in the past three years, we still have a long way to go to reach our potential.
Top: Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand interns and staff members. © Amnesty International Middle: Grant Bayldon and Amanda Brydon of Amnesty International NZ prepare to hand over the Sri Lanka CHOGM petition outside parliament, November 2013. ©Amnesty International Below: Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis response adviser in the Central African Republic (CAR). ©Amnesty International
ANNUAL REPORT 08 AIANZ 2014
FUNDRAISING & GROWTH
WHY WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT We are politically and financially independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. Our governance, programmes and policies are non-partisan. They are independent of specific governments, political parties and the business sector. To ensure our independence, we do not seek or accept money from governments or political parties. In no way do monies received from corporate donors influence or affect our ability to campaign. The vast majority of our funding comes from the contributions of individuals through our membership and our fundraising activities.
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 • 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 helps us publish and translate 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
...In short, it brings about real and lasting changes in people’s lives. AIANZ ANNUAL REPORT 2014
09
TREASURER’S REPORT
2013 was a turning point for Amnesty International in New Zealand, a year in which the growth strategy really delivered.
IAIN WORSLEY
TREASURER - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ 2013 was a turning point for Amnesty International in New Zealand, a year in which the growth strategy really delivered. The momentum that was built in late 2012 took off with the success of our door to door programme, returning us to surplus for the first time since 2008. I am delighted to report that once again our income, at $2.6M, was our highest ever, and an increase of 60% over last year. Fundraising and donations rose by $0.6M or 43% to $2M. The majority of this increase came from the solidification and continual growth of our human rights defender programme for regular financial contributors whose donations were up 44% or $0.4M, the remainder coming from the increasing success of our high donor programme and from bequests. New initiative income trebled to $0.6M entirely on the back of our door to door campaigning. In fact, growth would have been even stronger if our supplier had been able to meet our demand. Had that capacity been available, we would have hit our ambitious income budget for the year of $2.8M. Overall, our total expenditure increased by $0.8M, $0.2M less than the budgeted $1M, again due to our door to door supplier’s inability to meet demand. We have now engaged an additional partner to make sure that we are not exposed to this capacity issue again, and that we continue to build on the momentum we have gained. Operational expenditure increased in order to service our much higher membership base and we were able to increase our investment in our core campaigning, research, advocacy and communications work for the third year in a row, by 9%, while rolling out an in house face to face programme to augment our external recruitment efforts and still meet our full international campaigning contribution of $0.2M.
we were not able to invest as much as we would have liked, though I am pleased to say that we are ramping up activity as capacity is becoming available again. I referred last year to our application to the International Secretariat for a Fundraising Investment Loan of $0.6M, $0.3M of which had been granted at the time of writing my report. Although the secretariat were unable to allow us the additional $0.3M, Amnesty International Switzerland were sufficiently impressed by our growth plans and potential to loan us the $0.3M we were hoping for on the same terms as those from the International Secretariat and we are in the process of investing it in our fundraising strategy to gain the exceptional return we know this provides and build our way to a return to full financial health. As you can see from the Budget for 2014, we do not intend to repeat the mistakes of the past and will continue to invest heavily in growth. We are aiming for a further quantum leap in income of $0.9M or 35%, an increase in our campaigning, research, advocacy and communications expenditure of 20%, raising our operational capability to lift both our supporter services and our impact, and paying 24% more in International Campaigning Contributions while again generating a modest surplus. Loan repayments begin in 2014 and we will slowly but surely improve our financial position to reach a net assets position by the end of 2016. Not only do I thank you for your continued support, I applaud you for having stuck with us as together we bring Amnesty International in New Zealand back to full organisational and financial health.
Turning to our financial position statement, you will note that our cash position is a healthy $0.6M – healthier, in fact, than we would wish. The forced slowdown in our door to door campaign at the end of the year meant that ANNUAL REPORT 10 AIANZ 2014
Iain Worsley Treasurer
OUR FINANCES AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NZ INC STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE For the year ended 31 December 2013 BUDGETED FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR 2014 Income
Membership Income Fundraising & Donations Other Income incl Interest Received
Total Income Expenditure
Operations Campaigns, Research Advocacy & Communications
*Budget updated 09/04/2014 Budget 2014
Actual 2013
Actual 2012
15,797
11,217
22,061
3,421,757
2,571,412
1,577,985
21,187
16,400
26,938
3,458,741
2,599,029
1,626,984
685,449
524,320
392,626
522,956
437,131
402,499
1,848,626
1,298,013
758,192
Audit, Accounting & Finance Fees
78,220
72,213
51,894
Depreciation & Gain/Loss of Fixed Assets
16,845
24,609
14,765
3,152,096
2,356,286
1,619,976
216,233
174,538
133,089
3,368,329
2,530,824
1,753,065
90,412
68,205
-126,081
1,044,100
877,908
774,803
Budget 2014
Actual 2013
Actual 2012
52,934
44,779
54,905
Fundraising
Total Expenditure Before International Campaigning Contribution International Campaigning Contribution Total Expenditure Surplus/Deficit for the Year Includes salaries & wages of: BUDGETED FINANCIAL POSITION FOR 2014 Non Current Assets
Property Plant & Equipment
Intangible Asset
Donor Acquisition Capitalised
721,700
573,793
319,749
Current Assets
Cash At Bank & In Hand
358,635
557,821
423,737
Prepayments & Accrued Income
49,986
49,986
58,791
408,621
607,807
482,528
Accounts Payable
54,079
95,900
125,552
Accruals & Holiday Pay
83,526
83,525
87,902
Total Current Assets Current Liabilities
International Secretariat Current Account International Secretariat Loan & Interest Payable AI Switzerland Interest On Loan
5,043
-1,080
120,172
11,705
7,037
3,764
N/A
525,050
308,404
224,079
-116,429
299,403
258,449
International Secretariat Loan - Non Current
640,162
990,344
1,073,677
AI Switzerland Loan - Non Current
300,000
300,000
N/A
-281,957
-372,369
-440,574
90,412
68,205
-126,081
-372,369
-440,574
-314,493
-281,957
-372,369
-440,574
Total Current Liabilities Net Current Assets Non Current Liabilities
5,043 375,365
Net Assets Represented By:Current Year Surplus/(Deficit) Accumulated Funds Brought Forward Total Accumulated Funds