Welcome to hardtalk. Thank you for having me. Im sure you would agree that amnesty S International reputation depends upon impartiality, independence, the rigour of your research. Mm hm. How do you think amnesty s reputation stands across the world right now . Look, based on the various travels i am doing in africa, latin america, asia, our reputation stands very high and firm. People from very remote areas, all the way to political leaders know that they can count on us if its needed. I was very recently in peru meeting with Indigenous People who had confronted state violence, mothers and fathers who had lost their sons. Who was there with them for months after the event, for weeks at a time . Amnesty international. We went there and we kept being there for them. I was in taiwan two weeks ago. Amnesty international has been in taiwan since the 1980s. We fought the white terror government. We are now in taiwan as an established ngo, but also an ally for the Civil Society more generally
i will say, because let me be very clear, those findings were notjust our findings. you mention the un, they ve documented it. i can mention a number of ngos who have documented it. where we made mistakes, we have made mistakes. first of all, we did not contextualise properly what was happening. we did not provide sufficient evidence. we were. why didn t you? hang on. this is important. just give me quick, concise answers. why didn t you contextualise properly? because your own staff, in your own office in ukraine, led by oksana pokalchuk, were telling you of the context, and telling you that this high profile report from august 2022 was a grave mistake. why didn t you listen? that s absolutely an accurate question and an appropriate question. and we are learning from that particular mistake. we did not hear properly.
that was august 2022. now, with some distance, would you say you got it wrong in that report? no, i will not say that. i will say, because let me be very clear, those findings were notjust our findings. you mention the un, they ve documented it. i can mention a number of ngos who have documented it. where we made mistakes, we have made mistakes. first of all, we did not contextualise properly what was happening. we did not provide sufficient evidence. we were. why didn t you hang on, this is important. just give me quick, concise answers. why didn t you contextualise properly? because your own staff, in your own office in ukraine, led by oksana pokalchuk, were telling you of the context, and telling you that this high profile report from august 2022 was a grave mistake. why didn t you listen? that s absolutely
by basing themselves in residential areas. we, you said, have documented a pattern of ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk, violating the laws of war. that was august 2022. now, with some distance, would you say you got it wrong in that report? no, i will not say that. i will say, because let me be very clear, those findings were notjust our findings. you mention the un, they ve documented it. i can mention a number of ngos who have documented it. where we made mistakes, we have made mistakes. first of all, we did not contextualise properly what was happening. we did not provide sufficient evidence. we were. why didn t you hang on, this is important. just give me quick, concise answers. why didn t you contextualise properly? because your own staff, in your own office in ukraine, led by oksana pokalchuk, were telling you of
why didn t you contextualise properly? because your own staff, in your own office in ukraine, led by oksana pokalchuk, were telling you of the context, and telling you that this high profile report from august 2022 was a grave mistake. why didn t you listen? that s absolutely an accurate question and an appropriate question. and we are learning from that particular mistake. we did not hear properly, we did not act properly. we did not contextualise properly in the name of what we believed, or what my colleagues believed, what i believed was the right thing to do, which was to protect the people that were near the location of those militaries. the ukrainian government responded if i may the ukrainian government responded with this. the minister of defence, alexi resnikoff, who s been on this programme several times, he said that attempt to question the right of ukrainians to resist genocide was a perversion. and i come back to this problem you ve got. your credibility and your reput