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OpenDemocracy, an international media platform, has pointed at serious allegations within Amnesty International (AI), claiming that several female employees of the political lobby organization’s office in Hungary have been insulted. The incident also reflects negatively on the organization because on paper at least, they fight against gender discrimination on all fronts.
Five former female employees of the organization’s office in Hungary say they experienced discrimination and manipulation while working at AI, according to the article on OpenDemocracy.
The situation is further compounded by the fact that the alleged abuses broke out just as AI was putting together a report condemning Hungary entitled: “No working around it: gender-based discrimination in Hungarian workplaces.” Part of the controversy is the fact that former employees claim that they were given one-year contracts in the office from late 2018. At the same time, Amnesty International was actively criticizing Hungarian laws for allowing short-term contracts, allegedly making it easier for employers to dismiss pregnant women.
“To the outside world, we are working on women’s equality and Amnesty’s gender work was focused on women and the workplace,” said one of the women, Burtejin Zorigt. She was working as the Hungarian office’s gender program officer and campaign coordinator in 2020. She said that in reality, the organization did not renew the contract of pregnant women, and because of that, she did not want to be the public face of this group.
Another employee, Zsófia Gere, returned to work as Amnesty International Hungary’s office manager in 2019 after having a baby. However, a male manager asked her when she would stop breastfeeding and complained that it was preventing her from attending overnight business trips, she told openDemocracy. When she switched to another workplace, the manager made veiled threats, indicating that he had friends at the other office.
As it turned out, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement upon leaving, saying she experienced no discrimination at the organization and she did not quit because of that.
She had allegedly signed the document in order to speed up her departure.
A further employee, Vera Mérő, was a campaign coordinator at AI Hungary until July 2019. She told openDemocracy that a male manager criticized her English language skills, and even said in front of other colleagues that she was not as good in her work as he thought she would be. She later had a talk with the manager and said she felt he had overstepped. Speaking about their conversation, Mérő said: “He simply chose to deny that it ever happened. And that was the first time when I realized that this guy’s a gas-lighter.”
Unfortunately, the abuse did not stop with them. Ágnes Szalóki joined AI Hungary’s campaign team in March 2019. According to her, a male manager publicly goaded her and often questioned her decision-making. As an example, she said that he often took over meetings she was in charge of, and she also said there were a number of angry voice messages from the male manager. At one point, after her meeting with a judge, he glanced at her dress and asked whether the judge was flirting with her.
As a result of the series of abuse, two of the five women now say that they suffer psychological and physical symptoms of trauma due to their experience at Amnesty International.
All five women have made official complaints to the human rights organization. Between June 2019 and March 2021, three of them wrote emails to all the staff separately, giving information about what happened to them and why they left the organization.
Amnesty International Hungary’s board was also notified about the concerns of the employees and promised to look into them. However, the women felt that their concerns were not taken seriously enough, so they also sent a joint complaint to AI’s Hungary Board and Supervisory Committee, and copied in the International Secretariat.
The organization said there would be an independent investigation into the alleged incidents. However, the women involved felt that this probe was not at all independent, and refused to take part in it. Part of the reason was that the lawyer AI asked to carry out the investigation, Andrea Sebestyén, was a former volunteer member of the supervisory board and therefore was not at all independent.
Eventually, both reviews concluded that the staff at Amnesty International were happy and there was no evidence to dismiss anybody.
AI’s international board has since begun a restorative justice process, concerning a victim-centered approach, among other things, but this process can take years, and the former staff members say there has been little progress so far.
What makes the situation even worse is that Hungary is not the only country where AI staff has a problem with discrimination and abuse. In Australia, staff members said there has been systemic bullying in the workplace, along with harassment. Because of that, two employees allegedly ended up in the hospital. In India, there is allegedly a culture of discrimination, while in the UK, it was said that the organization exhibited institutional racism.
In response to the allegations made in openDemocracy‘s article, Amnesty International’s International Secretariat sent a coordinated response on behalf of itself, AI Hungary, and the AI Hungary board. The statement reads that gender discrimination and abuse would not be tolerated at the organizations, and that it took allegations of both extremely seriously. The organization added that Amnesty International’s International Board is fully committed to monitoring this situation and ensuring that lessons are learned as a matter of priority.
Featured photo via Facebook/Amnesty International Hungary
