Public Report: “Amnesty International Argentina”

Presentation:
Amnesty International is an organization formed by volunteers all over the world, who defend human rights for everyone. During 2002 the Argentina Section started the search for a new Executive Director. Mr. Sergio Di Gioia was chosen for this job.
This narration is about this man, and what his incorporation provoked in the Argentina Section. But it also has to do with the private and public life of the biggest “human rights” movement.

The Facts:
Since the beginning, the new executive director acted in a very different way from the one that Amnesty Argentina, and the international movement had in their actions.
Trough time, the director had attitudes of lashing towards some women who were volunteers in the section, generating violent scenes, with screams and doors slamming, often with many witnesses. These events were taken to the directive commission. They notified Mr. DiGioia, he apologized with the victim, only to start with the harassment again.
This situation lasted for several months, until Mr. Di Gioia incurred in a case of sexual harassment, in which there are many witnesses. This event, with the intention of maintaining the victim`s identity, won`t be mentioned. There was information about another case, occurred little time before the mentioned one, where there were no witnesses.
This person apparently was involved in another case of sexual harassment, while he worked in a very well known human rights organization in Argentina. In this last case, the victim has decided not to talk about the events, except to a very reduced of people.

The Action:
Things got to a point where the situation was intolerable for the victims, because Mr. Di Gioia ignored the directive commission, and this commission had no legal authority to question him. For this reason a group of Amnesty members decides to let the International Secretariat in London know about the situation.
Amnesty International establishes in it`s intern documents, the observations and procedures required in this types of situations, known inside the organization as lashing and sexual harassment.
The accusation made by these volunteers, got to Mr. Sergio Zamorano, in charge of Development for America in London. He notified he received the letter, and informed an investigation process was beginnig(¿?!!!!)
Months past and the problem had no resolution, on the contrary, Mr. Di Gioia, knowing about the accusation, sent legal letters to de denouncers, at the same time he presented a complaint for being harassed by the same people at the International Secretariat.
In the middle of this situation, the International Secretariat kept absolutely quiet.
This way, Mr. Di Gioia tried to attack in many fronts, intimidating the victims through judicial ways, persecuting the victims, but not being able to make the accusations against him go away. It is necessary to remark that he never tried to prove his innocence, he just started an attack with the intention to scare the denouncers.
In June 2003, the International Secretariat sent Mr. Sergio Zamorano and Mrs. Margarita Bayler. Before meeting with the parts, this commission sent an inside document where they clearly established the intentions to “ solve the conflict between the parts” and “to protect the name of Amnesty in Argentina”. The only concern for this commission was to prevent the facts to get to the press, according to them, to “preserve the victims”; and to mediate between the parts, withdrawing the accusations.
In this context, the volunteer members were helpless in front of Mr. Di Gioia`s attacks, and the fact that the Directive Commission said that the events belonged to a private matter and not an institutional one, (this is not true, because everything happened inside Amnesty`s office in Argentina, where Mr. Di Gioia was an employee of the institution). Because of this, the denouncers had to get legal representation from a very prestigious human rights organization in Argentina.
This whole episode prevented the Civil Association Pro-Amnistía 2003 Annual Assembly to take place in the regular schedule, because the International Secretariat Commission hadn`t finished the negotiations with Mr. Di Gioia, who was at the time still the Executive Director.
The denouncers, plus other members of the Argentina Section, knowing the course of events up to that date, thought that the Assembly was the last possible place where there would be an amendment for the victims of lashing and sexual harassment. They were first victims of Mr. Di Gioia, and then victims of the organization, where they worked under the idea of denouncing governments who violated human rights, asking for “an exhaustive and impartial investigation, to take the guilty ones to justice”

The Unpunished:
At the beginning of the Assembly, it`s annulment was requested, until this cases weren`t solved, and it was also requested to inform the present members about the events occurred.
This attitude intended to solve this grave situation where women`s rights were violated before discussing any other subject.
Soledad García Muñoz, member of Amnesty International Argentina, specialist in women´s issues and who knew about the events, with other members who now form the Directive Commission, strongly suggested this subject shouldn`t be discussed in the Assembly.
The denouncers and the members who presented the motion (most of them members of Amnesty for very long years), left the Assembly.
A case to be defended was closed, and a new case of unpunished violations to women`s rights was opened, this time in an organization that “defends human rights”.

The Agreement:
Mr. Zamorano, Mrs. Bayler and a member of the International Executive Committee , individual members and national groups stayed in the Assembly. Some of the last ones mentioned, without knowing the whole truth of what happened in the Argentina Section.
In this Assembly, Mr. Sergio Sorin, President of the section up to that date, resigned to his place. This way candidates are presented,Mrs.Garcia Muñoz is declared President of the section and a new Directive Commission is named, one accepted by the International Secretariat.
It is agreed:
1) To dismiss the Executive Director Sergio Di Gioia, supposedly because of an internal restructuring, and not because of the actual facts: lashing and sexual harassment.
2) Negotiate his salary for the unfulfilled contract, and by this stop the attacks by this well known lawyer, used to work in politics.
3) Pay for the legal representation of the denouncers, because of the fear of them presenting the accusations in the ordinary justice and the effects this would have in the local press.
4) Dismiss the denouncers from their jobs, to “build a new stage in Amnesty Argentina”, far from any movement questioning the system.

Amnesty International Argentina is an accomplice of the harassment towards the women working in the Argentina Section.
Nevertheless, Amnesty is getting ready for the 2004 world campaign, where they say “the female body is not a battle camp”, for what they will “look for denouncing the violence that women suffer all over the world”. Even more, in their web site in Argentina, Amnesty International proudly (or cynically) publishes documents for women`s rights, and letters addressed to governments, some of them signed by Soledad Garcia Muñoz, who successfully tried to prevent the discussion and investigation about the problems in the Argentina Section.
To prepare this narration we have interviewed a series of people, what has led us to know:
- Mr Sergio Zamorano and Amnesty International, through their legal representatives, will display all of their contacts to diminish this information
- In the Legislative Power of Buenos Aires` City, there are denounces about these cases, and its legal course is being obstructed by the fact that Amnesty`s authorities do not answer, even though they say they are going to.

Act Now – Urgent Action:
If when you read this you feel the same indignation that was the reason for this note, we ask you to send your observations or questions by fax, telegram or letter to the authorities of Amnesty International. The life and physical integrity of many women are in danger.
We mostly ask you to remit yourselves only to our brief report, so that you won`t be caught in the possible childish and twisted responses that the people mentioned may give.
We also warn that there is an evident elusion in the organization to broadcast statements rapidly. We can observe this in the fact that Amnesty International has never made any statements in grave cases of human rights violations, such as: Walter Bulacio, Mariano Witis, Dario Riquelme and tens of others, where the International Secretariat admits to have information from good sources, and yet has never acted .

Asociación Civil Pro Amnistía
(+5411)4954-5599
Av. Rivadavia 2206 P4A (C1034ACO) Ciudad de Buenos Aires
 info@amnesty.org.ar

Executive Director: Pablo Marsal  pmarsal@amnesty.org.ar
President: Soledad García Muñoz
Treasurer: Omar Martinez
Secretary: Gonzalo Regueiro
Irene Khan:  ikhan@amnesty.org
Sergio Zamoranos:  szamoran@amnesty.org
Susan Lee:  slee@amnesty.org
Ignacio Saiz:  isaiz@amnesty.org
Alejandro Pacheco:  apacheco@amnesty.org
Margarita Bayler:

We invite you not to participate in Amnesty`s 2004 Campaign about violence against women, until this facts are cleared out. At the same time we ask you to send this text to as many people, press and organizations as you can, with the goal of putting this organization back in the track of noble purposes for which it was conceived.
Analyze by yourselves all the facts, and you will easily know the truth. Will justice be made?