Secretary General
Agnès Callamard
Dr Agnès Callamard is Secretary General at Amnesty International. She leads the organization’s human rights work and is its chief spokesperson. She is responsible for providing overall leadership of the International Secretariat, including setting the strategic direction for the organisation and managing relations with Amnesty International’s national entities.
Agnès has been a prominent figure in the human rights world for decades. In 2016, she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary killings. Along with her UN work, Agnès was also the Director of Global Freedom of Expression at Columbia University in New York.
Previously she was Executive Director of the freedom of expression organization Article 19. She returns to Amnesty after twenty years having previously held the role of Chef de Cabinet for then Secretary General Pierre Sané. As a leading advocate for freedom of expression, a feminist and an anti-racism activist, she pushes out the frontiers of rights through her scholarship and advocacy.
International Secretariat Coalition Leadership Team
The International Secretariat of Amnesty International is led by a Coalition Leadership Team, headed by the Acting Secretary General and comprising Senior Directors and representatives of Amnesty International’s national entities.
The Senior Directors oversee the directors of IS programmes and provide strategic direction, operational management and direct support to the secretariat’s staff and volunteers. As a collective, the team supports the Acting Secretary General in her overall responsibility for the organisation’s global strategy. The team works closely with the directors of Amnesty International’s national entities.
Kyle Ward – Interim Deputy Secretary General
Kyle Ward is the Interim Deputy Secretary General at Amnesty International. Responsible for the IS Regional Offices, National Offices, and the Movement Building Programme, he helps oversee our human rights work at the national and regional levels, including research, advocacy and media work. He also leads on the organizational dimensions involved in running regional and national offices, and guides our support to Amnesty sections and structures.
Kyle has longstanding human rights, inter-governmental and organizational management experience. Previously, he was in charge of Programme Support and Management for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. His career with the United Nations, which spanned more than 30 years, also includes time with humanitarian operations and peacekeeping. It was preceded by three years with an NGO managing services for displaced Cambodians on the Thai border. He holds degrees in international management and foreign service.
Rohan Hewavisenti – Chief Financial Officer
Rohan Hewavisenti the Chief Financial Officer at Amnesty International. He oversees financial management at the International Secretariat and is responsible for supporting and fostering the organisation’s financial literacy and capability. His portfolio also encompasses legal counsel, information and technology, security, and workspace services.
Rohan, who is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) and holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering (MEng), has gained extensive experience in a variety of CFO and COO roles over the past 15-plus years. These include Director of Finance and Resources at Breast Cancer Care; Executive Director of Finance, Planning and Resources at the British Red Cross; Group Director of Resources at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB); and interim Finance Director roles at the Fairtrade Foundation, Imperial War Museums, WWF-UK and the NHS Confederation.
Mariela Belski – Director of Amnesty International Argentina
Mariela Belski is the Executive Director at Amnesty Argentina. She is an experienced human rights lawyer, having worked for more than 20 years on human rights issues, gender, justice and strategic litigation. She has a Law degree, a Master’s Degree in Public Law and Human Rights, a degree in Constitutional Law and Human Rights and a Diploma in Human Rights and Democratisation Processes.
Before joining Amnesty International, she worked in the public sector for over 10 years and was a legal adviser to the national and the city of Buenos Ares governments. She also worked as a professor and researcher, as well as a consultant at the UNDP and UNESCO.