What’s four days at the Amnesty ICM like?

Written by Christoffer Holm, Global Fundraising Innovations Advisor, Amnesty International

This has been four exciting days. First of all it is fantastic to meet new and ‘old’ friends from all over the world. Some of you have been through extremely hard times in places like Egypt, Mali and Turkey, but you have faced danger and challenges in an extraordinary way, always keeping human rights at the center of what you do and always with commitment to document and challenge injustice.

I’m also grateful for the opportunity to speak here at the ICM, to be able to speak to you about how we can increase of human rights impact and reach, if we develop a human rights culture of philanthropy. We have had many exciting discussions sometimes we focus on the details, and always with great respect of each other and for differences of opinion. I think that we over the four days achieved a broader perspective and a clear vision of direction. We have heard inspirational dreams from countries like Argentina, India and the USA, dreams and visions that surely can inspire more people to join the movement. And we have heard of excellent results in increasing reach and impact of our work in as different places as Ghana, France and many others.

My absolute highlight was listening to and meeting Nariman Tamimi and her daughter. Their peaceful protests in the face of injustice and abuse and at great personal sacrifice was so inspiring. I can’t get their stories and dreams of a peaceful future out of my head, and this is meant in a good way. Such an inspiration to keep working for human rights, to keep working to end injustice and to work at making those dreams come through.