Talk:Irene Khan

Quotes from Sources to be worked into article
<Irene Zubaida Khan From SourceWatch Irene Zubaida Khan is secretary general of Amnesty International, in London.

Irene Khan was born in Dhaka (now capital of Bangladesh, but then in East Pakistan) in 1957, into a relatively wealthy family — her father was a doctor and her grandfather was a lawyer who had gone to England at the age of 14 and studied law at Cambridge University before returning to what was then British India.

Khan grew up East Pakistan and in Northern Ireland where she was sent in 1973 by her family to study for her A-levels. She says that:

"I went from one civil war situation to another – it was pretty violent at that time in Northern Ireland. I went to a Roman Catholic boarding school in County Down and my sister went to the state-run school, which in those days was mainly Protestant, so the two of us have a rather different experience of Northern Ireland." Khan joined Amnesty International as the organization's seventh Secretary General in August 2001. She was the first woman, the first Asian and the first Muslim to guide the world's largest human rights organization.

In her first year in office, Khan led high level missions to Pakistan during the bombing of Afghanistan, to Israel/Occupied Territories just after the Israeli occupation of Jenin, and to Colombia before the Presidential elections in May 2003. She called for better protection of women's human rights in meetings with President Musharraf of Pakistan, President Lahoud of Lebanon and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh. She has initiated a process of consultations with women activists to design a global campaign by Amnesty International against violence on women.

Khan has been keen to draw attention to hidden human rights violations. In Australia, she drew attention to the plight of asylum seekers in detention. In Burundi, she met with victims of massacres and urged President Buyoya and other parties to the conflict to end the cycle of human rights abuse. In Bulgaria, she led a campaign to end discrimination of those suffering from mental disabilities.

Interested in working directly with people to change their lives, Khan helped to found the development organization, Concern Universal, in 1977, and began her work as a human rights activist with the International Commission of Jurists in 1979.

Khan joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1980, and worked in a variety of positions at Headquarters and in field operations to promote the international protection of refugees. From 1991-95 she was Senior Executive Officer to Mrs. Sadako Ogata, then UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She was appointed as the UNHCR Chief of Mission in India in 1995, the youngest UNHCR country representative at that time, and in 1998 headed the UNHCR Centre for Research and Documentation. She led the UNHCR team in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during the Kosovo crisis in 1999, and was appointed Deputy Director of International Protection later that year. >http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Irene_Zubaida_Khan

Irene took up the leadership of Amnesty International in its 40th anniversary year as the organization began a process of change and renewal to address the complex nature of contemporary human rights violations, and confronted the challenging developments in the wake of the attacks of 11 September.

In her first year in office, Irene reformed AI’s response to crisis situations, personally leading high level missions to Pakistan during the bombing of Afghanistan, to Israel/Occupied Territories just after the Israeli occupation of Jenin, and to Colombia before the Presidential elections in May 2003. Deeply concerned about violence against women, she called for better protection of women’s human rights in meetings with President Musharraf of Pakistan, President Lahoud of Lebanon and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh. She has initiated a process of consultations with women activists to design a global campaign by Amnesty International against violence on women.

Irene has been keen to draw attention to hidden human rights violations. In Australia, she drew attention to the plight of asylum seekers in detention. In Burundi, she met with victims of massacres and urged President Buyoya and other parties to the conflict to end the cycle of human rights abuse. In Bulgaria, she led a campaign to end discrimination of those suffering from mental disabilities.

Interested in working directly with people to change their lives, Irene helped to found the development organization, Concern Universal, in 1977, and began her work as a human rights activist with the International Commission of Jurists in 1979.

Irene joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1980, and worked in a variety of positions at Headquarters and in field operations to promote the international protection of refugees. From 1991-95 she was Senior Executive Officer to Mrs. Sadako Ogata, then UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She was appointed as the UNHCR Chief of Mission in India in 1995, the youngest UNHCR country representative at that time, and in 1998 headed the UNHCR Centre for Research and Documentation. She led the UNHCR team in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during the Kosovo crisis in 1999, and was appointed Deputy Director of International Protection later that year. http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGORG100102002

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Markisgreen (talk • contribs) 18:03, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Reports of payout on leaving Amnesty (jump or push?)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358537/Revealed-Amnesty-Internationals-800-000-pay-offs-bosses.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.4.218.191 (talk) 14:58, 19 February 2011 (UTC)  Yossarian68 (talk) 21:12, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Someone added a reference in the main page which was then reverted? Would re-add myself but first perhaps discussion here as it appears others disagree. See also http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/news/content/8390/charity_commission_has_no_jurisdiction_over_board_members_payment_from_amnesty

And Amnesty's accounts for the period http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/FIN40/012/2010/en —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.4.218.191 (talk) 16:53, 21 February 2011 (UTC)  Yossarian68 (talk) 21:12, 27 April 2011 (UTC)


 * There are sufficient sources, so I've rewritten it and returned the material back to the article, with refs. Here are the edit histories of the ISPs who have reverted this piece of information:, , and . Make of them what you will... Ericoides (talk) 20:47, 21 February 2011 (UTC)


 * There are sources for the account, but I think too much space in this article is devoted to it, given her long career as an activist. Surely it can be shortened, with some of the quotes taken out. It's over.Parkwells (talk) 01:15, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I am not fully conversant with this issue, but an IP seems to have whitewashed the article to present Khan in a better light. They also added a lot of verbatim text from an Amnesty International source, which says "public document". Which, if it means 'public domain' is OK to do, but it looked suspicious. --220  of  Borg 21:44, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

It has been noted that this is a living person which calls for heightened scrutiny of the material which, in turn, calls for a high level of detail, particularly when under 'Controversies' to ensure that all the unflattering statements against her are very well substantiated. How to strike a fair balance between her accomplishments (not the self-proclaimed ones but the ones that are seen as such by the community) and her shortcomings (again, not ones that are an opinion of one person but the ones that are seen as much, right or wrong, by the community as a whole) is a whole other story. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.129.230.187 (talk) 09:45, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Occupation, Employer, Title
This section implies that Salford employ her as "Consulting Editor" with the title "Chancellor". Suggestions for clarification? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mongoletsi (talk • contribs) 08:20, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

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External links modified
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I have just modified 7 external links on Irene Khan. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110718103407/http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=681 to http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=681
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110106084416/http://www.salford.ac.uk/news/details/906 to http://www.salford.ac.uk/news/details/906/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ORG10/005/2009/en/39bbe06b-2e90-4bf3-bb33-dcf4a18990e1/org100052009en.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090808105114/http://www.soldiersofpeacemovie.com/about/the-cast/22/irene-khan/ to http://www.soldiersofpeacemovie.com/about/the-cast/22/irene-khan/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090319230827/http://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/publicaties/diesnatalis/2007 to http://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/publicaties/diesnatalis/2007
 * Added tag to http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/election/biographical-summaries.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20041221121704/http://www.amnesty.ca/listen/khan.htm to http://www.amnesty.ca/listen/khan.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110726122428/http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/docs/Letter_from_lawyers_for_Irene_Khan_1.pdf to http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/docs/Letter_from_lawyers_for_Irene_Khan_1.pdf

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