“A ‘martyrdom culture’ is present, which encourages people to sacrifice their own wellbeing because of the critical importance of the work.”

Amnesty International (AI) Staff Wellbeing Review, January 2019.

In a recent blog I urged those of you who work in the non-profit sector to prioritise yourself over the “greater cause”, and to understand that you really are the most important cause that there is in this life.

I learnt the hard way that whilst we must be passionate about the causes we work for, we must be even more passionate about ourselves – our own health and wellbeing.

It is dangerous and counterproductive to work all the time and to sacrifice our own needs for “the great cause”. I know. I did it for years and I burnt out.

I want to take a moment to recognise just how hard – and in fact radical – it is to care for yourself when you work in sector that has an ingrained culture of martyrdom.

The AI Staff Wellbeing Review, published last week illustrates that the largest and most well known human rights NGO has a deeply entrenched, almost insurmountable martyrdom culture.

I highlighted the tragic irony of it all back in 2014 in an article on the ethical responsibilities of human rights NGOs. In that piece I set out some of the very obvious duties that NGOs with a mission to protect and promote human rights owe to the human beings that work for them – their own volunteers and staff.

Human rights NGOs have a raison d’être to protect human beings, yet ironically they often fail miserably to protect and care for the human beings that are their biggest asset and who keep them alive. One human rights professional I spoke to back in 2014 summed it up well:

“The human rights community enforces a sense of martyrdom in their defenders. . .fight for others rights without caring about yours. . . what a contradiction.”

I first worked for AI in 1999 and I risked my life for the cause. I travelled alone to Kosovo just after the NATO intervention to set up AI’s first ever field office and I investigated and documented the most horrendous crimes. I risked my life again for AI in 2003 on a harrowing, traumatic and dangerous mission to Afghanistan. There was no proper security on either mission, let alone any wellbeing support.

Back then we pleaded with AI leaders to put structures and mechanisms in place to protect our security and wellbeing. Nothing happened.

More than a decade later in 2015, I was part of a team researching vicarious trauma in the human rights, humanitarian and media sector. I found that despite repeated calls from staff and reviews nothing had changed. AI leaders were still largely unconcerned about the physical and mental wellbeing of their staff. Not even the most basic security, de-briefings or wellbeing support was being offered to staff working in, and on, dangerous conflicts who spent everyday of their working lives investigating, documenting and reporting on the most horrific things – mass killings, displacement, torture, sexual violence, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

It took the tragic suicides of two staff members in the summer of 2018 for AI to finally commission an independent and public review of staff wellbeing. And it was only because the press reported and started asking questions and enraged AI staff rallied together and spoke out. Under pressure, AI leaders eventually commissioned an independent investigation into the two suicides, and then a general review into the wellbeing of staff.

The review finds that a shocking 64% of staff either “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed” with the statement that “my wellbeing is a priority for Amnesty International leaders”. And 10% said they “did not know”?!

That’s a whopping 74% of staff working for an organisation that has a raison d’être to protect human dignity that either disagree, or do not know if their managers care about their their wellbeing.

That’s tragic irony. It is shameful and it is terribly sad. The result – to use the language of AI’s own reports – is “broken promises, human beings and shattered lives”.

Liz Griffin Liz runs specialist mentorship, coaching programmes and wellbeing workshops for  non-profit professionals and organisations.

Liz  is an International Coaching Federation accredited Coach (ACC), mentor, Fellow of Essex University Human Rights Centre and Extraordinary Professor, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. She has 25 years of experience working in the non-profit sector for the United Nations and NGOs, including Amnesty International. Find out more about Liz here.