1685417070 Sherine Tadros from the war to the UN corridors NGOs

Sherine Tadros, from the war to the UN corridors: “NGOs make sure it doesn’t get any worse”

Sherine Tadros from the war to the UN corridors NGOs

When Sherine Tadros (London, 43) came up with the idea in 2008 that she and her partner would be the only international journalists in Gaza as long as the Israeli offensive continued, a single thought shot through her mind: “I became I was obsessed with the idea that another journalist with more experience should be in my place.” It was December 26 and one of his first jobs at Qatari chain Al Jazeera. He had entered this Palestinian enclave to spend 24 hours there, but the ceasefire between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel collapsed, shelling resumed and the two border crossings allowing people to enter and leave the country were closed . He didn’t have much time to deal with his doubts. “I filmed live and narrated the lives of Gazans, women, youth and children,” he adds.

Those beginnings were followed by ten years of journalistic reporting, during which he was always interested in people with first and last names: a correspondent in Jerusalem, the Arab Spring in Egypt, and the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. “I didn’t feel fulfilled. Not only did I want to expose what was happening, I wanted to make sure the person I interviewed could have a better life. I wanted to follow the story and be held accountable,” he told this London newspaper shortly after the publication of his autobiography Taking Sides (Scribe editorial), initially in English only. In his book and at this meeting, Tadros reflects on the limitations of the profession, neutrality, and the line between activism and reporting. “Journalism’s role is crucial in exposing injustice and crime, but that’s where it ends because that’s its mission.” Now I have a different role to play,” he explains.

Journalism’s role is vital in exposing injustice and crime, but that’s where it ends, because that’s its mission. I have a different role to play now

Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International

For six years, the English-born and Egyptian-born former correspondent has represented Amnesty International at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where the organization operates as an advisory body. Tadros admits he got lost in the corridors at first and didn’t know the acronyms. “The United Nations is a very sterile environment, they talk about wars like Syria or Yemen, but often they don’t give them a face. That’s what the activists who have worked on the ground bring with them: some reality,” he explains.

Their job is to lobby diplomats and politicians to bring human rights and humanitarian crises to the fore. “Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but as NGOs we make sure it doesn’t get any worse. “, summarizes. Her job no longer has the adrenaline she was used to and, in her opinion, is “a long-distance race, not at all attractive but very necessary.” For example, the campaign to change a phrase or a small clause in an international resolution can take months, but it is crucial to avoid human rights violations once the text is interpreted in the respective countries. A harmless paragraph defending “family values” can be used in some states to restrict women’s reproductive rights, Tadros argues. “There’s just so much happening, there’s so many attacks…” he sighs.

The former journalist also works on some cases related to the region she knows best, the Middle East, for example promoting the creation of an international mechanism – along with other organizations such as Human Rights Watch – to search and identify more than 100,000 People of unknown whereabouts in Syria since the war began in 2011. Or bring to the attention of leaders visiting the United Nations the situation in Egypt, where this woman has witnessed the degradation of freedoms firsthand. “Egypt has tens of thousands of political prisoners,” he says. “And far from being considered a pariah state, it continues to be a key ally of the international community on certain issues, such as the security of the region,” he adds.

We all have a role to play, it is up to us to be an active part of the change or to be a spectator.

Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International

Hiding his outrage at the international neglect of certain issues, the lack of context and the speed with which attempts are made to explain certain news items in the press, Tadros regrets that “states that break the law are not adequately prosecuted internationally become”. “Not enough attention is paid to the oppression of the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region. In what world isn’t this talked about daily and doesn’t stop either? “There’s a tremendous lack of leadership, that’s what worries me the most. I don’t know how we got to this situation where we don’t have leaders with a specific vision that goes beyond their own political survival,” he adds.

But although she felt she had hit rock bottom in her life as a journalist, her motivation in her current job is undiminished. “I work with human rights defenders who have given their lives, their liberty, their time… And if they’re spending the best years of their lives in prison protecting someone else’s rights, then the least I can do is get up in the morning and go to bed.” to go to work.” His memoirs are a call to action, to vigilance. “We all have a role to play, it’s up to us to be an active part of the change or to be a spectator. Whoever you are, if you find something isn’t fair, you can try to make it better. A small act can change things,” he assures.

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