Gaëtan Mootoo

Gaëtan Mootoo (29 September 1952 – 25 May 2018) was a Mauritian human rights activist, researcher responsible for West Africa in the Amnesty International organization.^[1]

Biography

Coming from a poor family of

In February 1998, Amnesty published Terror in Casamance, one of the first exclusive investigations carried out by Mootoo. The report detailed the misdeeds of both the Senegalese army and of those fighting for the independence of the southern province of Senegal. “It's a pack of lies and contradictions,” bellowed the president Abdou Diouf. “Amnesty International are a bunch of irresponsible gangsters.” ^[3]

May 1999, working with two other researchers, Mootoo was behind a report on the Togolese regime headed by

According to a Senegalese human rights advocate, Alioune Tine, “Gaëtan had a political side, and his efforts have made a huge contribution to the process of democratic change in Africa.” [5]

Suicide and Amnesty's secret payout to Mootoo's family

Mootoo killed himself at Amnesty International's Paris office on the night of 25 May 2018,^[6] calling into question the deterioration of working conditions in Amnesty International.^[7] The French authorities have ruled that Mootoo's death was a workplace accident and a review by James Laddie, QC, a specialist in employment law, said that a “serious failure of management” had contributed to his suicide.^[8]

An internal inquiry, launched by Amnesty France following a petition from Mootoo's colleagues and published in the

In another report commissioned by Amnesty International from the London barrister, James Laddie, Laddie wrote, “I am stunned to note that Gaëtan was obliged to face a certain level of hostility at work. Specifically, relations between himself and the deputy director of the French section were poor. According to several witnesses, she did not make any effort at politeness, she encouraged his colleagues to ignore Gaëtan during the working day, and she referred to him in disparaging terms, notably calling him ‘the hobo’.” Laddie's review stated that Mootoo's management failed to find an adequate role for him in the organization and instead preferred to ignore the researcher. "No room was found for Mootoo to perform some kind of mentoring or researcher training role in which his undoubted gifts and experience could be put to good use". "The possibility of such a role was discussed, and <...> Minar Pimple asked Anna Neistat (Senior Director for Research) on several occasions whether a role could be found for Gaëtan within the Research Directorate. It appears that no serious consideration was given to this".[11]

The two reviews of Mootoo's death were followed by a survey by the Konterra group with a team of psychologists. The survey was commissioned by Amnesty's international secretariat, the official employer of Mootoo. The Konterra report stated that Amnesty International had a toxic work culture and that workers frequently cited mental and physical health issues as the direct result of their work for the organization. Elaborating on this the report mentioned that bullying, public humiliation and other abuses of power are common place and routine practice by Amnesty's management.^[12][13] By October 2019 five of the seven members of the senior leadership team at Amnesty's international secretariat left the organization with "generous" redundancy packages.^[14] This included Anna Neistat, who was Gaetan Mootoo's senior manager directly implicated in the independent report on Mootoo's death.

After none of the managers responsible of bullying at Amnesty were held accountable a group of workers petitioned for Amnesty's Secretary General Kumi Naidoo to resign. On 5 December 2019 Naidoo resigned from his post of Amnesty's Secretary General citing ill health ^[15] and appointing Julie Verhaar as an interim Secretary General. In their petition, workers demanded her immediate resignation as well.

In September 2020 The Times reported that Amnesty International paid £800,000 in compensation over the workplace suicide of Mootoo and demanded his family keep the deal secret.^[16] The pre-trial agreement between London-based Amnesty's International Secretariat and Motoo's wife was reached on the condition that she keeps the deal secret by signing NDA. This was done particularly to prevent discussing the settlement with the press or on social media. The Times believes that the payout is the largest made by Amnesty in an employment matter and will provide support for Mr Mootoo's widow, Martyne Perrot, and son, Robin. Ms Perrot had filed a legal complaint over Amnesty's conduct but the settlement avoids a court case that could have caused serious damage to its reputation. The arrangement led to criticism on social media, with people asking why an organisation such as Amnesty would condone the use of non-disclosure agreements. Shaista Aziz, co-founder of the feminist advocacy group NGO Safe Space, questioned on Twitter why the “world's leading human rights organisation” was employing such contracts.^[17] The source of the money was unknown. Amnesty stated that the payout to Motoo's family "will not be made from donations or membership fees".

References