Kumi Naidoo
Founding Chair, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity
A life-long social justice campaigner from South Africa, Kumi Naidoo was the International Executive Director of Greenpeace International (2009-16) and Secretary General of Amnesty International (2018-20). Expelled from his Durban school at 15 for his anti-apartheid activism, Kumi’s campaigning led to him being arrested and forced into exile in the UK, where he earned a PhD in political sociology at Oxford University. After the fall of the apartheid regime, Kumi worked for the new government on adult literacy and voter education. He has subsequently served as the Secretary General of Civicus, a founding chairperson of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, and the Executive Director of Africans Rising.
