When in 2008 Sherine Tadros (London, 43 years old) came to the idea that she and her partner would be the only international journalists in the Gaza Strip for as long as the Israeli offensive lasted, a single thought haunted her head: “ I became obsessed with the idea that another journalist with more experience should be in my place.” It was December 26 and one of her first jobs with the Qatari chain Al Jazeera. She had entered this Palestinian enclave to spend 24 hours, but the ceasefire between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel was broken, shelling resumed and the two border crossings that allow people to enter and leave were closed. She didn’t have much time to delve into her doubts. “I did my shots live and told the life of Gaza residents, women, youth, children,” she adds.
After those beginnings came 10 years of journalistic coverage in 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. I didn’t just want to expose what was happening, but to make sure that the person I had interviewed could have a better life. I wanted to follow the story and be accountable, ”she explains to this newspaper in London, shortly after the publication of her autobiography. Taking Sides (Scribe publisher), for now only in English. In his book and in this meeting, Tadros reflects on the limits of the profession, neutrality and the border between activism and reporting. “The role of journalism is essential in exposing injustice and crimes, but it ends there, because that is its mandate. I now have another role to play ”, he explains.
The role of journalism is essential in exposing injustice and crimes, but it ends there, because that is its mandate. I now have another role to play
Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International
For six years, this former correspondent, born in England and of Egyptian descent, has represented International Amnesty at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where the organization is an advisory body. Tadros admits that at first he was lost in the corridors and did not know the acronyms. “The United Nations is a very aseptic environment, they talk about wars like Syria or Yemen, but many times they don’t put a face on it. That is what we activists who have worked on the ground bring: 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 things don’t get worse. ”, He sums up. Her work no longer has the adrenaline she was used to and is, according to her, “a long-distance race, not at all attractive but very necessary.” For example, campaigning to modify an expression 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. An initially innocuous paragraph about defending “family values” can be used to limit the reproductive rights of women in some states, she cites Tadros. “It’s just that so many things happen, there are so many attacks…”, she sighs.
The former journalist also works on some cases related to the region she knows best, the Middle East, and promotes, for example, the creation of an international mechanism —together with other organizations such as Human Rights Watch— to search for and identify more than 100,000 people unaccounted for in Syria since the start of the war in 2011. Or alert leaders who visit the UN about the situation in Egypt, where this woman witnessed firsthand the deterioration of freedoms. “Egypt has tens of thousands of political prisoners,” she says. “And, far from being considered a pariah state, it remains a key ally for the international community on certain issues, such as the security of the region,” she adds.
We all have a role to play, it is in our hands to be an active part of the change or to be spectators.
Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International
Tadros does not hide his indignation at the international neglect of certain issues, at the lack of context and the speed with which they try to explain some news in the press, and regrets that “States that violate the law are not sufficiently prosecuted international”. “The repression of the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region does not receive enough attention. In what world is that not talked about on a daily basis and doesn’t stop?” he wonders. “There is a tremendous lack of leadership, it is what worries me the most. I don’t know how we got to this situation where we don’t have leaders with a certain height of vision who go beyond their own political survival,” he adds.
But if in her life as a journalist she felt she had hit rock bottom, in her current job her motivation remains intact. “I work with human rights defenders who have given their lives, their freedom, their time… And if they are going to spend the best years of their lives in prison to protect another person’s right, then the least I can do me is to get out of bed in the morning and go to work.” Memories of him are a call to action, to be alert. “We all have a role to play, it is in our hands to be an active part of the change or to be spectators. Whoever you are, if you see that something is not fair, you can try to improve it. A small act can change things ”, she assures.
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