Salil Shetty (born 3 February 1961) is an Indian human rights activist who was the Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International (2010–2018) till 31 July 2018.
Shetty grew up in Bangalore. His late mother, Hemlatha Shetty, was active in women’s groups, and his father, V.T. Rajshekar, was active in the Dalit movement. Growing up in India in the tumultuous 1970s, he lived through the 1976 state of emergency which led to human rights being curtailed and an intense level of activism. He did his schooling at St. Joseph’s Indian High School, Bangalore.
He received a BCom in Advanced Accounting from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce in 1981, an MBA in 1983 from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics in 1991 with distinction.
In 1983, Salil Shetty was hired from IIM-A by Azim Premji and began working for the Indian IT company Wipro. Following this, Shetty joined ActionAid, one of the world’s most respected international development NGOs, rising up to head ActionAid’s operations in India and later Kenya in East Africa. Shetty was the first person from the global south to be appointed as the Chief Executive of ActionAid, from 1998- 2003.
Given his significant achievements at ActionAid, Shetty was then appointed the Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign from 2003 to 2010. The UN Millennium Campaign, under the leadership of Salil Shetty, also helped aggregate the various national campaigns into The Global Call to Action Against Poverty GCAP).
Shetty was appointed as Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International in July 2010. The role involved being chief strategist, advocate, and spokesperson for the global Amnesty movement and Chief Executive of the International Secretariat.
He also represented Amnesty International at major meetings at the UN, and the World Economic Forum and led the organization’s show of solidarity in Oslo for the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo calling on the Chinese authorities to improve their human rights record.
In 2014, Salil Shetty was given the ‘Public Servant of the Year award by the prestigious Asian Awards in London.
In June 2018, Shetty was awarded the Stardust Achievers Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Service. The Stardust Achievers Awards honors Indian achievers from diverse fields in the UK.
