Human Wrongs Watch
By Dipanjali Rao*, ICAN – Nasser Burdestani, 37, wears many hats. He is a banker by day and an activist, father and husband the rest of the time.
Source: ICAN
Burdestani’s passion for human rights led him to establish Amnesty International in Bahrain in 2002, and since 2012 he has become the regional campaigner for ICAN in Bahrain. His interest in human rightscame to the fore in 2001 when a package of political reforms paved the way for Bahrain to become a constitutional monarchy.
In 2002, he and five colleagues established Amnesty International in Bahrain – a first for a Gulf country.
Asked what his motivation was, he says, “I felt responsible as a human being to make a contribution in improving human rights conditions in my region and the world. The biggest motivation is to put a smile on the faces of human rights victims.”
As part of ICAN, Mr Burdestani’s focus is to raise awareness in Bahrain about the dangers of nuclear weapons, build partnerships with local non-government organizations and lobby the government to play a larger role in the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons.
