Their future will be decided when a reform plan is introduced at the end of March

The senior leadership team of a major NGO has offered to resign after criticism of a toxic working culture and widespread bullying.

Leaders of Amnesty International acknowledged mistakes had been made, adding that the seven leaders took shared responsibility for the “climate of tension and mistrust” across the organisation.

This group does not include the human rights NGO’s secretary general, Kumi Naidoo.

A letter, signed jointly by the human rights group’s leadership team, states: “We are truly sorry that a majority of colleagues feel undervalued and unsupported, and we are willing to do whatever is possible to change this,”

“With the best interest of Amnesty International in mind, we have all told Kumi that every one of us is ready to step aside,” they added.

Their future will be decided when a reform plan is introduced at the end of March.

Their contrition came in the wake of a damning report which uncovered a “toxic” working environment at Amnesty International.

The review found that it has contributed to physical and mental health issues in a third of their staff.

Conducted by the Konterra Group on behalf of the charity, the probe found that a majority of health issues were caused by an "adversarial culture", failures in management and workload pressures.

The people and organisational development department at the charity was singled out in the review for failing to "fulfil its key roles as an impartial adviser to staff and the guardian of workplace standards".

Konterra’s review was based on a survey of 475 staff, 70% of the workforce of Amnesty’s international secretariat, and on scores of interviews.

“There were multiple reports of managers belittling staff in meetings, deliberately excluding certain staff from reporting, or making demeaning, menacing comments like ‘you’re shit!’ or ‘you should quit! If you stay in this position, your life will be a misery,’” the report said.

Konterra’s review was commissioned alongside reviews into the suicides of two Amnesty International workers last year.

The first examined the suicide of Gaëtan Mootoo, 65, a researcher in Amnesty International’s Paris office, who cited problems with his workload in a note he left behind.

It found that the charity had not breached its duty to provide a safe system of work under English law.

Another review, into the death last year of Rosalind McGregor, a 28-year-old intern working in the charity’s Geneva office and previously at its offices in Mexico City, highlighted concerns about the charity’s monitoring of her workload but concluded there was no breach of the charity’s duty of care.

The seven senior leaders, who have worked at Amnesty for between four and 11 years, are: Anna Neistat, the senior director of research; Thomas Schultz-Jagow, the senior director of campaigns and communications; Colm Ó Cuanacháin, the senior director of the office of the secretary general; Julie Verhaar, the senior director of global fundraising and engagement; Minar Pimple, the senior director of global operations; Richard Eastmond, the senior director of people and services; and Tawanda Mutasah, the senior director of law and policy.

Naidoo said: “Change has to happen in a realistic, structured and holistic way to ensure necessary continuity, with due sensitivity to the constraints we face within the organisation.

“We have fantastic talent in Amnesty International; now is the time to foster that passion, drive and commitment and focus our energy on combating the external threats to human rights.

“These are dangerous times and Amnesty is needed now more than ever. Our staff need to be empowered to make sure that by growing our campaigning and activism we rise to meet the challenge and win the bigger battles before us.”