Human Rights Watch

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File:Msc 2008-Saturday, 14.00 - 16.00 Uhr-Moerk026 Roth.jpg
Former executive Director Kenneth Roth speaking at the 44th Munich Security Conference 2008

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in New York City that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.[1] The group pressures governments, policymakers, companies, and individual human rights abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights, and often works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants, and political prisoners.

In 1997, Human Rights Watch shared the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.[2] It played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions.[3]

HRW's annual expenses totaled $50.6 million in 2011,[4] $69.2 million in 2014,[5] and $75.5 million in 2017.[6]

History

Human Rights Watch was co-founded by Robert L. Bernstein,[7] Jeri Laber, and Aryeh Neier[8] as a private American NGO in 1978, under the name Helsinki Watch, to monitor the then-Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Accords.[9] Helsinki Watch adopted a practice of publicly "naming and shaming" abusive governments through media coverage and direct exchanges with policymakers. By shining the international spotlight on human rights violations in the Soviet Union and its European partners, Helsinki Watch says it contributed to the region's democratic transformations in the late 1980s.[9]

Americas Watch was founded in 1981 while bloody civil wars engulfed Central America. Relying on extensive on-the-ground fact-finding, Americas Watch not only addressed perceived abuses by government forces but also applied international humanitarian law to investigate and expose war crimes by rebel groups. In addition to raising concerns in the affected countries, Americas Watch also examined the role played by foreign governments, particularly the United States government, in providing military and political support to abusive regimes.

Asia Watch (1985), Africa Watch (1988) and Middle East Watch (1989) were added to what was known as "The Watch Committees". In 1988, these committees united under one umbrella to form Human Rights Watch.[10][11]

In April 2021, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Israel of apartheid and calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate "systematic discrimination" against Palestinians, becoming the first major international rights NGO to do so.[12][13]

On 8 March 2023, Bahrain canceled two HRW staff members' entry permit visas to attend the 146th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly. The permits were issued on 30 January 2023. Holding a constant observer status with IPU, HRW authorities had a permanent access to attend the organization's assemblies. Bahrain held the IPU Meeting from 11-15 March 2023.[14]

Profile

Template:Primary sources Pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Human Rights Watch opposes violations of what the UDHR considers basic human rights. This includes capital punishment and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. HRW advocates freedoms in connection with fundamental human rights, such as freedom of religion and freedom of the press. It seeks to achieve change by publicly pressuring governments and their policymakers to curb human rights abuses, and by convincing more powerful governments to use their influence on governments that violate human rights.[15][1]

Human Rights Watch publishes research reports on violations of international human rights norms as set out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and what it perceives to be other internationally accepted human-rights norms. These reports are used as the basis for drawing international attention to abuses and pressuring governments and international organizations to reform. Researchers conduct fact-finding missions to investigate suspect situations, also using diplomacy, staying in touch with victims, making files about public and individuals, providing required security for them in critical situations, and generating local and international media coverage. Issues HRW raises in its reports include social and gender discrimination, torture, military use of children, political corruption, abuses in criminal justice systems, and the legalization of abortion.[9] HRW has documented and reported various violations of the laws of war and international humanitarian law, most recently in Yemen.[16]

Human Rights Watch also supports writers worldwide who are persecuted for their work and in need of financial assistance. The Hellman/Hammett grants are financed by the estate of the playwright Lillian Hellman in funds set up in her name and that of her longtime companion, the novelist Dashiell Hammett. In addition to providing financial assistance, the Hellman/Hammett grants help raise international awareness of activists who have been silenced for speaking out in defence of human rights.[17]

File:Nabeel Rajab and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja helping an old woman after police attacked a peaceful protest in August 2010.jpg
Nabeel Rajab helping an old woman after Bahraini police attacked a peaceful protest in August 2010

Each year, Human Rights Watch presents the Human Rights Defenders Award to activists who demonstrate leadership and courage in defending human rights. The award winners work closely with HRW to investigate and expose human rights abuses.[18][19]

Human Rights Watch was one of six international NGOs that founded the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in 1998. It is also the co-chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a global coalition of civil society groups that successfully lobbied to introduce the Ottawa Treaty, which prohibits the use of anti-personnel landmines.

Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a global network of non-governmental organizations that monitor censorship worldwide. It also co-founded the Cluster Munition Coalition, which brought about an international convention banning the weapons. HRW employs more than 275 staff—country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics—and operates in more than 90 countries around the world. Headquartered in New York City, it has offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Nairobi, Seoul, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Zürich.[1][20] HRW maintains direct access to the majority of countries it reports on. Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, Iran, Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela are among the handful of countries that have blocked HRW staff members' access.[21]

HRW's former executive director is Kenneth Roth, who held the position from 1993 to 2022. Roth conducted investigations on abuses in Poland after martial law was declared 1981. He later focused on Haiti, which had just emerged from the Duvalier dictatorship but continued to be plagued with problems. Roth's awareness of the importance of human rights began with stories his father had told about escaping Nazi Germany in 1938. He graduated from Yale Law School and Brown University.[22]

Tirana Hassan became the group's executive director in 2023.[23] Hassan is a qualified social worker who has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children, and most recently as director of Amnesty International's Crisis Response Program.[24] Hassan holds honors degrees in social work and law from Australia and a master's degree in international human rights law from Oxford University.[24]

Comparison with Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are the only two Western-orientedTemplate:Dubious non-governmental, international human rights organizations whose reports on human rights violations aim for comprehensive global coverage.[19] The major differences lie in the groups' structure and methods for promoting change.

Amnesty International is a mass-membership organization. Mobilization of those members is the organization's central advocacy tool. Human Rights Watch's main products are its crisis-directed research and lengthy reports, whereas Amnesty International lobbies and writes detailed reports but also focuses on mass letter-writing campaigns, adopting individuals as "prisoners of conscience" and lobbying for their release. HRW openly lobbies for specific actions for other governments to take against human rights offenders, including naming specific individuals for arrest, or sanctions to be levied against certain countries, such as calling for punitive sanctions against the top leaders in Sudan who oversaw a killing campaign in Darfur. The group also called for human rights activists who had been detained in Sudan to be released.[25]

HRW's documentations of human rights abuses often include extensive analyses of conflicts' political and historical backgrounds, some of which have been published in academic journals. AI's reports, on the other hand, tend to contain less analysis, instead focusing on specific abuses of rights.[26]

In 2010, Jonathan Foreman wrote that HRW had "all but eclipsed" Amnesty International. According to Foreman, instead of being supported by a mass membership, as AI is, HRW depends on wealthy donors who like to see the organization's reports make headlines. For this reason, according to Foreman, it may be that organizations like HRW "concentrate too much on places that the media already cares about", especially Israel.[27]

Financing and services

For the financial year ending June 2008, HRW reported receiving approximately US$44 million in public donations.[28] In 2009, HRW said it received almost 75% of its financial support from North America, 25% from Western Europe and less than 1% from the rest of the world.[29]

According to a 2008 financial assessment, HRW reports that it does not accept any direct or indirect funding from governments and is financed through contributions from private individuals and foundations.[30]

Financier George Soros of the Open Society Foundations announced in 2010 his intention to grant US$100 million to HRW over ten years to help it expand its efforts internationally: "to be more effective", he said, "I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization." He continued, "Human Rights Watch is one of the most effective organizations I support. Human rights underpin our greatest aspirations: they're at the heart of open societies."[31][32][33] The donation, the largest in HRW's history, increased its operating staff of 300 by 120 people.[34]

Charity Navigator gave HRW a three-star rating for 2018. Its financial rating increased from three stars in 2015 to the maximum four as of 2016.[35] The Better Business Bureau said HRW meets its standards for charity accountability.[36]

Notable staff

File:Kenneth Roth (Human Rights Watch) (6806930135).jpg
Kenneth Roth and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, February 2, 2012

Some notable current and former staff members of Human Rights Watch:[37]

Publications

Human Rights Watch publishes reports on many different topics[49] and compiles an annual World Report presenting an overview of the worldwide state of human rights.[50] It has been published by Seven Stories Press since 2006; the current edition, World Report 2020, was released in January 2020, and covers events of 2019.[51][52] World Report 2020, HRW's 30th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, includes reviews of human rights practices and trends in nearly 100 countries, and an introductory essay by Executive Director Kenneth Roth, "China's Global Threat to Human Rights". HRW has reported extensively on subjects such as the Rwandan genocide of 1994,[53] the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[54] and the excessive breadth of U.S. sex offender registries and their application to juveniles.[55][56]

In the summer of 2004, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University in New York became the depository institution for the Human Rights Watch Archive, an active collection that documents decades of human rights investigations around the world. The archive was transferred from the Norlin Library at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It includes administrative files, public relations documents, and case and country files. With some exceptions for security considerations, the Columbia University community and the public have access to field notes, taped and transcribed interviews with alleged victims of human rights violations, video and audiotapes, and other materials documenting HRW's activities since its founding in 1978 as Helsinki Watch.[57] Some parts of the HRW archive are not open to researchers or to the public, including the records of the meetings of the board of directors, the executive committee, and the various subcommittees, limiting historians' ability to understand the organization's internal decision-making.[58]

Criticism

Template:Main HRW has been criticized for perceived bias by the national governments it has investigated for human rights abuses,[59][60][61] by NGO Monitor,[62] and by HRW's founder and former chairman, Robert L. Bernstein.[7] Bias allegations have included undue influence by U.S. government policy, and claims that HRW is biased against Israel (and focuses undue attention on the Arab–Israeli conflict).[63] HRW has also been criticized for poor research methodology and lax fact-checking, and ignoring the human-rights abuses of less-open regimes.Template:Citation neededTemplate:Specify HRW has routinely publicly addressed, and often denies, criticism of its reporting and findings.[64]

In 2014, two Nobel Peace Laureates wrote a letter signed by 100 other human rights activists and scholars criticizing HRW for its revolving-door hiring practices with the U.S. government, its failure to denounce the U.S. practice of extrajudicial rendition, its endorsement of U.S. 2011 military intervention in Libya, and its silence during the 2004 Haitian coup d'état.[65]

In 2020, HRW's board of directors discovered that HRW accepted a $470,000 donation from Saudi real estate magnate Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, owner of a company HRW "had previously identified as complicit in labor rights abuse", under the condition that the donation not be used to support LGBT advocacy in the Middle East and North Africa. After The Intercept reported the donation, it was returned, and HRW issued a statement that accepting it was "deeply regrettable".[66]

In August 2020, the Chinese government sanctioned HRW executive director Kenneth Roth—together with the heads of four other U.S.-based democracy and human rights organizations and six U.S. Republican lawmakers—for supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The leaders of the five organizations saw the sanctioning, whose details were unspecified, as a tit-for-tat measure in response to the earlier U.S. sanctioning of 11 Hong Kong officials. The latter step had in turn been a reaction to the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law at the end of June.[67] The New York Times reported in October 2021 that HRW left Hong Kong as a result of the Chinese sanctions, with the situation in Hong Kong henceforth to be monitored by HRW's China team. The decision to leave came amid a wider crackdown on civil society groups in Hong Kong.[68]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Frequently Asked Questions. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  2. ↑ HRW Statement on Nobel Prize. www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  3. ↑ History(April 21, 2015). Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  4. ↑ Financial Statements, Year Ended June 30, 2011. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Financial Statements, Year Ended June 30, 2014. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  6. ↑ Annual Report 2017. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast. The NY Times(October 19, 2009). Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  8. ↑ A Talk by Aryeh Neier, Co-Founder of Human Rights Watch, President of the Open Society Foundations(April 16, 2012). Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Our History. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  10. ↑ Our History. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  11. ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
  12. ↑ Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, rights watchdog says. the Guardian(27 April 2021). Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  13. ↑ A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution({Template:Date).
  14. ↑ Bahrain Revokes Human Rights Watch Visas. HRW(10 March 2023). Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Human Rights and Humanitarian Organizations; Edited by Thomas E. Doyle, Robert F. Gorman, Edward S. Mihalkanin; Rowman & Littlefield, 2016; Pg. 137-138
  16. ↑ World Report 2021:Yemen, Roth, Kenneth. HRW(October 2021). Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  17. ↑ Hellman-Hammett Grants Template:Webarchive, Human Rights Watch
  18. ↑ Five Activists Win Human Rights Watch Awards. Human Rights Watch(September 15, 2008). Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Human Rights Watch. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  20. ↑ Who We Are. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  21. ↑ Israel bans Human Right Watch worker, accuses group of peddling.... U.S.. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  22. ↑ National Security in a Turbulent World - Yale Law School. law.yale.edu. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  23. ↑ Tirana Hassan to Lead Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch(March 27, 2023).
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Tirana Hassan.
  25. ↑ Reuters.com. arquivo.pt.Template:Failed verification
  26. ↑ The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of globalization{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Wiley-Blackwell(2012). ISBN 9781405188241
  27. ↑ [{{{url}}} Explosive Territory]. The Sunday Times(March 28, 2010).
  28. ↑ Financial Statements. Year Ended June 30, 2008. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  29. ↑ Human Rights Watch Visit to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch(July 17, 2009). Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  30. ↑ Financials. Human Rights Watch(September 22, 2008). Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  31. ↑ George Soros to Give $100 Million to Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch(September 7, 2010). Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  32. ↑ With $100 million Soros gift, Human Rights Watch looks to expand global reach. Washington Post(September 12, 2010). Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  33. ↑ Financial Statements, Year Ended June 30, 2011 (See page 16 for the Open Society Foundation's contribution). Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  34. ↑ George Soros gives $100 million to Human Rights Watch, Pilkington, Ed. The Guardian(September 7, 2010). Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  35. ↑ Charity Navigator - Rating for Human Rights Watch. Charity Navigator. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  36. ↑ BBB Wise Giving Alliance Seal Confirmation Page(January 27, 2017). Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  37. ↑ Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch.
  38. ↑ New Chairs to Lead Human Rights Watch Board. Human Rights Watch(November 5, 2019). Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  39. ↑ John J. Studzinski Template:Webarchive. Human Rights Watch.
  40. ↑ Wachman, Richard. "Cracking the Studzinski code" Template:Webarchive. The Observer. October 7, 2006.
  41. ↑ "Most influential Americans in the UK: 20 to 11" Template:Webarchive. The Telegraph. November 22, 2007.
  42. ↑ "Donation provides cornerstone for new Transforming Tate Modern development" Template:Webarchive. Tate Modern. May 22, 2007.
  43. ↑ John Studzinski Template:Webarchive. Debrett's.
  44. ↑ John Studzinski Template:Webarchive. Institute for Public Policy Research.
  45. ↑ "Royal Honor for John Studzinski '78, Architectural Accolades for Namesake" Template:Webarchive. Bowdoin College Campus News. Bowdoin.edu. February 26, 2008.
  46. ↑ Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch World Report, 2003 Template:Webarchive. Human Rights Watch, 2003. p. 558.
  47. ↑ Human Rights Watch investigator suspended over Nazi memorabilia. The Guardian(September 15, 2009). Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  48. ↑ Tejshree Thapa, Defender of Human Rights in South Asia, Dies at 52. The New York Times(March 29, 2019). Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  49. ↑ Publications. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  50. ↑ Previous World Reports{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Human Rights Watch(January 12, 2009)
  51. ↑ World Report 2020: Human Rights Trends Around the Globe{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(November 25, 2019)
  52. ↑ 'World Report 2020'{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(November 25, 2019)
  53. ↑ Rwandan genocide report Template:Webarchive,Human Rights Watch
  54. ↑ Congo report Template:Webarchive, Human Rights Watch
  55. ↑ No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the US. Human Rights Watch(September 12, 2007). Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  56. ↑ Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US. Human Rights Watch(May 1, 2013). Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  57. ↑ Human Rights Watch Archive Moves to Columbia University. lj.libraryjournal.com. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  58. ↑ Slezkine, Peter, "From Helsinki to Human Rights Watch Template:Webarchive," Humanity (2014)
  59. ↑ "After Human Rights Watch Report, Egypt Says Group Broke Law Template:Webarchive". The New York Times. August 12, 2016.
  60. ↑ "Saudi Arabia outraged by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s criticism Template:Webarchive". Ya Libnan. July 1, 2016.
  61. ↑ A row over human rights. The Economist(February 5, 2009).
  62. ↑ HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (HRW). NGO Monitor. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  63. ↑ What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel(November 30, 2014).
  64. ↑ The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding; Sarah Knuckey; Oxford University Press, 2015; Pgs. 355-376
  65. ↑ Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Haymarket Books(2023). ISBN 978-1-64259-812-4
  66. ↑ Human Rights Watch Took Money From Saudi Businessman After Documenting His Coercive Labor Practices, Emmons, Alex(March 2, 2020).
  67. ↑ U.S. democracy and human rights leaders sanctioned by China vow not to be cowed into silence. Washington Post(August 11, 2020). Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  68. ↑ As Hong Kong's civil society buckles, one group tries to hold on, Ramzy, Austin(October 24, 2021). Retrieved October 25, 2021.Template:Cbignore

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