 | |
| Founded | 1978 (as Helsinki Watch) |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit NGO |
| Focus | Human rights, activism |
| Headquarters | Empire State Building New York City, New York, U.S. |
Area served
| Worldwide |
| Product | non profit human rights advocacy |
Key people
| Kenneth Roth (Executive Director) James F. Hoge, Jr. (Chairman) |
| Website | www |
Formerly called
| Helsinki Watch |
Current 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.
The group pressures some governments, policy makers and human rights
abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights, and the group often
works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants and political prisoners.
Human Rights Watch in 1997 shared in the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and it played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions.
The organization's annual expenses totaled $50.6 million in 2011 and $69.2 million in 2014, and $75.5 million in 2017.
History
Human Rights Watch was co-founded by Robert L. Bernstein and Aryeh Neier as a private American NGO in 1978, under the name Helsinki Watch, to monitor the then-Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Accords. Helsinki Watch adopted a practice of publicly "naming and shaming"
abusive governments through media coverage and through 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 democratic transformations of the region in the late 1980s.
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 its 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, all of these committees were united under one umbrella to form Human Rights Watch.
Profile
Pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Human Rights Watch (HRW) opposes violations of what are considered basic human rights under the UDHR. 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.
HRW seeks to achieve change by publicly pressuring governments and
their policy makers to curb human rights abuses, and by convincing more
powerful governments to use their influence on governments that violate
human rights.
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, and providing required security for
them in critical situations and in a proper time generate coverage in
local and international media. Issues raised by Human Rights Watch 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. HRW has documented and reported various violations of the laws of war and international humanitarian law.
Human Rights Watch also supports writers worldwide, who are being persecuted for their work and are 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 long-time companion, the novelist Dashiell Hammett.
In addition to providing financial assistance, the Hellman/Hammett
grants help raise international awareness of activists who are being
silenced for speaking out in defense of human rights.
Nabeel Rajab helping an old woman after Bahraini police attacked a peaceful protest on 14 August 2010
Each year, Human Rights Watch presents the Human Rights Defenders Award
to activists around the world who demonstrate leadership and courage in
defending human rights. The award winners work closely with HRW in
investigating and exposing human rights abuses.
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, a treaty that 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, Moscow, Nairobi, Seoul, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Zürich. HRW maintains direct access to the majority of countries it reports on. Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela are among the handful of countries that have blocked access for HRW staff members.
The current executive director of HRW is Kenneth Roth, who has held the position since 1993. 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. Roth graduated from Yale Law School and Brown University.
Comparison with Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
are the only two Western-oriented international human rights
organizations operating in most situations of severe oppression or abuse
worldwide. The major differences lie in the group's 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. Human Rights Watch will openly lobby
for specific actions for other governments to take against human rights
offenders, including naming specific individuals for arrest, or for sanctions to be levied against certain countries, recently calling for punitive sanctions against the top leaders in Sudan who have overseen a killing campaign in Darfur. The group has also called for human rights activists who have been detained in Sudan to be released.
Its documentations of human rights abuses often include extensive
analysis of the political and historical backgrounds of the conflicts
concerned, some of which have been published in academic journals. AI's
reports, on the other hand, tend to contain less analysis, and instead
focus on specific abuses of rights.
In 2010, The Times of London wrote that HRW has "all but eclipsed" Amnesty International. According to The Times,
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 The Times, HRW tends to
"concentrate too much on places that the media already cares about",
especially in disproportionate coverage of Israel.
Financing and services
For the financial year ending June 2008, HRW reported receiving approximately US$44 million in public donations.
In 2009, Human Rights Watch stated that they receive almost 75% of
their financial support from North America, 25% from Western Europe and
less than 1% from the rest of the world.
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.
Financier and philanthropist George Soros of the Open Society Foundation
announced in 2010 his intention to grant US $100 million to HRW over a
period of ten years to help it expand its efforts internationally. He
said, "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."
The donation increases Human Rights Watch's operating staff of 300 by
120 people. The donation was the largest in the organization's history.
Charity Navigator
gave Human Rights Watch a three-star rating overall for 2018. Its
financial rating increased from three stars in 2015 to the maximum four
as of June 2016. The Better Business Bureau said Human Rights Watch meets its standards for charity accountability.
Human Rights Watch published the following program and support
services spending details for the financial year ending June 2011.
| Program services | 2011 expenses (USD) |
| Africa | $5,859,910 |
| Americas | $1,331,448 |
| Asia | $4,629,535 |
| Europe and Central Asia | $4,123,959 |
| Middle East and North Africa | $3,104,643 |
| United States | $1,105,571 |
| Children's Rights | $1,551,463 |
| Health & Human Rights | $1,962,015 |
| International Justice | $1,325,749 |
| Woman's Rights | $2,083,890 |
| Other programs | $11,384,854 |
| Supporting services | |
| Management and general | $3,130,051 |
| Fundraising | $9,045,910 |
Human Rights Watch published the following program and support
services spending details for the financial year ending June 2008.
| Program services | 2008 expenses (USD) |
| Africa | $5,532,631 |
| Americas | $1,479,265 |
| Asia | $3,212,850 |
| Europe and Central Asia | $4,001,853 |
| Middle East and North Africa | $2,258,459 |
| United States | $1,195,673 |
| Children's Rights | $1,642,064 |
| International Justice | $1,385,121 |
| Woman's Rights | $1,854,228 |
| Other programs | $9,252,974 |
| Supporting services | |
| Management and general | $1,984,626 |
| Fundraising | $8,641,358 |
Notable staff
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Kenneth Roth and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, 2 February 2012
Some notable current and former staff members of Human Rights Watch:
- Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair Emeritus
- Kenneth Roth, Executive Director
- Jan Egeland, Deputy Director and the Director of Human Rights Watch Europe
- John Studzinski, Vice Chair; developed European arm; former Director; member of Executive Committee; Chairman of Investment Committee
- Minky Worden, Media Director
- Jamie Fellner, Senior Counsel for the United States Program of Human Rights Watch
- Brad Adams, Asia Director
- Ali Dayan Hasan, former Pakistan Director
- Scott Long, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Director
- Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa Director
- Joe Stork
- Marc Garlasco, former staff member, resigned due to a scandal involving his Nazi memorabilia collection
- Sharon Hom
- Tae-Ung Baik, former research consultant
- Nabeel Rajab, member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East Division
- José Miguel Vivanco, Director of Human Rights Watch in the Americas
- Tejshree Thapa, former Senior South Asia researcher
Publications
Human Rights Watch publishes reports on many different topics and compiles an annual World Report presenting an overview of the worldwide state of human rights. It has been published by Seven Stories Press since 2006; the current edition, World Report 2017: Demagogues Threaten Human Rights, was released in January 2017, and covers events of 2016. Human Rights Watch has reported extensively on subjects such as the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Democratic Republic of the Congo and US sex offender registries due to their over-breadth and application to juveniles.
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
its previous location at the Norlin Library at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
The archive includes administrative files, public relations documents,
as well as 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 audio tapes, and other
materials documenting the organization’s activities since its founding
in 1978 as Helsinki Watch.
Criticism
HRW has been criticized for perceived bias by the national governments it has investigated for human rights abuses, by NGO Monitor, and by HRW's founder, and former Chairman, Robert L. Bernstein.
Bias allegations have included undue influence by United States
government policy, claims that HRW is biased both for or against Israel
(and focuses undue attention on the Arab–Israeli conflict).
HRW has also been criticized for poor research methodology and lax
fact-checking, and ignoring the human-rights abuses of less-open
regimes. HRW has routinely publicly addressed, and often denies,
criticism of its reporting and findings.
