Human Rights Watch was co-founded byRobert L. Bernstein,[9]Jeri Laber, andAryeh Neier[10] as a private AmericanNGO in 1978, under the nameHelsinki Watch, to monitor the then-Soviet Union's compliance with theHelsinki Accords.[11] Helsinki Watch adopted a practice of publicly "naming and shaming" abusive governments through media coverage and direct exchanges with policymakers. Helsinki Watch says that, by shining the international spotlight on human rights violations in the Soviet Union and its European partners, it contributed to the region'sdemocratic transformations in the late 1980s.[11]
Americas Watch was founded in 1981 while bloodycivil wars engulfed Central America. Relying on extensive on-the-ground fact-finding, Americas Watch not only addressed perceived abuses by government forces but also appliedinternational humanitarian law to investigate and exposewar crimes by rebel groups. In addition to raising concerns in the affected countries, Americas Watch also examined the role played by foreign governments, particularly theUnited States government, in providing military and political support to abusive regimes.[12]
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.[13][14]
In August 2020, the Chinese governmentsanctioned HRW executive director Kenneth Roth—along 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 the2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The five organizations' leaders 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 theHong Kong National Security Law in June.[17] In October 2021,The New York Times reported 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.[18]
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 to 15 March 2023.[19]
Human Rights Watch publishes research reports on violations ofinternational 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 andgender discrimination,torture,military use of children,political corruption, abuses incriminal justice systems, and the legalization ofabortion.[11] HRW has documented and reported various violations of the laws of war andinternational humanitarian law, most recently in Yemen.[21]
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 playwrightLillian Hellman in funds set up in her name and that of her longtime companion, the novelistDashiell 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.[22]
Nabeel Rajab helping an old woman after Bahraini police attacked a peaceful protest in August 2010
Each year, Human Rights Watch presents theHuman 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.[23][24]
HRW's former executive director isKenneth Roth, who held the position from 1993 to 2022. Roth conducted investigations on abuses inPoland after martial law was declared 1981. He later focused onHaiti, which had just emerged from theDuvalier 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 escapingNazi Germany in 1938. He graduated fromYale Law School andBrown University.[27]
Human Rights watch andAmnesty International are both international non-governmental organizations headquartered in the North AtlanticAnglosphere that report on global human rights violations.[24] The major differences lie in the groups' structures 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, orsanctions to be levied against certain countries, such as calling for punitive sanctions against the top leaders inSudan who oversaw a killing campaign inDarfur. The group also called for human rights activists who had been detained in Sudan to be released.[31]
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.[32]
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.[33]
For the financial year ending June 2008, HRW reported receiving approximately US$44 million in public donations.[34] 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.[35]
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.[36]
FinancierGeorge Soros of theOpen 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."[37][38][39] The donation, the largest in HRW's history, increased its operating staff of 300 by 120 people.[40]
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.[41] TheBetter Business Bureau said HRW meets its standards for charity accountability.[42]
Human Rights Watch publishes reports on many different topics[56] and compiles an annualWorld Report presenting an overview of the worldwide state of human rights.[57] It has been published bySeven Stories Press since 2006; the current edition,World Report 2020, was released in January 2020, and covers events of 2019.[58][59]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 theRwandan genocide of 1994,[60] theDemocratic Republic of the Congo,[61] and the excessive breadth ofU.S. sex offender registries and their application to juveniles.[62][63]
In the summer of 2004, theRare Book and Manuscript Library atColumbia 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 theUniversity 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.[64] 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.[65]
HRW has been criticized for perceived bias by the national governments it has investigated for human rights abuses.[66][67][68] Some sources allege HRW is biased against Israel in its coverage of theIsrael–Palestine conflict.[9][69]
In 2020, HRW's board of directors discovered that HRW accepted a $470,000 donation from Saudi real estate magnateMohamed 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. AfterThe Intercept reported the donation, it was returned, and HRW issued a statement that accepting it was "deeply regrettable".[71]
^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
^Colum Lynch (September 12, 2010)."With $100 million Soros gift, Human Rights Watch looks to expand global reach".Washington Post.Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. RetrievedAugust 31, 2017.The donation, the largest single gift ever from the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist, is premised on the belief that U.S. leadership on human rights has been diminished by a decade of harsh policies in the war on terrorism.
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