Human Rights Watch: Israel’s War with Hezbollah Merits More Scrutiny than “Sexual Atrocities Extending ‘Far Beyond Rape’”?
HRW has done little reporting in real time on unspeakable abuses of human rights in several African countries. One notable example is the Central African Republic (CAR) - a crisis so vicious and bloody, that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has initiated proceedings. The ICC notes that “sexual violence appears to have been a central feature” of the 2002-2003 conflict. HRW issued a statement in May 2007 praising the ICC for finally tackling these abuses. Incredibly, however, HRW itself issued no statements on these atrocities as they were taking place. In fact, HRW’s only publication addressing the CAR conflict, prior to May 2007, was published in 2001. Why did HRW at the time remain silent on these massive human rights abuses? Another horrific crisis is underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After a July 2007 visit, the UN’s Special Investigator for Violence Against Women reports that “sexual atrocities . . . extending ‘far beyond rape’ and include sexual slavery, forced incest and cannibalism” are rampant in the country’s South Kivu province and are the “worst [the investigator] has ever seen.” While HRW in the past has commented on the violent conflict in the DRC, the last HRW report specifically addressing sexual crimes was published in March 2005 based on investigations in 2003-2004. Indeed, aside from a couple of press releases, HRW has issued no significant publications in 2007 on the DRC conflict that has killed almost 4 million people since 1998.
In contrast to HRW’s neglect of these horrendous sexual crimes, during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, HRW issued publications on an almost daily basis that mostly condemned Israeli responses to Hezbollah rocket fire on Israeli civilians. And from 2000-2007, HRW has published more than 200 reports, statements, press releases, and opeds again mostly condemning Israel for exercising its right to self-defense against Palestinian suicide bombings, shootings, rocket attacks, and kidnappings; accusing Israel of “war crimes” and other international law violations; and calling for UN and international inquiries.
Who at HRW is deciding that obsessive reporting on Israeli responses to Hezbollah and Palestinian terror is more important than exposing mass gang rapes, forced incest, and cannibalism in Africa?
