This Monday, January 28, NGO Monitor published a report outlining Ford Foundation funding. The report demonstrates that, despite post-Durban policies against the funding of radical NGOs, the Ford Foundation has continued funding groups who exploit human rights rhetoric.
Tuesday, January 29, NGO Monitor published an analysis of Human Rights Watch response to the crisis in […]

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Kenneth Roth, who runs HRW, asks: Is Israel’s Blockade of Gaza the Right Way to Respond to Palestinian Rocket Attacks?
Roth and HRW ask whether Israel’s response to the hundreds of Hamas rocket attacks is “the right way”. Roth runs a human rights organization, and has no experience or specialized knowledge in security and anti-terror […]

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In our post on Reports Without Borders condemnation of the Hamas sniper who fired at the media, we touched on a recent case of Hamas propaganda in relation to the power situation in Gaza. As Jerusalem Post reported “On at least two occasions this week, Hamas staged scenes of darkness”.
This reminds us of another […]

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In this post, we discuss the question of ethics for those who take jobs with human rights organizations. This will be the first of a series of posts on this topic that we will cover in the coming weeks. If you are an employee of an NGO and would like to contribute to the discussion […]

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On September 24th, San Francisco Chronicle published an article, ‘Human Rights Watch – Scrutinizing War from Both Sides’, in which HRW’s Executive Director Ken Roth boldly claims that ‘in a war, we will always report both sides’.  He even uses HRW’s investigations of the 2006 Second Lebanon War as a prime […]

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The Israeli government, in a September 19, 2007 statement determined that since Hamas has turned Gaza into a “hostile territory” from which Israeli citizens are shelled with rockets on an almost daily basis, it “bears the responsibility” for Israel’s “additional sanctions.” This decision’s practical and legal ramifications are unclear: […]

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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 […]

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In another example of broadening its focus in the Middle East, HRW released a report, “The Human Cost: The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan,” criticizing Afghani insurgent groups for failing to differentiate between “civilians and combatants.” The report calls on Afghan government to develop “better rules of engagement’” to minimize […]

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In an example of fulfilling the mandate to promote universal human rights, several NGOs who place disproportionate focus on Israel have issued statements regarding the situation in Darfur. On April 16, 2007, Oxfam issued a press release, launching a £5 million appeal for “’world’s greatest humanitarian crisis’, to help people in Chad and Darfur.” […]

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A new UN Watch Report, “Dawn of New Era?”, analyzes the performance of the UN HRC in its first year. UN Watch concludes that the new council has largely been a failure and in some instances even worse than before. According to the report, the body has a “brazen alliance” of repressive […]

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