Human Rights Watch (HRW) that boasts of defending human rights has been accused of receiving millions of dollars from various wealthy governments in the Middle East and the world, while it also faces numerous allegations that would certainly put activities of this organization into serious doubts. According to documents leaked by Project Raven, Qatar provided 300 million euros to French president Nicolas Sarkozy for “unreserved support” to Doha in its bid to host the 2022 World Cup, another leaked document now has put Human Rights Watch (HRW), which boasts of defending human rights throughout the world has been receiving millions of dollars from the Qatari government in exchange for its total silence on any case related to human rights violations.
According to the leaked document, on January 15, 2018, in a letter signed by Abdullah Bin Khalaf Hattab Al Ka’bi, director of Qatar’s Office of the Prime Minister and addressed to Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al-Emadi. Has described Qatar’s adaptational financial donation to Human Rights Watch.
Although the letter said, “With reference to the letter from his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs number W-Kh/2048/1/172, dated January 10, 2018 and relating to the abovementioned subject: We are informing your Excellency that His Excellency the Prime Minister has agreed to provide monetary support of 3 million euros to the organization Human Rights Watch, under the Humanitarian Aid section, and that it should be distributed with the knowledge of the Embassy of Qatar in London so that it can be aware of it and take the necessary [steps] with regard to it”, according to experts, this continuous fund is actually given to HRW as bribe to silence it from criticizing case of human rights violation in the country.
Meanwhile, according to The Atlantic, quoting an opinion editorial published in The Wall Street Journal, Human Right Watch officials went trolling for dollars in Saudi Arabia, and that the organization’s senior Middle East official, Sarah Leah Whitson, attempted to extract money from potential Saudi donors by bragging about the group’s “battles” with the “pro-Israel pressure groups”.
According to a May 13, 2014 report published in Consortium News, “Over the years, US “public diplomacy” has pulled reputable NGOs into the US propaganda orbit, sometimes via funding, sometimes by creating a revolving door to government jobs, as a letter from over 100 scholars suggests happened to Human Rights Watch. Followed by HRW’s response to the criticism”. In a letter to HRW, 131 esteemed individuals and world leaders wrote:
Human Rights Watch characterizes itself as “one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights”. However, HRW’s close ties to the US government call into question its independence.
For example, HRW’s Washington advocacy director, Tom Malinowski, previously served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and as a speechwriter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In 2013, he left HRW after being nominated as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor under John Kerry.
In her HRW.org biography, Board of Directors’ Vice Chair Susan Manilow describes herself as “a longtime friend to Bill Clinton” who is “highly involved” in his political party, and “has hosted dozens of events” for the Democratic National Committee.
Currently, HRW Americas’ advisory committee includes Myles Frechette, a former US ambassador to Colombia, and Michael Shifter, one-time Latin America director for the US government-financed National Endowment for Democracy. Miguel DÃaz, a Central Intelligence Agency analyst in the 1990s, sat on HRW Americas’ advisory committee from 2003–11. Now at the State Department, DÃaz serves as “an interlocutor between the intelligence community and non-government experts”.
In his capacity as an HRW advocacy director, Malinowski contended in 2009 that “under limited circumstances” there was “a legitimate place” for CIA renditions, the illegal practice of kidnapping and transferring terrorism suspects around the planet. Malinowski was quoted paraphrasing the US government’s argument that designing an alternative to sending suspects to “foreign dungeons to be tortured” was “going to take some time”.
HRW has not extended similar consideration to Venezuela. In a 2012 letter to President Chávez, HRW criticized the country’s candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council, alleging that Venezuela had fallen “far short of acceptable standards” and questioning its “ability to serve as a credible voice on human rights”. At no point has US membership in the same council merited censure from HRW, despite Washington’s secret, global assassination program, its preservation of renditions, and its illegal detention of individuals at Guantánamo Bay.
Likewise, in February 2013, HRW correctly described as “unlawful” Syria’s use of missiles in its civil war. However, HRW remained silent on the clear violation of international law constituted by the US threat of missile strikes on Syria in August.
The few examples above, limited to only recent history, might be forgiven as inconsistencies or oversights that could naturally occur in any large, busy organization. But HRW’s close relationships with the US government suffuse such instances with the appearance of a conflict of interest.
We therefore encourage you to institute immediate, concrete measures to strongly assert HRW’s independence. Closing what seems to be a revolving door would be a reasonable first step: Bar those who have crafted or executed US foreign policy from serving as HRW staff, advisors or board members. At a bare minimum, mandate lengthy “cooling-off” periods before and after any associate moves between HRW and that arm of the government.
Your largest donor, investor George Soros, argued in 2010 that “to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization”. We concur. We urge you to implement the aforementioned proposal to ensure a reputation for genuine independence.
The letter was signed by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Joel Andreas, Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University; Antony Anghie, Professor of Law, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah; John M. Archer, Professor of English, New York University; Asma Barlas, Professor of Politics, Director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, Ithaca College; Rosalyn Baxandall, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, State University of New York-Old Westbury; Marc Becker, Professor of Latin American History, Truman State University; Jason A. Beckett, Professor of Law, American University in Cairo; Angelica Bernal, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Keane Bhatt, activist, writer; William Blum, author, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II; Audrey Bomse, Co-chair, National Lawyers Guild Palestine Subcommittee; Patrick Bond, Professor of Development Studies, Director of the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban; Michael Brenner, Professor Emeritus of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh; Jean Bricmont, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Louvain; author, Humanitarian Imperialism; Renate Bridenthal, Professor Emerita of History, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Fernando Buen Abad DomÃnguez, Ph.D., author; Paul Buhle, Professor Emeritus of American Civilization, Brown University; David Camfield, Professor of Labour Studies, University of Manitoba; Leonard L. Cavise, Professor of Law, DePaul College of Law; Robert Chernomas, Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba; Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History, Salem State University; George Ciccariello-Maher, Professor of Political Science, Drexel University; Jeff Cohen, Associate Professor of Journalism, Ithaca College; Marjorie Cohn, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Lisa Duggan, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University; Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of History, Hofstra University; Matthew Evangelista, Professor of History and Political Science, Cornell University; Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law, Princeton University; Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Sociology, Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center; Mara Fridell, Professor of Sociology, University of Manitoba; Frances Geteles, Professor Emeritus, Department of Special Programs, CUNY City College; Lesley Gill, Professor of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University; Piero Gleijeses, Professor of American Foreign Policy and Latin American Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Jeff Goodwin, Professor of Sociology, New York University; Katherine Gordy, Professor of Political Science, San Francisco State University; Manu Goswami, Professor of History, New York University; Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University; Simon Granovsky-Larsen, Professor of Latin American Studies, Centennial College, Toronto; James N. Green, Professor of Latin American History, Brown University; A. Tom Grunfeld, Professor of History, SUNY Empire State College; Julie Guard, Professor of Labor Studies, University of Manitoba; Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy, Kingston University, author, Damming the Flood; John L. Hammond, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center; Beth Harris, Professor of Politics, Ithaca College; Martin Hart-Landsberg, Professor Economics, Lewis and Clark College; Chris Hedges, journalist, author, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning; Doug Henwood, journalist; author, Wall Street; Edward Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance, University of Pennsylvania; co-author, The Political Economy of Human Rights; Susan Heuman, Ph.D., independent scholar of history; Forrest Hylton, Lecturer in History & Literature, Harvard University; Matthew Frye Jacobson, Professor of American Studies and History, Yale University; Jennifer Jolly, Co-coordinator of Latin American Studies, Ithaca College; Rebecca E. Karl, Professor of History, New York University; J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies, Wesleyan University; Ari Kelman, Professor of History, University of California, Davis; Arang Keshavarzian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University; Laleh Khalili, Professor of Middle East Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Daniel Kovalik, Professor of International Human Rights, University of Pittsburgh School of Law; Rob Kroes, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, University of Amsterdam; Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University; Deborah T. Levenson, Professor of History, Boston College; David Ludden, Professor of History, New York University; Catherine Lutz, Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, Brown University; Arthur MacEwan, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts-Boston; Viviana MacManus, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Chase Madar, civil rights attorney; author, The Passion of [Chelsea] Manning; Alfred W. McCoy, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Teresa Meade, Professor of History, Union College; Thomas Murphy, Professor of History and Government, University of Maryland, University College Europe; Allan Nairn, independent investigative journalist; Usha Natarajan, Professor of International Law, American University in Cairo; Diane M. Nelson, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University; Joseph Nevins, Professor of Geography, Vassar College; Mary Nolan, Professor of History, New York University; Anthony O’Brien, Professor Emeritus of English, Queens College, CUNY; Paul O’Connell, Reader in Law, School of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Christian Parenti, Professor of Sustainable Development, School for International Training Graduate Institute; David Peterson, independent writer and researcher; Adrienne Pine, Professor of Anthropology, American University; Claire Potter, Professor of History, The New School; Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of Technology; Pablo Pozzi, Professor of History, Universidad de Buenos Aires; Gyan Prakash, Professor of History, Princeton University; Vijay Prashad, Edward Said Chair of American Studies, American University of Beirut; Peter Ranis, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center; Michael Ratner, human rights attorney, author, The Prosecution of Donald Rumsfeld; Sanjay Reddy, Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research; Adolph Reed, Jr., Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania; Nazih Richani, Director of Latin American Studies, Kean University; Moss Roberts, Professor of Chinese, New York University; Corey Robin, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center; William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Patricia Rodriguez, Professor of Politics, Ithaca College; Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University; Elizabeth Sanders, Professor of Government, Cornell University; Dean Saranillio, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University; T.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus of Music, University of Iowa; Ian J. Seda-Irizarry, Professor of Political Economy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Denise A. Segura, Professor of Sociology; Chair, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara; Mark Selden, Senior Research Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University; Falguni A. Sheth, Professor of Philosophy and Political Theory, Hampshire College; Naoko Shibusawa, Professor of History, Brown University; Dina M. Siddiqi, Professor of Anthropology, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Francisco Sierra Caballero, Director of the Center for Communication, Politics and Social Change, University of Seville; Brad Simpson, Professor of History, University of Connecticut; Nikhil Pal Singh, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History, New York University; Leslie Sklair, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, London School of Economics; Norman Solomon, author, War Made Easy; Judy Somberg, Chair, National Lawyers Guild Task Force on the Americas; Jeb Sprague, author, Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti; Oliver Stone, filmmaker; co-author, The Untold History of the United States; Steve Striffler, Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Latin American Studies, University of New Orleans; Sinclair Thomson, Professor of History, New York University; Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History and Latin American Studies, Pomona College; James S. Uleman, Professor of Psychology, New York University; Alejandro Velasco, Professor of History, New York University; Robert Vitalis, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania; Hans Christof von Sponeck, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General (1998-2000); Hilbourne Watson, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, Bucknell University; Barbara Weinstein, Professor of History, New York University; Mark Weisbrot, Ph.D., Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research; Kirsten Weld, Professor of History, Harvard University; Gregory Wilpert, Ph.D, author, Changing Venezuela by Taking Power; John Womack, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Latin American History and Economics, Harvard University; Michael Yates, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown; Kevin Young, Ph.D., Latin American History, State University of New York-Stony Brook; Marilyn B. Young, Professor of History, New York University; Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar, Professor of History; Co-Director, South Asian Studies, Brown University; and Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies, University of San Francisco.
There are more allegations against Human Rights Watch.
According to The Intercept, Human Rights Watch accepted a sizable donation from a Saudi billionaire shortly after its researchers documented labor abuses at one of the man’s companies, a potential violation of the rights group’s own fundraising guidance. After The Intercept began investigating the donation, the rights group published a statement on its website saying that accepting the funding was a “deeply regrettable decision” that “stood in stark contrast to our core values and our longstanding commitment to LGBT rights as an integral part of human rights”.
In an article titled ‘Who is watching the human rights watchers’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation said:
There was a time when the reports and campaigns run by influential organizations promoting human rights bore the promise — or at least, the hope — of making the world a better place. At the height of the Cold War, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International were founded by altruists motivated by universal moral principles, the need for accurate documentation, and political independence. Recently, however, the activities of these and similar organizations are less trusted and their agendas are increasingly being questioned. Ongoing human rights catastrophes in Syria, Venezuela, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran reflect their limited influence.
Despite their diminishing returns, the budgets of these groups have grown steadily — together, human rights organizations raise several billions of dollars annually. Relying on reputations established many years ago, human rights now constitutes a major industry, with organizations such as HRW and Amnesty receiving and spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Fund-raising, it seems, is untethered to particular outcomes, and runs the risk of becoming an end in itself, thereby distorting their priorities and skewing their agendas.
It may be mentioned here that Human Rights Watch in particular has been regularly issuing statement, majority of which went in favor of ultra-Islamist and jihadist forces in Bangladesh including war criminals. Mystery behind such over-enthusiasm of HRW in defending extremely controversial entities are yet to be exposed.
