Human Rights Watch Goes to Saudi Arabia

[alexz]

BY DAVID BERNSTEIN
A delegation from Human Rights Watch was recently in Saudi Arabia. To investigate the mistreatment of women under Saudi Law? To campaign for the rights of homo******s, subject to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia? To protest the lack of religious freedom in the Saudi Kingdom? To issue a report on Saudi political prisoners?

No, no, no, and no. The delegation arrived to raise money from wealthy Saudis by highlighting HRW's demonization of Israel. An HRW spokesperson, Sarah Leah Whitson, highlighted HRW's battles with "pro-Israel pressure groups in the US, the European Union and the United Nations." (Was Ms. Whitson required to wear a burkha, or are exceptions made for visiting anti-Israel "human rights" activists"? Driving a car, no doubt, was out of the question.)

Apparently, Ms. Whitson found no time to criticize Saudi Arabia's abysmal human rights record. But never fear, HRW "recently called on the Kingdom to do more to protect the human rights of domestic workers.

There is nothing wrong with a human rights organization worrying about maltreatment of domestic workers. But there is something wrong when a human rights organization goes to one of the worst countries in the world for human rights to raise money to wage lawfare against Israel, and says not a word during the trip about the status of human rights in that country. In fact, it's a virtual certainty that everyone in Whitson's audience employs domestic servants, giving her a perfect, untaken opportunity to boast about HRW's work in improving the servants' status. But Whitson wasn't raising money for human rights, she was raising money for HRW's propaganda campaign against Israel.

Someone who claims to have worked for HRW wrote to me, "I can tell you that the people on the research and policy side of the organization have little, if any, contacts with people on the donor side." If that's true, apparently this is yet another exception HRW makes for Israel: Ms. Whitson, who gave the presentation to potential Saudi donors, is director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa Division.

Also, as a Nathan Wagner comments at Opinio Juris: "Surely there is a moral difference between raising funds in free nations through appeals to ideals of universal human rights and raising money in repressive nations through appeals highlighting pressure brought against their enemies. [Moreover], the former type of fundraising does not imperil the organization's mission, but fundraising Bernstein highlights does, since any significant reliance on such funds will necessarily mute criticism of the repressive government."

Finally, some would defend HRW by pointing it that it has criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record rather severely in the past. The point of my post, though, is not that HRW is pro-Saudi, but that it is maniacally anti-Israel. The most recent manifestation is that its officers see nothing unseemly about raising funds among the elite of one of the most totalitarian nations on earth, with a pitch about how the money is needed to fight "pro-Israel forces," without the felt need to discuss any of the Saudis' manifold human rights violations, and without apparent concern that becoming dependent on funds emanating from a brutal dictatorship leaves you vulnerable to that brutal dictatorship later cutting off the flow of funds, if you don't "behave."

Mr. Bernstein is a professor of law at George Mason University and the author of "You Can't Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Anti-Discrimination Laws." This article first appeared on the Volokh Conspiracy web site.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124528343805525561.html

[AZZenny]

This doesn't really surprise me, but it is nice evidence -- now, if only it would matter. Awhile ago I heard some CT folks discussing how one new way around some money-laundering laws for terror groups and funders was to work through, with, and eventually to take over respected non-Islamic NGOs -- ranging from environmental to human rights and public health groups. The donation process allows a significant degree of flexibility, and channeling the message of supposedly neutral organizations has a profound PR halo effect.

I had assumed HRW and AI were fait accompli, by that model.

[Panchito12]

HRW must be really short of funds and in need of attention.

[RIPTIDE]

HRW must be really short of funds and in need of attention.
Well SA is the land where you have be 50 and marry a 8 yr old. :bash: And no... I'm not making that up. ;)

[3rdMillhouse]

Well SA is the land where you have be 50 and marry a 8 yr old. :bash: And no... I'm not making that up. ;)

Same land where, if a you're a woman and you get raped, then you get stoned to death; that is if you fail to provide some 4 witnesses to convict the rapist. Yay for Saudi Arabia, the time travelling kingdom, currently in 300 BC.

[Russianlynxy]

hmm... I thought human rights dont apply to countries with lots of oil and those who are allied of the west. lol

[Elbs]

HRW sees what it wants to see, or rather, what its donors want it to see.

[Russianlynxy]

^^ please teach me to be witty like you!!

I was joking mate ;)

[Elbs]

I was joking mate ;)

sorrry.
drunk :)

[AZZenny]

A group of Soviet dissidents gathered in a Moscow apartment nearly 35 years ago and courageously formed the Moscow Helsinki group, with the aim of monitoring how the Soviet Union was living up to the human rights component of the 1975 Helsinki Accords ...

One of those involved was Natan Sharansky. Using this group as a model, Helsinki Watch, was established soon after, also as a way to monitor Soviet compliance. In the intervening 31 years, Helsinki Watch has morphed into Human Rights Watch (HRW), a mammoth human rights NGO that went to Saudi Arabia in May and used its work castigating Israel as a way to solicit funds in one of the world's worst human rights violators.

That transformation, at least for Sharansky, is simply too much.

"Here is an organization created by the goodwill of the free world to fight violations of human rights, which has become a tool in the hands of dictatorial regimes to fight against democracies," he said this week.

"It is time to call a spade a spade. The real activity of this organization today is a far cry from what it was set up 30 years ago to do: throw light in dark places where there is really no other way to find out what is happening regarding human rights."

Calling a spade a spade is what Bar-Ilan University political science professor Gerald Steinberg, executive director of NGO Monitor, has been trying to do for years, monitoring the work and methodology of HRW and other human rights organizations, issuing reports pointing out faulty methodology and conflicts of interest.

"We are going to dedicate time and manpower to combating these groups; we are not going to be sitting ducks in a pond for the human rights groups to shoot at us with impunity," said Ron Dermer, director of policy planning in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. "We will insist that they defend their record and their values. When I see a human rights organization try to raise money in Saudi Arabia, it speaks to the collapse of the human rights community."

But Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division said... "It might be that what is disappointing Mr. Sharansky and others is that we don't rank a government as to who is worse and better because we think that each government has to stand by its own record according to the standard of international law," she said.

She said Steinberg, Sharansky and other HRW critics "overplay" the assertion that the organization is giving other countries in the Middle East a pass, while focusing almost obsessively on Israel. "They just don't like it when we also point the finger at their misconduct." (She then goes on to defend wearing the Burkha in France as a human right.)

Whitson also disputes assertions that one of the reasons the organization focuses on Israel is because it can report in Israel, something it cannot do easily in Saudi Arabia or Syria.

"This is a blanket accusation that groans, 'Your witnesses are Palestinians, therefore they must all be lying,'" Whitson said, saying the methodology HRW uses here is the same methodology it uses all over the world. "Because the Gerald Steinbergs of this world, and I guess now the Sharanskys of this world, love to give blanket denials, love to give blanket dismissals."

According to Steinberg, who is due to publish an 80-page monograph looking at HRW in the near future, it is disingenuous for Whitson to talk - as she does - of intensive HRW work in other Middle East countries, since the attention Israel gets is way out of proportion to that given those countries, and since much of the work in countries like Saudi Arabia and Syria only really began after 2006 because some of the organization's key donors earmarked their funds for reporting there.

"Human Rights Watch is an organization with a budget of $40 million a year ...and what they are trying to tell you is that they are above criticism," he said.


"we think that each government has to stand by its own record"

I'm sorry to be so dense, but wtf does that mean? If the Saudis say 'Here is our record: we imprison and flog rape victims for fornication, torture prisoners, seize visitors' passports so we control their ability to leave, imprison people for wearing a cross or discussing Christian prayer, flog teachers for saying Jews and Christians deserve respect, don't let women drive or travel alone and would rather schoolgirls burn to death than be seen with their hair and faces uncovered -- that's our record and we stand proudly by it' -- then HRW is cool with it?!

[Ought Six]

Maybe next HRW can go to North Korea and get a donation from Dear Leader to help raise awareness of America's mistreatment of the homeless. :|

[RIPTIDE]

"we think that each government has to stand by its own record"

I'm sorry to be so dense, but wtf does that mean? If the Saudis say 'Here is our record: we imprison and flog rape victims for fornication, torture prisoners, seize visitors' passports so we control their ability to leave, imprison people for wearing a cross or discussing Christian prayer, flog teachers for saying Jews and Christians deserve respect, don't let women drive or travel alone and would rather schoolgirls burn to death than be seen with their hair and faces uncovered -- that's our record and we stand proudly by it' -- then HRW is cool with it?!
Links please.

[Dercius]

Im tired of HRW and all the other leftist lackeys, who dont dare to say a word about what really goes on inside the muslim countries. Instead of that, they critizise democracies on the west because they know that our legal system protects them. The moment they grow some balls, I will support them, but I think its a lost cause

[3rdMillhouse]

Links please.

Whaddya mean with "links please"? Where did you spend the last decade? On Alpha Centauri? It's common knowledge that this is how Saudi Arabia "rolls". They're laws and culture are as primitive as the ones found in Somalia, Pakistan and other ****-holes around the globe.

[AZZenny]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm

http://digg.com/world_news/Saudi_Gang_Rape_VICTIM_Sentenced_to_90_Lashes

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?art=4629&l=en

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_05062saudi.shtml

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-women6jun06,0,5491632,full.story?coll=la-home-center

[Russianlynxy]

Whaddya mean with "links please"? Where did you spend the last decade? On Alpha Centauri? It's common knowledge that this is how Saudi Arabia "rolls". They're laws and culture are as primitive as the ones found in Somalia, Pakistan and other ****-holes around the globe.

Worse. Wahabism is actually a Saudi brand of Islam. It was one of the only Arab countries that was willing to and could afford to create a plethora of elite extremist/terrorist educational institutions in the world. It is, to this day, the hub for the highest elite in global terrorism. This country, like Iran, has religious police, that make sure everything down to the most trivial is followed by the most conservative Islamist traditions (i.e. they make sure women are not driving, and whip them on the ankles, if any skin is showing.) Not to mention more serious offenses.

Funny thing is the Saudi Royal family is one of the most valued western allies. No one said a thing when they sent their hotheads to places like Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, etc..

wonder why now, this is most puzzling.

[RIPTIDE]

Whaddya mean with "links please"? Where did you spend the last decade? On Alpha Centauri? It's common knowledge that this is how Saudi Arabia "rolls". They're laws and culture are as primitive as the ones found in Somalia, Pakistan and other ****-holes around the globe.
He had a quote in his post. I wanted to read a bit more from the source. THAT "Whaddya mean". :roll:

[AZZenny]

You wanted the article, then? I thought you wanted evidence the Saudis abuse women, non-Muslims, and tolerant citizens.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443832672&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Ayub -al -Somal]

A jew {bernstein} complaining about an organization founded by jews{sharansky &co} only because they've said bad things about Isreal ...and dared asking their "enemies" for some money .

This is an "infidel " story , it doesn't make any sense to me .
Next time instead of complaining about these people getting their money from the saudis , or any other arabs , write a check to this organization or shut the hell up !!
A true hater is the guy who will NOT give you anything but will NOT let anyone else help you out also .lol

[RoyB]

So you see nothing wrong with a human rights organization raising money to fund a law suit in one of the most human rights violating countries in the world?
Don't you think its a bit outrageous? not to mention the conflict of interests..

[Ayub -al -Somal]

These people's problem is either with HRW or with SA , but they will never tell you for sure rofl

[RIPTIDE]

You wanted the article, then? I thought you wanted evidence the Saudis abuse women, non-Muslims, and tolerant citizens.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443832672&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Yes I wanted the article... thanks. Its interesting to see its an Israeli article.

[AZZenny]

Well, since HRW told Saudi donors the money would go for anti-Israel work, makes sense it would be an Israeli article. No one else much cares.

I don't think donors to this kind of NGO should be able to dedicate money to investigating any one country -- whether Israel or KSA or Egypt.

HRW's website says all the donors are private citizens, and that it tried to balance the common Arab perception that it is SOFT on Israel (!) [due to getting mostly Western funding] by discussing its actions against Israel in some detail.

[TheEvian100]

I think my avatar pic says pretty how I feel about HRW. Useless idiots. :bash:

[RoyB]

These people's problem is either with HRW or with SA , but they will never tell you for sure rofl
I asked you, don't see a problem?

Yes I wanted the article... thanks. Its interesting to see its an Israeli article.
What did you think?
Besides, all the financing by Saudi's was confirmed by HRW.

[teoretikern]

Does anybody have books to recommend about the Israel-Arab conflict? I have A History of Israel (http://www.amazon.com/History-Israel-Rise-Zionism-Time/dp/0375711325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248159128&sr=8-1) by Howard Sachar, Israel - a History (http://www.amazon.com/Israel-History-Martin-Gilbert/dp/0688123635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248159282&sr=1-1) by Martin Gilbert, and Arafat's War (http://www.amazon.com/Arafats-War-Battle-Israeli-Conquest/dp/0802141587/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248159235&sr=1-5) by Efraim Karsh.

[Zarak]

The current Saudi government may be backwards and corrupt, but its certainly better than the alternative.