Advancing Human Rights, Beyond Israel
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Human rights march
Photo Credit: Uri Lenz/ Flash90
Remember Robert Bernstein? He founded Human Rights Watch and remained at the helm for 20 years until 2009 when he wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times titled ‘Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast’ in which he accused it of “issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.”
He has now started a new organization called Advancing Human Rights. Irwin Cotler and David Keyes are on the Board of Directors.
Its mission statement reads in part:
[..]
We therefore believe that our time is best spent focusing on authoritarian countries without free speech or corrective mechanisms.
To achieve our goals, AHR will utilize the Internet to support freedom advocates and give them a platform to exchange ideas. This arm of AHR is called CyberDissidents.org and it is already at work engaging democratic dissidents in autocratic countries.
The qualifications and methodology human rights organizations have used in judging civilian death in war is highly questionable. AHR will investigate current procedures and offer new recommendations for an improved understanding of the interplay between war and human rights and the treatment of international humanitarian law by human rights groups. We will also monitor the work of human rights organizations to encourage accountability, fairness and transparency.
This is in stark contrast to HRW which admittedly goes after western countries and in particular, Israel.
It is a good start in restoring respectability to the cause of Human Rights.
Originally published at http://www.israpundit.com/archives/43758
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