Human Rights Watch - Essay Example

Human Rights Watch Introduction The history of Human Rights Watch is rich and complex. As Neier points out its foundation can be seen in the earliest development in human rights in Europe and Asia. The development of human rights can be associated with the development of the state. Before the development of the nation and state, most communities used to live small groups and the issue of human rights was never a big issue. Any differences and disagreements would be solved by local council of elders. As the states grew, it was necessary for there to be better ways to manage the society and to have the place of each individual well defined in the society. The idea of human rights was developed and the rights and responsibilities of each individual were developed. As people gave their will over to governments, it became necessary for the government to have various responsibilities to protect the individual. This is how the rights of the individual were developed (Moehler 2008). In Asia, the code of Hammurabi is seen to be the earliest codification of human rights. It defined the rights and responsibilities of each individual. The code which included over two hundred clauses, also included such as issues as consumer protection in the form of outlining the responsibilities of builders to their customers. For instance, if a builder built a home for a customer and the home collapsed on the owner in a specific period of time, the builder would be sentenced to death. In Europe, the dawn of human rights can be seen as having started with the signing of the Magna Carter in the year. This was provoked by the acts of King John which led to many people, including the church and other sources of authorities being unhappy with the way King John of England was trying to restructure the power structure and to give himself much power. The King was forced to sing the Magna Carter which among other things described some of the earliest codifications of human rights in Europe. These rights included the right of the church to operate without manipulation from the government and also some individual rights which must be protected by the state. Historical background of the growth of Human Rights Watch (HRW) The Human Rights Watch was founded in 1978 under the name of Helsinki Watch. Its scope of activities back then was narrowed mainly to watching the compliance of Russia to the Helsinki Accords. The idea was to watch, name and shame the abuse of power by governments with regard to human rights. Later, Americas Watch was founded in 1981 as a way to watch human rights violation in America with the rise of civil wars in the Central America region (Power 2007). It depended a lot in on-the-ground fats-finding and evidence collection. It looked at perceived government abuse of military forces. The Second World War also had a great contribution to the development and growth of the Human Rights watch. After the Second World War, the four major powers at the time realized the need to have a better way to relate and solve issues. It became clear that there was a need to ensure that people of different nations were living together in a global world in harmony. The United Nations Charter was formed to oversee human rights issues not only in the western region of the globe but also around the world. Legal background There are many international laws that apply to the Human Rights Watch and that give it the mandate of a watchdog for human rights around the world. These include the United Nations charter and the Geneva declaration. United Nations Charter is one f the legal basis of the HRW in that it binds all member states to recognize and uphold the human rights of individual people and to respect them. In the preamble of this charter, the member states are required to reaffirm the fundamental human rights with regard to equality of both genders and other aspects such as cultural, social and racial basis. Article 1(3) also emphasizes the need for nations to work together in conjunction in order to achieve international cooperation in dealing with economic, social and cultural human rights issues. Other international laws such as the Geneva Convention have been a good foundation for human rights groups such as the HRW and other groups such as Amnesty International. The importance of such legal platforms such as the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Convention is that they provide a better international platform for dealing with human rights in a global scale. With the world becoming more globalised, dealing with human rights should not be regionalized and the need to have a global way to look at the issues and enforce the institutionalization of the human rights is necessary (Ishay 2008). Human Rights Watch has to depend on these legal bases in order to compel governments even in the furthest location around the world. Although the Human Rights Watch is headquartered in the USA, New York, it can be able to use these legal bases to act as a watchdog for human rights not only in the USA but also in other parts of the globe. This makes it easier for the organization to be able to look at the issues and to ensure there are more appropriate ways to look at the issues that relate with the human rights. Such legal structures have also made it possible for arrests to be made even in foreign jurisdiction. A good example is the various arrests of violators of human rights such as the former president of the Liberia, Charles Taylor. Prior to such laws and legal platforms, organizations such as Human Rights Watch would find it hard to enforce laws regarding human rights outside of the USA. However, with these platforms in place, it is easier for them to be able to go beyond borders and jurisdictions and to enforce the laws regarding human rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is also another important legal document that has several articles that compels nations around the world to be liable to any injustices committed against humans. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) also provides a legal basis for the HRW. Activities of the Human Rights Watch The Human Rights Watch has a number of activities that it carries out in order to fulfill its mandate to make sure that human rights are respected and looked at in a serious way. The first kind of activity is to carry out research in human rights issues around the world. Headquartered in USA, New York, and having offices ad number of countries around the world, the Human Rights Watch carries out human rights research and delivers annual reports. Every year the Human Rights Watch carries out comprehensive research on human rights issues in all the nations around the world. The reports from the research carried are delivered annually and they are published on the Human Rights Watch website by country. This research is able to identify which countries are the best in terms of human rights protection and which are the worst. The Human Rights Watch collects data on the ground from all the nations around the world. The data looks at different factors with regard to human rights issues and Human Rights Watch seeks to analyze the data with regard to various aspects of human rights such as gender equality, children rights, income inequality and any themes within the human rights spectrum. This data is provided to governments and other organizations that matter and the hope is that this can help in ensuring that the promotion of such rights is achieved through this research and publications. The reports published by the HRW are many and varied and include but not limited to gender discrimination, discrimination based on sexual orientation, torture in criminal justice processes, military abuse, corruption in public and sometimes private sectors, child abuse and many others. The Human Rights Watch also gives both moral and financial supports to writers around the world who are facing difficulties especially from government spheres for their human rights work. Human Rights Watch realizes that the fight against human rights violation is a fight that must be fought by many people and not just one organization such as Human Rights Watch. In this regard, its activities implied supporting other human rights champions who are in the first line in fighting for human rights around the world. By supporting this people, it becomes easier for the Human Rights Watch to be able to have a better chance to fulfill its mandate of fighting for human rights around the world. The financing for such individuals and organizations is done in a transparent way and is done from the funds that are donated to the Human Rights Watch by many donors and supporters. Human Rights Watch works with other organizations that are in the war against human rights and so cooperates with them in the fight against the abuse of human rights. Other activities for the Human Rights Watch include presenting the Human Rights Defenders Award to individual activists who show competency and passion for fighting against human rights violation. In doing this, it becomes easier for the Human Rights Watch to be able to continue advancing the fight for human rights. This promotes the fight against human rights violations by not only supporting but encouraging other human rights champions who may not necessarily be affiliated to the Human Rights Watch. The organization realizes that human right champions, especially those working as individual are also likely to be at risk of being denied human rights. This is especially so in the countries where human rights violations are the highest and the people who voice their dissatisfaction against these actions by the government are likely to be harassed by ways of arrests, imprisonment without due process of law and even executions. In light of this, the Human Rights Watch continues to support these people through not only giving them financing, but also giving them support to protect them from abuse and persecution and also by giving them awards to not only encourage them but to give them a voice. When an activist receives the Human Rights Defenders Award from the Human Rights Watch, their profile in the global arena is likely to increase and thus give them some immunity against harassment by the government for the countries in which they live and carry out their human rights violation fights activities. Roles of the Human Rights Watch Promote human rights on a global scale The major and primary role of the Human Rights Watch is to support the fight against the human rights violations around the world. This, it achieves through the use of the many activities as described in the above section on the activities of the Human Rights Watch. It works with other smaller organizations and individuals to support and promote human rights around the world. Its role as a human rights watchdog comes in various forms. First, is to continue pushing for the awareness of human rights issues around the world. It acts as the voice in a global arena, and supports the individual and smaller organizations in regional and national arenas to continue the promotion of human rights. It also does this by coming up with ideas that can help to improve the environment that support the upholding of human rights in the global arena. It also creates awareness and sensitiveness to issues of the human rights. The Human Rights Watch realizes that the most important tool or weapon to fight human rights violations is creating awareness. This awareness is done in twofold. First is to inform and make aware human rights violations victims to know their rights and that they also have a right to fight for the protection of their right by agencies such as governments. This goes a long way with regard to the support and promotion of human rights. The second way in which this awareness is done is by nudging the conscious of those who are in a situation where they can violate human rights and make sure that they are aware and conscious about human rights issues. These agencies include governments, law enforcement organizations such as the police and other agencies such as the FBI, the CIA and the military. List and shame human rights violators The other role of the Human Rights Watch is to list and shame those are involved in violation of human rights violations. For instance, the Human Rights Watch lists the law enforcement organizations that are the worst and the bet I human rights protection. It monitors and compares police forces around the world in different countries to see who the best are or the worst in adhering human rights values with regard to the way they handle their business of law enforcement. Therefore, it is able to know which law enforcement authorities are able to adhere to the best human rights values. It is also able to list and hopefully shame those who are the worst. For instance, it can list the police forces that are involved in poor human rights activities such as extra-judicial executions, arrest and detainment without due process of law and other issues. In playing this role of listing and shaming the authorities, the Human Rights Watch hopes to achieve progress in the fight against the violation of human rights. Collect and provide evidence The Human Rights Watch also provides evidence that can be used as basis for arrest and prosecution of human rights violation. As has been discussed, the Human Rights Watch carries out comprehensive research which includes facts-finding and evidence collection in cases where human rights have been violated. This mostly includes cases that involve war whether it is war between nations or it is civil wars such as in Middle East and Africa where civil wars are prevalent. The evidence that the Human Rights Watch collects can and is actually used in the prosecution of criminals who violate human rights can be seen in past human rights issues associated with civil wars in Africa. Although the evidence in most cases ends up not being used, is still is good for use in prosecution especially in the international courts of justice such as the International Criminal Court where suspects of human rights violation are arraigned in court for crimes against humanity. Evidence collected from places like Sierra Leone, the Congo and Liberia and even Kenya by the Human Rights Watch has been in the past been useful in use in the international courts of justice and in some cases led to arrest and of the offenders. Make recommendations The Human Rights Watch also has a role to make recommendations on how human rights can be improved in some regions in the world. Based in its research and studies, the Human Rights Watch is able to come up with a way to identify the underlying issues that affect human rights around the world. As a result, it is able to come with ways to improve the ways in which the human rights around the world can be improved. For instance, it has become clear in the past that human rights and economic rights are the two sides of the same coin. In this regard, the best way to improve the conditions of human rights would be to ensure that the vulnerable individuals in society are economically empowered in order for them to be protected from potential human rights violation against them (Moehler 2008). The Human Rights Watch is able to make such recommendations and to also try and follow up to ensure that they are being pursued by the relevant authorities. Conclusion The Human Rights Watch has been hailed by some as one of the most important organizations in a modern civil world where it is necessary for human rights to be protected. It recognizes that it is a big shame that in a time like this, in the 21st century, there are still so many human rights violations that are still within the global community. However, it is not everyone who have the same sentiments about the Human Rights Watch and some have regarded it with negative attitude not argue that is has failed to deliver. This is especially with regard to the fact that it has been in operation for over three decades now and there are still so many issues of human rights violation, even in its very own backyard where in the USA there are still many human rights violations that manifest themselves in the form of gender violence, violence against people with different sexual orientations and also the use of excessive use of torture and even lack of due process in the law enforcement authorities such as FBI and CIA. Regardless of the sentiments, it is clear that the Human Rights Watch has a proper vision for the development of human rights. Bibliography Ishay, Micheline. The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2008. Moehler, Devra. Distrusting Democrats: Outcomes of Participatory Constitution Making. New York, NY: University of Michigan Press, 2008. Neier, Aryeh. The International Human Rights Movement: A History: A History. Boston, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. Power, Jonathan. Conundrums of Humanity: The Quest for Global Justice. New York, NY: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007. Read More