The Impact of International Non-government Organizations - Term Paper Example

The paper “The Impact of International Non-Governmental Organizations - Effectiveness of Amnesty International" is a spectacular example of a term paper on social science. There are many international nongovernment organizations that have created an impact on our world. Such organizations are noted for being at the forefront of the cause that they champion and oftentimes make a difference when it comes to the end of a particularly negative action occurring in a specific part of the world.

This paper serves to look into the history, character, and impact of one of these notable international non-government organizations, Amnesty International. Amnesty International is one of the most globally well-known organizations names when it comes to defending human rights. At the core of this group are over 3 million international members representing over 150 countries (Amnesty.org, 2014) whose focus remains steadfast when it comes to the issue of advocating for human rights in countries where there are grave abuses due to crime, slavery, or wartime conflict.

The organization bases its actions upon the rights of every human being as supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Bill of Rights as defined by international human rights standards. The organization has successfully executed its task because they have remained independent of government, ideology, economic interest, or religion. Neither do they accept government funding? Their funds are based solely on donations and the financial ability of their members. Being in existence for more than 50 years (Amnesty.org, 2014), the organization recognizes that in order to remain relevant and empowered to help those whose rights are being abused, they need to evolve and adapt to the changes happening in the world.

The organization is setting up regional offices in countries of great concern to them. These offices include regional hubs of research, campaigns, and communications (Amnesty.org, 2014) in order to better serve the mission objectives of the organization and the interests of the people in the country. Now, being an international non-government organization that survives solely on the financial support of donations by people who share their passion for the defense of human rights, one may think that Amnesty International cannot make much of an impact upon the world.

Amazingly, Amnesty International has managed to make a tremendous difference in the world using only their available funds. They can do this because they are passionate about what they believe in. Their passion gets the job done. Their main objective is to promote and defend human rights. This is done through the application of various systems and methodologies that are meant to help the organization become accountable for the victims of human rights violations and its defenders as well. (Amnesty.org, 2014) The reason that the organization requires this sort of check and balance is that they need to deal with various nations that have different ideas when it comes to the composition of human rights and it is honored or abused in their country.

Part of the job of Amnesty International is to educate countries that are in the middle of strife or human rights violations about the importance of human life and as such, what rights are preserved for them that should be respected by their country's government under the International Declaration of Human Rights. In some instances, they need to step into the conflict in order to prevent, lessen, if not totally eradicate, the human rights violations. There is, however, an ongoing debate about the effect of Amnesty International ever since the organization decided to broaden its reach into the economic and political problems of various nations.

The reason they did this, according to Irene Khan, A.I. Secretary-General is that “Working on individuals is important, but if we don't work on the systemic change we just exchange one group of sufferers for another.” (cited in The Economist). And it is their entrance into this socio-political land-mine that has many sectors wondering if the organization has become less effective over time. After all, it is no easy task to try and get a government to change the way it runs a country.

Not even local NGOs can manage to do that. That is the new face of Amnesty International. That is also why most people believe that it has taken on more than it can actually handle at this point. By making the organization handle more than just human rights violations and the defense of human rights, the organization has lost its fangs so to speak. It cannot effectively defend human rights while also asking the government to fix its economy. Battles are best won when a person or organization picks, as Winston Churchill once said “battles small enough to win but big enough to matter”.

Therefore, although Amnesty International remains one of the most well-known international non-government organizations, it has recently come under fire for its changing ideologies. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to defend human rights because they are trying to implement political and economic reforms in countries that they do not culturally understand. However, the name of the organization continues to carry some weight and success in the realm of human rights defenders.