Human Rights Watch loses its moral compass

F Smith

How can they get it so wrong? They get so full of themselves, and so busy, that they stop thinking.

Dave B

A lot of charities seem to have been taken over by left wing activists, who then pursue their own agendas. I'm not sure what one can do to combat it.

Burning Our Money did a nice piece on the National Trust.

Max Kaye

Why would anyone be surprised?

Everything is Kosher when it comes to attacking Israel and the Jews.

Suki

'Lost' its moral compass? I'd say they never had one.

There seem to be heaps of these organisations everywhere now, who, if they are not being hijacked by people with terrorist sympathies, are a direct front for such sympathies.

They know that all they need is a name with 'human rights' in it and lazy journalists will pad the copy out on news stories with their soundbites.

To the public, though, these organisations have so devalued the cause of human rights that they're viewed as about as trustworthy as a used car seller.

Does anyone outside the journalistic fraternity give a damn what Shami Chakrabarti and 'Liberty' thinks?

Ray

One hopes the Human Rights Watch guys don't get pounced on by the Saudi police for stashing a beer or two in the hotel fridge.

Tanuki

I'll only take the islamic/palestinian cause seriously when there are free and unrestricted gay bars in the West Bank/Gaza strip, and Palestinians can enjoy officially recognised same-sex unions without fear of Hamas punishment-beatings/killings.

Until then, 'Human Rights watch' can get stuffed.

Lance Grundy

@Dave B

"A lot of charities seem to have been taken over by left wing activists...I'm not sure what one can do to combat it."

How about not donating any money to them for starters?

By the way, thanks for the tip. As it happens, I was planning to join the National Trust next month. I'll send the money to Help for Heroes instead.

Verity

Suki - Agreed.

merlin

another one for www.fakecharities.org?

Lee Jakeman

Human rights used to be a principle, supported by all. Today, it is just an ideology and is supported only by the Left.

Sasquatch

Nothing new. They reported on the story of the Israelis supposed attacking 2 ambulances. The fact that a 3 year old could have punched holes in their logic and their "facts" did not deter them from condemning Israel for what was plainly a Lebanese hoax.
Same with the story of a 12 year old, who was supposed to have been directly targeted by a drone. The fact that the whole thing was a badly executed setup seemed to have passed the HRW by.

Andrea

I can't understand why you're surprised. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty et al only ever champion causes that happen to fit their idealogue agenda, and don't much care who they associate with to pursue it.

Andy Leeds

I agree with Suki: they never had a moral compass in the first place. Nor would they know what morality was if it got up and slapped them in the face.

Graeme Thompson

"It does make one wonder how people committed to human rights can get it so wrong."

They're not committed to human rights. Its just a front to make their genocidal anti-semitism seem respectable.

Derek

What is your prefaratory phrase "Whatever Israel's faults..." meant to signal Mr. Forsyth?

Derek

Incidentally, from my reading of online newspapers today, I learn that "A day after releasing a damning report on Operation Cast Lead, and amid accusations that it is operating without transparency, the group Breaking the Silence on Thursday presented The Jerusalem Post with its donor list for the year 2008, which included several European governments....The British Embassy in Tel Aviv gave the organization NIS 226,589..." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443834129&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull I wonder if our Dear Leader is also funding Human Rights Watch approaches to Saudi Arabia out of the public purse.

Stewart

Governments should not give to charities. Why should they assume that I wish my taxes to go to a group who I can help fund without being compelled to do so? That's the whole point of charity, it is a voluntary contribution of money or effort not a compulsory one. I can't choose who stops Russian jets from bombing my house, so they can use my taxes to fund the armed forces but I can choose which group of society's unfortunates that I want to help so I should be able to do so on my terms if at all. If no one wants to support your charity then tough. Cameron's first money saving measure should be scrapping all government charity handouts starting with 'Human Rights' organisations followed by 'Environmental' groups and so on. They are little more than unreconstructed fora for left wing zealots who recognise that they won't get money by putting the word revolutionary in their organisation's name.

Stewart

Whilst I'm on my soap box, how about someone in the media commissions a tv series about the misdeeds and contradictions of these so called do-gooder charities and exposes their true politics and ultimate aims? We see plenty of documentaries about the alleged coruption in business and industry but rarely about the lying that organisations such as Greenpeace do. Brent Spar anyone? Why are these groups never challenged on primetime? The BBC should be compelled to investigate big charity, big environment and big human rights as well as big oil, big banking etc

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

It doesn't need any kind of compass. It just knows that if anything's in the interest of Western democracies, then it must somehow be suspect.

All others receive only such investigation and criticism as is needed to give the impression of impartiality.

This is because its staffing policy has ensured a 'particular' view is its default position. Very much like most NGOs.

logdon

Where were the human rights of the girls who burned to death after being forced back into a conflagration in their school by the religious police?

Their crime? Not wearing sufficiently modest clothing for the outside world.

If Human Rights Watch can crawl for funding from a state which not only condones but promotes such barbarity it's very title is a grotesque sham.

And whilst at it ask what they think of the slavery going on. All those Darfur and Sudanese captives ended up somewhere.

And certainly it wasn't in Jerusalem.

The obvious conclusion to be reached is that they'd even turn a blind eye to slavery than give up the eternal quest of Jew hatred.

Verity

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and all the rest of them are fronts for the advance of One Worlderism. I am mystified that anyone takes them seriously.

ndm

Israel may be a democracy but it is certainly not a "liberal democracy." Instead, it is a nation that has institutionalized war crimes to the extent that the Israeli "settlement" of the Occupied Palestinian Territories is the greatest war crime committed by any Western nation since the Nazi occupation of Europe.

kina

Considering the larger Arab birth rate in the these territories and the ability of the local inhabitants to host activists and promote their narrative in the world media, it appears as if the Zionists are doing a rather poor job of it as well.