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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Corruption of Human Rights Watch
Over the years, U.S. public diplomacy has pulled reputable non-governmental organizations into the U.S. propaganda orbit, sometimes via funding and sometimes by creating a revolving door to government jobs and respectability, as a letter from over 100 scholars suggests happened to Human Rights Watch.
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HRWs close ties to the U.S. government call into question its independence.
For example, HRWs Washington advocacy director, Tom Malinowski, previously served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and as a speechwriter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In 2013, he left HRW after being nominated as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor under John Kerry.
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Currently, HRW Americas advisory committee includes Myles Frechette, a former U.S. ambassador to Colombia,
and Michael Shifter, one-time Latin America director for the U.S. government-financed National Endowment for Democracy.
Miguel Díaz, a Central Intelligence Agency analyst in the 1990s, sat on HRW Americas advisory committee from 2003-11. Now at the State Department, Díaz serves as an interlocutor between the intelligence community and non-government experts.
Malinowski contended in 2009 that under limited circumstances there was a legitimate place for CIA renditionsthe illegal practice of kidnapping and transferring terrorism suspects around the planet. Malinowski was quoted paraphrasing the U.S. governments argument that designing an alternative to sending suspects to foreign dungeons to be tortured was going to take some time.
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Sincerely,
. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
. Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
. Joel Andreas, Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University
. Antony Anghie, Professor of Law, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
. John M. Archer, Professor of English, New York University
. Asma Barlas, Professor of Politics, Director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, Ithaca College
. Rosalyn Baxandall, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, State University of New York-Old Westbury
. Marc Becker, Professor of Latin American History, Truman State University
. Jason A. Beckett, Professor of Law, American University in Cairo
. Angélica Bernal, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
AND 90 MORE ACADEMICS........
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/05/13/the-corruption-of-human-rights-watch/
National Endowment for Democracy is a CIA front group.
The Magistrate
(95,252 posts)They have always been more or less 'in orbit'....
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)how corrupt it was
but seems nothing has changed
when the CIA really calls the shots
It does say something about Obama's new pick
and his history on rendition, torture and secrecy.
I'm glad these scholars put their names down in protest.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)They're both big outfits, and we need them to hold everyone to account.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)<...>
We therefore encourage you to institute immediate, concrete measures to strongly assert HRWs independence. Closing what seems to be a revolving door would be a reasonable first step: Bar those who have crafted or executed U.S. foreign policy from serving as HRW staff, advisors or board members. At a bare minimum, mandate lengthy cooling-off periods before and after any associate moves between HRW and that arm of the government.
...this attack on Human Rights Watch. I mean, the letter raises concerns by pointing out some agreements and disagreements. The above seems to argue that these individuals shouldn't become public servants.
This is really strange when one considers that the executive branch is attacked for pulling people from the corporate sector.
Still, HRW seems to be viewed favorable when they support Snowden.
Snowden meeting in Moscow with Human Rights Groups now (Live)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023231439
Snowden: NSA spied on Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024794928
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)LIE one........ go to your own link
Lie two
Snowden did not reveal which groups the NSA had bugged.The assembly asked Snowden if the US spied on the "highly sensitive and confidential communications" of major rights bodies such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, as well as on similar smaller regional and national groups. He replied: "The answer is, without question, yes. Absolutely."
The question was ''LIKE""
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Human Rights Watch was not at the Snowden press LIE one........ go to your own link "
From the second link in that thread:
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I think that's all that needs to be said.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)AUGUST 1, 2013
From their own website
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/01/if-snowden-really-wants-learn-russian
ProSense
(116,464 posts)The piece is warning him about Russian tactics.
From your link, see the photo and caption.
© 2013 Tanya Lokshina/Human Rights Watch