What Human Rights Watch Is — and Why Its New York City Base Matters

Human Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization with its headquarters in New York City. Its work centers on investigating and reporting human rights abuses, then pressing governments to uphold human rights. The organization is active in nearly 100 countries, giving its New York base a connection to a broad international network of research and advocacy.

The group began in 1978 under a different name: Helsinki Watch. Its original purpose was to monitor the Soviet Union’s compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Robert L. Bernstein, Jeri Laber and Aryeh Neier helped establish the organization as a private American nongovernmental organization.

Over time, the organization expanded beyond its initial focus. Asia Watch was added in 1985, followed by Africa Watch in 1988 and Middle East Watch in 1989. These bodies were known collectively as the Watch Committees. In 1988, they joined together under the Human Rights Watch name.

The organization’s work includes documenting alleged abuses and making findings public. Its stated approach combines investigation, reporting and advocacy directed at governments. The source material describes HRW as a watchdog rather than a governmental institution, placing it among the nongovernmental groups that seek to influence public policy through research and pressure.

One example in the organization’s history concerns a report released in April 2021 about Israel and the treatment of Palestinians. The report accused Israel of apartheid and called for an investigation by the International Criminal Court into what it described as systematic discrimination. The extract identifies that report as a significant step for a major international rights organization.

For New Yorkers, Human Rights Watch is notable not only because of the subjects it examines abroad, but also because the city is the organization’s headquarters. Its presence links New York to campaigns and investigations spanning multiple regions. The organization’s history also illustrates how a monitoring project created around a specific international agreement developed into a global institution with regional structures and a much wider mandate.

Source and reuse information This automatically generated backgrounder adapts text from “Human Rights Watch” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch The adapted text is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. The source article’s linked references are provided below where available. This story has not been independently reviewed or fact-checked.

Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://www.hrw.org/ - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/oct/08/theobserver.observerbusiness11 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/11/AR2010091105057.html - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2954886/Most-influential-Americans-in-the-UK-20-to-11.html - https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20bernstein.html?_r=1&em - https://www.hrw.org/en/node/75134 Image rights Photograph description: I recently had the chance to go see my buddy world famous comedian do his thing, and catch The Chris Gethard Show live September 28, 2011. Although I've been watching the show on the web each and every week, seeing it taped lived was a whole 'nother thing. It was a blast! If you've never seen it, The Chris Gethard Show is the strangest, weirdestm funniest talk show that has ever been created. Chri Creator: emilydickinsonridesabmx from Fort Hamilton Brooklyn, New York, USA. License: CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AChris_Gethard_Show_Live!_9-28-2011_(6215495752).jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.