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Charles Willett is the founding editor of Counterpoise.
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Human Rights Watch world report 2002. New York: Human Rights Watch. 670p ISSN 1054-948X ISBN 1-56432-267-X paper Subscription: $30.00
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Human Rights Watch world report 2003. New York: Human Rights Watch. 558p ISSN 1054-948X ISBN 1-56432-285-8 paper Subscription: $30.00
Available from: Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017. 171/278-2313 [email protected] www.hrw.org
This double review of Human Rights Watch's annual World Report opens by reaching back to three earlier Counterpoise reviews. The first is a reprint of the review of Human Rights Watch World Report by Edward Grosek (Counterpoise, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 25-26), which placed HRW and its annual reports in the general context of international human rights. The second is an excerpt from "Human Rights Abuses in the United States: A Review Essay" by Byron Anderson (Counterpoise, Vol. 4, No. 1/2, January/April 2000, p. 19), which focused on domestic human rights abuses in the US, as reported by Amnesty International. The third excerpts part of the review essay "Human Rights Watch: Powerful but Partial Witness" by Ron Nicosia (Counterpoise, Vol. 2, No. 2, April 1998, pp. 5-6), which criticized HRW for ignoring the economic and social rights that are recognized in international law and are codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These three reviews and the publications they discuss all appeared during the Clinton administration--before George W. Bush and his right-wing Republican administration, before 9/11, before the "War on Terrorism." They show that there is nothing new or partisan about US government disregard of human rights at home or abroad.
Grosek, basing his review on Human Rights Watch World Report 2001, wrote,
Human Rights Watch began its work in 1978. It is a nongovernmental organization conducting over 250 yearly systematic investigations of human rights abuses in more than seventy countries. More specifically, it interviews and takes attestations, and documents and publicizes murder, torture, disappearances, arbitrary imprisonment, and injurious discrimination on the parts of government officials and of rebel and armed groups. Human Rights Watch also concerns itself with weapons trade, the use of children in civil wars, landmines, and prison conditions. Today, it has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social...