Human Rights Watch

We all know: Governments lie.

So do corporations, organized religion, politicians, and children and adults of all ages.

But I find hope in the NGO's--from the high-profile ones like the Gates Foundation to those with a humanitarian conscience/agenda (e.g., ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch).

I heard of Human Rights Watch during the break-up of the Yugoslavia, with the widespread massacres, ethnic cleansing, and rape that occurred in Bosnia during the mid 90's.

Now, with the war/conflict in Georgia hitting the news and with widely divergent information being disseminated--from the Kremlin to the Bush administration to President Saakashvili to the media (N.Y. Times, Le Monde, API, The Guardian, etc.), I felt anguish at not being able to sort out the accuracy of the charges flying back and forth.

Russia would like to drag Saakashvili to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.*

But in the August 13 online edition of the NY Times, I found, much to my relief, direct testimony from Human Rights Watch--which has actually staff on the ground in Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and in Gori (Georgia) trying to determine the extent of human suffering, especially civilians caught in the cross-fire or even being targeted by military units--was cited.

http://hrw.org/english...

There is an amazing amount of information on human rights around the world, all consolidated on their website.

I feel a huge debt of appreciation to this organization for its solid investigations and efforts at holding governments responsible for the treatment of their own citizens--as well as those of other countries.

While the U.S. and the EU have committed humanitarian aid to the people of regions in conflict, HRW brings attention to the wherefores and hows of actions that cause so much suffering--whoever is responsible, in part or in whole.

HRC was one of the constituent organizations involved in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1997.

Headquartered in NYC, with offices in London, Paris, San Francisco, Los Angeles, D.C., Hong Kong, Tashkent, and Toronto.

The annual Human Rights Film Festival is shown in many cities around the globe.

But you don't need to visit their headquarters to find out what is going on around the world: In the age of the Internet, we don't have to be there at all. Just go to the website.

* HRC has found no evidence, at least so far, of widespread atrocities committed in South Ossetia.
http://topics.blogs.ny...