NGO Monitor Digest (Vol. 4 No.1) 15 September 2005
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CONTENTS: |
- HRW ANNOUNCES NEW POSITIONS AND BROADENS ITS MIDDLE EAST AGENDA
- IS CHRISTIAN AID'S ANTI-ISRAEL AGENDA RESUMING?
- DARFUR WAS NEVER AN NGO PRIORITY - "THE DARFUR EFFECT", SUDANESE-ONLINE
- IS HRW'S REED BRODY APPROPRIATE FOR A SENIOR POSITION AT UNCHR?
- WAR ON WANT - UK CHARITY COMMISSION CORRESPONDENCE
- PHR-I ADVERTISES NEW POSITION
- NGO MONITOR STATEMENT TO EU COMMISSION ON GUIDELINES FOR NGOS
- NIF FELLOWSHIP PROMOTES THE AGENDAS OF ICAHD AND ISM
- THE POLITICAL AGENDA OF CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS (CPT)
- NGO NEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE UPDATES
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HRW ANNOUNCES
NEW POSITIONS AND BROADENS ITS MIDDLE EAST AGENDA |
There is increasing
evidence that the Middle East agenda of Human Rights Watch is
gradually expanding, with a parallel decrease in the excessive
and biased focus on Israel. In addition to renewed attention
to the abuse of dissenters in non-democratic regimes (HRW’s
original emphasis), HRW has also announced eight new positions
that will broaden its agenda. NGO Monitor will report on the
implementation of these changes and their impact.
Read
Article >>>> |
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IS CHRISTIAN AID’S
ANTI-ISRAEL AGENDA RESUMING? |
The level of Christian
Aid’s support for a radical pro-Palestinian agenda (including
the Christmas
campaigns), which created the foundation for anti-Israel
church divestment
resolutions, was lowered significantly in the first half
of 2005. However, Christian Aid's July
2005 statement and its "Pressureworks"
website mark a resumption of anti-Israel campaigning. Following
the language used by the Palestinian media, Christian Aid's
statement also dismisses Israel’s disengagement without
serious consideration of its significance. The brief mention
of attacks by "Palestinian militants on Israeli civilians",
in contrast to the earlier reports in which terror was totally
erased from the context, is insufficient to correct the overall
bias.
Similarly, the Pressureworks
website, which posts photos and opinions supplied by radical
NGOs such as ICAHD,
presenting a highly distorted version of the events, and erasing
context in order to promote its political goals. |
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"DESPITE THE SCALE,
SCOPE, AND DURATION OF THIS, IT WAS NEVER A PRIORITY ON THE
AGENDAS OF AI, HRW, OR THE UN." |
"The major
human rights NGOs, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
can claim some credit for issuing a flurry of reports, press
releases, and urgent appeals over the past few months that have
brought this catastrophe to the attention of the mass media
and the world¬moving the US and the UN Secretariat to serve
notice to the Sudanese government. Before AI, HRW, and the UN
congratulate themselves for finally denouncing Sudan loudly
enough to make the headlines, it is important to ask what they
did during the past 22 years. Over two million people were killed;
mainly civilians from the South, Hundreds of villages were destroyed
as in Darfur, slavery, rape, and torture was routine. The deeper
tragedy is that this could have been prevented. It would not
have happened if the international community had taken notice
and made it an issue. Despite the scale, scope, and duration
of this, it was never a priority on the agendas of AI, HRW,
or the UN. For two decades, they quietly reported on what was
happening; however, they made it a low priority." (Based
in part on NGO Monitor's report Asleep
at the Wheel: Comparing the Performance of Human Rights NGO's
on Sudan and Arab-Israeli Issues, 26 August 2004.)
Adla
Shashati, “The Darfur Effect”, Sudanese-Online,
September 5, 2005 |
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LETTER TO LOUISE ARBOUR,
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER, ON NOMINATION OF HRW'S REED BRODY
(AND RESPONSE) |
Reed Brody, former
advocacy director and legal counsel for Human Rights Watch,
has been nominated to head the special procedures branch at
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Among
the examples demonstrating his bias, Brody took an active part
in the anti-Israel activities of the NGO Forum at Durban conference
on Racism, and supported the public campaign to indict Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged war crimes in Belgium. NGO
Monitor has expressed its concerns to Louise Arbour, High Commissioner
for Human Rights, in the following letter.
Read
Correspondence>>>> |
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ON WAR ON WANT -- UK
CHARITY COMMISSION CORRESPONDENCE |
Last month, NGO
Monitor reported on the UK Charity Commission’s warning
to War on Want regarding its political activities. The text
of complaint to the Charity Commission and its response are
now available on the NGO Monitor website.
Read
Correspondence>>>> |
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NGO MONITOR STATEMENT
TO EU COMMISSION ON NGO GUIDELINES |
The European Commission's
Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security has issued
a call for comments on its "Draft Recommendations to Member
States regarding a Code of Conduct for Non-profit Organisations
to Promote Transparency and Accountability Best Practices".
(The text of this call is reprinted below.) In response, the
NGO Monitor has submitted the following statement:
Read
Statement>>>> |
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NIF FELLOWSHIP PROMOTES THE AGENDAS OF ICAHD AND ISM |
Joseph (Joe) Berman,
the recipient of a 10-month New Israel Fund/Shatil Social Justice
Fellowship, has utilized this backing to promote radical agendas
of NGOs such as the ISM and ICAHD. In the ICAHD framework, Berman
runs "tours" for groups linked to War on Want and
the International Committee of Ramallah Friends. He consistently
presents the Palestinian narrative, used to justify the divestment
and boycott campaigns directed against Israel, while ignoring
the context of the Palestinian incitement and terrorism. This
is another example of the inconsistency between NIF's rhetoric
and the agenda pursued by officials.
Read
Article>>>>
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THE POLITICAL AGENDA
OF CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS (CPT) |
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The Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) program is a central element in the
anti-Israel divestment campaign. Behind claims to support
peace through non-violence, CPT activities promote extremist
Palestinian positions. Through cooperation with radical groups
such as Sabeel and EAPPI, CPT-sponsored visits to the region
highlight Palestinian victimization while erasing Israel and
the impact of terror from the itinerary. Similarly, CPT publications
use language to demonize Israel.
Read Article>>>> |
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NGO MONITOR
NEWS UPDATES |
• NGO
DIVESTMENT UPDATE:
Paul C. Merkley, "It
is About Israel's Right-to-Life", JewishComment.com,
August 21, 2005
Prof. Paul C. Merkley, a Christian historian and author analyzes
the anti-Israel divestment campaign. “The present campaign
of the churches is not about the wall nor about divestment:
it is about Israel’s right-to-life”.
"The full-time fomenters of this anti-Israel campaign are
mainly associated with certain of the NGOs whose leadership
is drawn in large part from Christian Arabs. Funding for these
many NGOs comes from church groups in Europe and North America.
Spearheading these efforts is the organization called Sabeel
Liberation Theology Centre…. In this totalitarian ambience,
the thought of debate makes no sense: right-thinking is everything.
… So far, opponents of these actions within the denominations
have been outflanked by the activists. However, there are signs
that Christian laity are taking alarm at the palpable anti-Judaism
(masquerading as anti-Zionism) which has taken hold of the leadership.”
• Gerald Steinberg, "Canada’s
contribution to the divestment campaign", Canadian
Jewish News, August 31, 2005
• Daphna Berman, "CPT
blasted for organizing divestment campaign", Haaretz,
August 26, 2005
report on NGO Monitor analysis and letter
to the editor correcting inaccuracies
• Exchange
of Correspondence with Dr. Frank J. Ostrowski, Representative
to the United Nations for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation,
in response to NGO Monitor report: The
Political Agenda of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
• NGOs and DISENGAGEMENT: Brandon Hollinder, “The
Israeli Disengagement Plan: A Prejudicial Action”,
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, August 2005
PHRMG, like many other Palestinian political NGOs, uses the
rhetoric of human rights and international law to demonize Israel.
This pseudo-legal publication ignores the background of Palestinian
terror, and the failure of the leadership in the period of the
Oslo negotiations to implement its obligations, which led to
the Israeli decision on disengagement. The author also fails
to consider the potential benefits to Palestinians resulting
from the Israeli policy.
• Palestinian Media Watch: “EU-funded
Palestinian ‘human rights’ group sanctions terror
and murder of Israeli civilians” Report on Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), September 9, 2005.
This report cites recent PCHR activities, updating previous
NGO Monitor reports and analyses on PCHR. |
Please send any feedback to mail@ngo-monitor.org
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