Letter to HRW on Facebook "Boycott Israeli Apartheid" cause
Notes
Human Rights Watch was designated as the nominated charity (to recieve donated funds) in a facebook cause called "Boycott Israeli Apartheid". NGO Monitor wrote to HRW to highlight this in December.No reply was recieved from HRW. In January follow up research showed that HRW had been removed as the designated charity (without accepting any of the money). The cause currently does not have a designated charity.
The Letter
To: Liba Beyer
Director of Outreach and Public Advocacy
Human Rights Watch
2nd December 2007
We’ve recently noticed a campaign on the social networking site Facebook which has Human Rights Watch listed as the beneficiary. The cause "Boycott Israeli Apartheid" is calling for "a boycott of all Israeli products and activities until it ends its occupation of all arab [sic] lands."
The group can be seen at:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/809
We would like to know if Human Rights Watch approves of such a boycott and if you are knowingly endorsing this group. If you do not approve, we would like to know what corrective action you will be taking to disassociate from this campaign, and what controls you have in place to prevent a similar situation occurring in the future.
We will be posting this letter on the NGO Monitor website on December 15th, a reply before then would be greatly appreciated.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Andre Oboler
Legacy Heritage Fellow
NGO Monitor