Human Rights Organizations? Really .. ?!

I am getting sick of all those organizations that describe themselves as human rights organizations when most of their work and their discourse has nothing to do with upholding international law. The number of organizations that have mushroomed simply because its a good source of revenue is just ridiculous. The result is that anyone can set up his/her own organization and simply stick human rights or development in its name. That is sufficient for many to think that they are experts, when in reality it seems that many have no idea of what they are doing.

I guess the recent developments with regards to the indictment of Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court is a good example.

I just received a statement issued by a Human Rights Organizations based in Cairo Egypt. The statement is expressing the organization’s concern of how Egyptian and regional organizations have called upon Arab states to respect international law and support the indictment and the arrest warrant when it is issued.

While the debate around this issue has proved to be very important, I believe that the incident as a whole has exposed many organizations, revealing how much they themselves adopt double standards similar to those they condemn.

Yes, there are many leaders that need to be brought to justice and yes the world powers, such as the US have caused the deaths of thousands and thousands of people in the last 4 to 5 years alone. Yes, Israel continuously violates international law without being held accountable, but does that mean that we should not respect the law ourselves?

In all cases, a human rights organization or rather an organization that describes itself as a human rights organization should only have one reference and that is international law. I mean, I can’t imagine a human rights organization that first of all does not understand or know international law and secondly and most importantly does not urge the international community to uphold it, especially if this organization has the word “Peace” in its name.

The organization wanted to remind the reader that Sudan is not a state party to the Statute of Rome, which is true. But most importantly, it should have remembered that cases can be brought to the Prosecutor of the ICC via the Security Council, which is the case with Sudan.

The organization also talked about the double standards in the implementation of the law and that the law is a political tool. I absolutely agree. This has been the case with Israel, which has not respected many security council resolutions and it was never forced to respect it. The international community is continuously paying the price of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The US has led the world into unnecessary wars, creating carnage in many countries, and flagrantly ignores international humanitarian and human rights law, as reflected in its stance with regards to torture in the name of the War on Terror. At the same time, there has been crimes against humanity committed in Darfur and someone needs to be held accountable for them. The President of Sudan has failed to commit to peace and to rectifying the situation. He too should be held accountable!

Should we just not respect international law? And if we do so, will we stop urging Israel to respect it? If we just put the law aside simply because it is being used as a political tool, will we be able to expose those who have harmed us? If there was no law, how would human rights organizations be working? What would be their reference? Will it be based on its founder’s moral and philosophical view of the world?

It is because I want to see Israel held accountable for the atrocities it commits, because I believe that the US and other powers should stop playing God and controlling our lives, and because I want to see the dictators that rule us be brought to justice, I think we should all have some respect to that law, despite who is manipulating it.

I believe that such organizations should be ashamed of themselves. Maybe they should change their names to something else. Just remove the word human rights. These organizations can stick to issuing analytical articles such as the one I received. They should avoid advocacy, and if they are to advocate human rights and peace, I think they should study international law very well first and remove themselves from any political discourse and simply learn to stick to the principles of human rights.