NGO Watch®

HRW Criticizes US for Ignoring Reproductive Rights

March 09, 2018

Human Rights Watch has criticized the US State Department's announcement that it will cut provisions related to "sexual and reproductive health rights" from its annual report on human rights conditions around the globe, arguing that the US is ignoring that international human rights law, as interpreted by UN treaty bodies, recognizes the existence of such rights.
Watchdog Calls for More Scrutiny of "Rights" NGOs

March 09, 2018

Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor writes that the scandal engulfing the nonprofit aid and activist organization Oxfam, which is facing allegations that it covered up years of sexual abuse by a key member of its staff, shows the need for third-party scrutiny of such organizations, even when they claim to be advancing the global "human rights" agenda.
NGO Develops Lesson Plan Linking SDGs, Rights

March 08, 2018

Amnesty International has launched a lesson plan aimed at teaching students around the world about how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be linked with the global human rights agenda - including nontraditional economic, social, and cultural rights - as part of a UN initiative charged with designing school curricula on the SDGs.
NGO Sets out Climate Advocacy Agenda for Investors

March 05, 2018

Mindy Lubber of the nongovernmental organization Ceres highlights how the NGO is using its new Investor Agenda to push investors in its network, with over $23 trillion in assets, to adopt a broad range of policies aimed at placing pressure on corporations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the global agenda on countering climate change.
Activists Criticize Marathon Agreement on Rights Impacts

February 15, 2018

Inside Climate News reports that climate and human rights activist NGOs are criticizing as "superficial" an agreement the Marathon Petroleum Corporation, one of the stakeholders in the Dakota Access Pipeline, signed with shareholders committing to public reporting on its human rights impacts but stating that governments are ultimately responsible for protecting such rights.
NGO Seeks Censure of Hungary by UN Rights Body

February 13, 2018

The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Open Society Foundations has submitted a review of Hungarian restrictions on NGOs to the UN Human Rights Committee in an attempt to elicit a statement from the body censuring Hungary in its review of the country's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
NGO: Guantanamo Bay Order Violates International Law

February 08, 2018

Amnesty International has published a report asserting that US President Donald Trump's executive order reversing plans to close the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay and preparing for prisoner transfers to the facility violates US obligations under international human rights law.
ICRC Reviews Use of "Autonomous" Weapons Systems

February 08, 2018

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has published a paper reviewing the application of international humanitarian law to the use of so-called "autonomous" weapons systems and indicating some level of human control over the targeting and attacking process is necessary to comply with global rules of warfare.
NGO Seeks Investigation of Cities' Climate Statements

February 08, 2018

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has requested that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigate four California local governments that have filed lawsuits against energy companies for statements in their bond offerings contradicting what they say are clear sea-level and other impacts of global warming on their communities.
Article: US Must Take Global Perspective on AI

February 07, 2018

Kyle Evanoff and Megan Roberts of the Council on Foreign Relations argue that the US Congress must provide for an "international approach" to the regulation and development of artificial intelligence (AI), eschewing principles of "economic nationalism" in account for the transnational scope of the potential benefits and risks of this technology.