Why Are the United States and Israel at the Top of Human Rights Hit Lists?
Byline: James Ron and Howard Ramos
Publication: Foreign Policy
Date: Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
Summary
We ran the numbers and it’s true: the watchdogs have their politics. But that might just be a good thing.
What does all this mean? First, human rights groups are partly true to their mission, since they report more on countries with more human rights problems. That’s a relief. Wealth and its byproducts — global influence and information — are also crucial. Thus, abuses in countries with more telephones, computers, and educated people receive more watchdog attention. That makes sense since even human rights researchers are only human.
Amnesty and Human Rights Watch also seek visibility and impact, however, and this gives them clear incentives to report more on the most pressing issues of the day. Like any advocacy organization concerned with real-world effects, the watchdogs feel compelled to respond to media interest. Supply rises with demand; the more journalists who ask about a country, the more information watchdogs will supply.
This feedback loop makes it seem as if the media and watchdogs are piling on a smaller number of countries, creating the whipping boy effect that can easily come across to the defenders of Israel, Venezuela, or the United States as simply unjust.
Yet this, for better or for worse, is the way the news game is played. The media report on issues or countries it thinks readers care about, and advocacy groups of all stripes respond in kind, creating the virtuous (or vicious) cycles that drive public attention.
Whether this is this a good or a bad thing depends on your ethic of moral engagement. If you believe in Quixotic struggles and think watchdogs should swim valiantly against the tide, you’ll castigate Human Rights Watch and Amnesty for investing more resources, time, and energy on countries already in the news. “What about Niger?” you’ll ask. And if you’re young and rebellious, you might even mutter something nasty about corporate sellouts under your breath.
The Kantian imperative, in other words, obliges moral actors to do what is right, consequences and efficacy be damned.
But if you believe an advocacy group’s highest purpose is to make a difference, you’ll support the strategy of focusing on targets of opportunity. You’ll also think that investing scarce activist resources in low-interest struggles should be done sparingly, lest the few watchdogs we have go bankrupt in pursuit of lost causes.
James Ron is associate professor at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa.
Howard Ramos is assistant professor of sociology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
