The Role of Human Rights NGOs in Protecting and Promoting Human Rights

Introduction

The term NGOs bring a sense of humanity and righteousness in peoples minds each time they hear about one. This sense of feeling is prevalent in peoples minds as the term nongovernmental organizations is used to cover the gamut of institutions that are responsible for the creation of civil society. Primarily, these organizations are distinguished by not having the aim of financial profit and this leaves them with a wide variety of reasons to simply exist. There are small pressure NGOs for particular human rights violations or environmental issues, and more preponderant NGOs that work for women's refugees, religious institutions, legal foundations, charities for education, aid for humanitarian crisis and the list can simply go on and on, all the way to the colossal international organizations that have over hundreds of branches around the world. Since they act as “emissaries” between the international and local communities, between the populace and the nation-state, they are comprehended to bring about changes in the culture and establish bureaucratic standards. They have, along these lines, been viewed as a major instrument in the international liberal governmentality. They have had and will continue to have a crucial role in the protection of human rights all over the world.

Role NGOs in the protection of human rights 

Human Rights NGOs are not any different from all other kinds of NGOs, they share the same features and virtues and strictly speaking, the only distinguishing facet is that HRNGOs work exclusively for human rights. An authority on the human rights NGOs, Laurie. S. Weisberg defined HRNGOs as “A private association that devotes significant resources to the promotion and protection of human rights, which is independent of both governmental and political groups that seek direct political power, and which does not itself, seek much power” As various types of NGOs do have a range of exercises, human rights NGOs likewise have the motivation behind advancing, ensuring and implementing human rights. Human rights NGOs like political bodies or association don't look for political force anyway since the issue of human rights are highly political. Human rights NGOs could obliquely impact the political framework so as to make it increasingly responsive and responsible to the protection and development of human rights.

The commitment of NGOs is significant not just as far as the outcomes that are accomplished, and thusly for the positive thinking that individuals may feel about the protection of human rights on the planet, yet in addition NGOs are apparatuses that are accessible to be utilized by people and communities all over the world. As all other organizations are managed, they too are governed and regulated by private people, however, they receive additional qualitative support from different individuals from the network who offer free and voluntary help who believe in the same cause. This reality in turn gives the people who might want to add to the improvement of human rights on the planet, great relevance.

In the protection of human rights, HRNGOs offer: direct assistance/services to the people who have become victims to human rights violations in the form of protection, training, and developing skills in them for the long run; providing legal advocacies and recommending how to present cases; collect accurate information to catch hold of the ‘wrongdoers’ of abuse, discrimination, and crime (for instance, Red Cross and Amnesty International are known for their meticulous supervision and reporting where their reports are given high regards in the offices of the UN); campaigning and lobbying so as to bring about a policy change; public awareness and human rights education. Lotus is an NGO that caters to the needs of people with disabilities in Tuzla, Bosnia and in the year 1996, they decided to raise awareness of disabled people and traffic issues and came up with targets like pavements that can be accessible for people on wheelchairs, advanced access on public transport, special parking spots, etc and by the end of the elections in Tuzla, all the pavements were rebuilt with ramps and today Tuzla is the most accessible town in Bosnia.

HRNGOs without a doubt, do act as a positive influence in the realm of the human rights system, and as a matter of fact, only HRNGOs can reach out locally because International organizations cannot come to the aid and rescue of every single individual of the world. Due to the lack of insufficient funds and administrative staff, International organizations in a way can rely on the HRNGOs to play their role with the assistance of government or donor funding and appoint people from the local populace dedicated to the cause to their team. HRNGOs today have become as powerful if not as powerful as the government in some countries, as they receive foreign aid worth millions from donation and development agencies. Multinational organizations such as the United Nations, and European Union, and influential governments have all identified the significance of HRNGOs. In the eyes of multinational organizations, some of the HRNGOs are glorified as saints who refrain from corruption, practice no wrongs, support the poor, and are even considered as the “Ajna” or the third eye.

But lately, many are cross-examining if NGOs really are the revolutionary reformist partners in the pursuit of viable development. As it is sanctioned by different global bodies including the UN, NGOs have the authorization to open up in any nation and run their activities in agreement with the constitution of the host country, keeping in mind the principles and guidelines of the native population. Since there is no charter or rules managing these different NGOs, they are still dependent upon the laws of the host country. A majority of them are absolved from paying tax as they are contributing to social wellbeing and are focused on their charitable goals. Therefore, many HRNGOs are using their platform for reasons other than social service; with insufficient training and absolutely no background checks done, the organizations are involved in various scandals such as rape and child abuse. (In 2011, Oxfam International, was caught in a scandal where its employers in Haiti were found sexually abusing children.)

Of late, instead of focusing on the main objectives of the HRNGOs, many of them are intervening in the local elections in order to make sure that their favored candidate gets elected and the root cause of this is none other than the groups that fund these HRNGOs who direct them to intervene in the local elections for their hidden agendas. There has been an undemocratic approach to internal governance in many of these HRNGOs – the issue begins when one individual or a group of them who were the architects of the NGO become the sole decision maker of the organization, which leaves no freedom or comfort for the person who might want to confront the rule of the original leaders. One of the main issues that HRNGOs face is due to the existence of a belligerent political environment. The HRNGOs exist to examine and analyse the violations of human rights that are practiced mainly by the governing authorities and at times even by the non-state actors. The NGOs feel the need to scrutinize the government and expose them as they have the power to do so but this doesn’t end well in most cases, creating a very unhealthy relationship between the government authorities and the NGOs because no governing authority wants their dirty deeds to come out in the public realm which will eventually put their image and competency at risk. Among the above-mentioned dilemmas, constraints of resources is one of the major problems of human rights NGOs. Not all countries are as powerful as the West and because of which the HRNGOs working in Asia/Africa seek for financial aid from donors. But with the money, comes the autocracy of the donors who order the NGOs on how, where, and why the money should be spent, which literally ties the hands of the NGOs when trying to achieve their goals.

In the international and national sphere of human rights, it is the responsibility of the states to make sure that their people are never denied of their rights. It is a paradox when the state itself turns out to be the one that violates the rights and this is where Human rights NGOs as an independent entity, with its “watchdog” efficiency, acts as a savior to the victims of violence and abuse of human rights. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world of utopia and at times even NGOs are accustomed to being flawed as these are entities made by human beings.

Conclusion

If debited, we live in a world today with more refugees and displaced people than in WW2, drought and famine are sending people from Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, and several other countries to starvation. If NGOs didn’t do their job or failed to exist, people from the above-mentioned countries would simply die and many would have to move to another territory. Millions of people today have gratitude for the agencies of the United Nations, and national agencies such as BRAC, IRC, DFID, CARE International, Medicines sans Frontieres, etc. One can only imagine a world without non-governmental organizations and they are undoubtedly a positive influence in the human rights system.