HRW case studies

• Criticisms of HRW: Funding

  2020: HRW accepted a $470,000 donation from Saudi real estate magnate Al Jaber

  • owner of a company that HRW “had previously identified as complicit in labour rights abuses” under the condition that the donation not be used to support LGBT advocacy in the Middle East and North Africa. 
  • ‘deeply regrettable’ 
• Bosco Ntaganda (resulted in a 30 year imprisonment)

  • Reports spanning decades of The Terminators ’harrowing…attacks’
  • Insistentence for justice despite opposition from the likes of the UN and Diplomats - 'we did not stop'
  • Anneke van Woudenberg, former deputy Africa director at HRW (had documented earlier abuses), testified against him during the trial.
  • 'detailed account based on the work we did over many years - documentation leading to something to something.'
• China & Uyghurs

  December 23 2021: Joe Biden signed into the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

  • Ensured goods made with forced labour in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region do not enter the US market. 
  • ‘direct response’ to their strong media presence reporting on forced labour and other atrocities.
  • Undermines China’s economic sovereignty and prosperity: loss in over $100 billion in exports to the US between 2022-2023 (Trading Economics)