On 8 March, 2006 the US State Department released its 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practice. As documented by NGO Monitor, the section on and the Occupied Territories in past years has included extensive quotes from NGOs that display a consistent anti-Israel political bias (in sharp contrast with the norms of universal human rights), publish claims that lack credibility, and ignore the complexities of human rights requirements in the context of mass terror.

The 2005 report shows evidence of improvement, reflecting NGO Monitor’s correspondence with the State Department. The degree of reliance on unverifiable claims by politicized NGOs has decreased significantly, particularly with respect to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In addition, the emphasis in the 2005 report on the context of terror is consistent with the need to assess human rights behaviour in relation to security requirements, in contrast to the practice of the NGO network. However, reliance on allegations of NGOs that often erase this core element in human rights behaviour remains significant. NGOs cited include HaMoked, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), Physicians for Human Rights- Israel ( PHR-I), Israel Committee Against House Demolitions ( ICAHD), B’Tselem, and Machsom Watch.

 

 

Back to March 2006 Digest