Safranim shalom,
I would like to suggest the following articles:
1) Human Rights and Politicized Human Rights: A Utilitarian Critique
Journal of Human Rights Volume 6, Number 1/January-March 2007
Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group pgs 3-35
Author: Don A. Habibi
Abstract
The article provides a utilitarian analysis to argue that the leading
organizations of the International Human Rights Movement have lost sight of
their own professed values. Instead of functioning to check and balance the
power of nation-states which formulate policies based on political and
economic interests, the leadership of Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, and the International Committee of the Red Cross follow the
politicized United Nations. Their attention and resources have been diverted
from where they are most needed and can do the most good. The problem is
most evident in the disproportionate focus on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. There are serious problems of distributive justice, fairness, and
equality of treatment, in that the obsessive, lopsided scrutiny placed on
Israel is concomitant with the neglect of the far more horrific human rights
violations in the Arab world and beyond. There is a tragic opportunity cost
in how the major humanitarian and human rights organizations set their
priorities and allocate their resources. The moral failure of politicization
also damages the credibility of the human rights leadership, their
organizations, and the cause of human rights.
2) Human Rights NGOs and the Neglect of Sudan Don Habibi Professor of
Philosophy University of North Carolina at Wilmington
July 2 2004 (free download:
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/archives/news/sudan.doc )
....Had the international community paid half as much attention to the race
war in Sudan as it did to Israels construction of a security barrier (from
March 2003 to February 2004), then the Sudanese government would not have
continued its ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign. The regime would rather
not be in the spotlight. The fact that international human rights
organizations finally mobilized to do their job underscores what they could
have done to prevent the tragedy of Darfur, had they agitated sooner. It
also demonstrates what they did not do for the many cruel years of the jihad
against non-Muslims in the South. The world would be a better place if the
watchdogs had their priorities straight and understood when and where they
must bark the loudest. ....
Hag Pesach Sameach
David
David Elazar Rishon LeZion, Israel
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.geocities.com/d_elazar (home page)
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