Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is, along with Amnesty International, one of the two largest and most influential human rights organizations in the west, and perhaps, in the world. Founded in 1978 as Helsinki Watch, to monitor the Soviet Union’s compliance with the Helsinki Accords, it investigated human rights abuses in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European states under the USSR’s domination. In 1981, America’s Watch was founded to monitor human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere. Investigations and expositions of war crimes by government and rebel groups, and the roles played by governments outside of Latin America, especially by the United States, were conducted. “Watch Committees” were added to the work being done under the auspices of Helsinki Watch and America’s Watch. These included Asia Watch (1985), Africa Watch (1988), and Middle East Watch (1989). In 1988, all of these committees were combined into Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch protects human rights through.