The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict •

Gerald M. Steinberg

The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict

ABSTRACT

Terms such as “non-governmental organization” or “global civil society” are used to describe tens of thousands of groups, varying greatly in structure, objective, funding, impact, and other key aspects. The main influence of these organizations results from the application of “soft power” as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments”. NGOs are particularly influential on issues related to human rights and humanitarian aid. Their soft-power is based on the perception of technical expertise, combined with morality and normative goals, untainted by partisan politics or economic objectives, and projected through the media and other channels. Powerful NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Federation of Human Rights, work cooperatively in transnational advocacy networks, using the language and frameworks of human rights and humanitarian assistance, These orga- nizations spread their views and campaigns via frameworks such as the UN Human Rights Council, in alliance with diplomats and political leaders from selected governments with similar objectives. Israeli policy has been a central focus of this NGO soft-power influence from the 2001 Durban NGO Forum through the UN Goldstone Commission on the Gaza war. The central role of NGO influence is reflected in the Goldstone Commis- sion’s mandate, procedures, and reports, and the campaign to implement its recommendations. The article examines the influence of NGO activity in the political conflict, and on Israeli foreign and security policy in particular.

NGOs (non-governmental organizations) or CSOs (civil society organizations) have become important actors in the “soft power”

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arena of international diplomacy. In the United Nations system, over four thousand NGOs are accredited to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC),1 giving them privileged access to many UN activities, includ- ing meetings of the Human Rights Council (HRC),2 the 2001 World Con- ference on Racism3 (also known as the Durban Conference), and special frameworks such as the UN Committee on Inalienable Rights of Palestinian People,4 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,5 and the Committee Against Torture. NGO officials speak in the sessions, meet with participating diplomats, and submit documents that are quoted in final reports.6 Diplomats, journalists, academics, and other decision-makers and opinion leaders routinely accept NGO claims, in most cases without independent verification.

NGOs, both individually and through wider “transnational advocacy networks” or a “global civil society” framework, are influential in many fields, from environmental issues to human rights and humanitarian aid. Their moral claims are a major source of this influence, as reflected in Chan- dler’s reference to NGOs as “oriented around universal beliefs and motiva- tions”.7 Similarly, Keck and Sikkink argue that while “governments are the primary guarantors of rights, they are also their primary violators”, leaving individuals or minorities with “no recourse within domestic political or judicial arenas”. On this basis, they analyze the ways in which domestic NGOs “. . . bypass their state and directly search out international allies to bring pressure on their states from the outside.”8

In the areas of human rights and international aid, Amnesty Interna- tional (AI) was founded to campaign on behalf of “prisoners of conscience” and the abolition of torture, mainly in Eastern Europe and Africa.9 Human Rights Watch (HRW)10 grew out of “Helsinki Watch”, founded in the 1970s as a research-oriented alternative to AI. With the support of the United States and other Western governments, these NGOs gained entry into and influence in the UN and other political institutions. As their budgets grew, human rights NGOs became powerful international actors.