Resources

Entities working for victims of human rights violations can be classified within three categories: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the UN, and government agencies. NGOs can be further classified into three different categories: relief organizations, treatment centers, and monitoring organizations.

Non-Governmental Agencies

Relief organizations dedicate a large part of their resources to aiding people during major humanitarian crises such as those in Somalia Ethiopia , Rwanda , and the former Yugoslavia . Two examples of relief organizations are the International Red Cross/Red Crescent and Doctors of the World.

Treatment centers primarily exist to evaluate and treat victims of human rights violations. According to the 1998 International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims Update on Centers and Programs, only 14 treatment centers exist in the USA . However, this report did not include the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights that was founded in December 1998.

Monitoring organizations devote many resources toward monitoring human rights conditions and denouncing human rights violations throughout the world. These organizations make public their findings through annual reports or special reports. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are the two most known.

References:

• Steiner HJ and Alston P. International Human Rights in Context – Law, Politics, Morals. Oxford University Press, New York , 1996. p. 455 – 499.
• International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. Rehabilitation of Torture Victims – 1998 Update on Centers and Programs Worldwide. Copenhagen , Denmark , 1998.

Links:

• Physicians for Human Rights. Available from: URL: http://www.phrusa.org/
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Available from: URL: http://www.ifrc.org/
• Médicins du Monde. Available from: URL: http://www.medecinsdumonde.org/
• Amnesty International. Available from: URL: http://www.amnesty.org
• Human Rights Watch. Available from: URL: http://www.hrw.org

The United Nations

The entire United Nations is geared toward world peace and human harmony. Each office concentrates its efforts on a particular problem. For instance, the High Commissioner for Refugees handles all the problems related to refugees and IDP. Other important UN offices include the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and the Security Council.

References:

• United Nations. Available from: URL: http://www.un.org
• Steiner HJ and Alston P. International Human Rights in Context- Law, Politics, Morals. Oxford University Press, New York , 1996. p. 1021 - 1109.

Governmental Agencies

Governments throughout the world generally provide limited assistance to victims of human rights violations for two main reasons. First, countries neighboring areas of conflict fear the potential political, economic, and social consequences of assisting large numbers of victims. Second, countries that are geographically distant from a conflict view human rights violations as someone else’s problem, or as Médicins Sans Frontières phrased it: "the indifference of the international community to the fate of the local population."

References:

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The State of the World’s Refugees 1997 - 1998 – A Humanitarian Agenda. Oxford University Press, 1998.