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3 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 83 (1990)
Bearing Witness: The Art and Science of Human Rights Fact-Finding

handle is hein.journals/hhrj3 and id is 89 raw text is: Bearing Witness: The Art and Science of Human Rights Fact-Finding Diane F. Orentlicher* As the prestige and influence of human rights organizations have grown worldwide, the fact-finding methods employed by these organizations warrant increased scrutiny. In this Article, Diane Orentlicher offers a comprehensive analysis of the professional standards and institutional imperatives of inter- national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Part I discusses the im- portance of human rights fact-finding, with a focus on the Reagan Adminis- trations' policies. Part II addresses the manner in which an NGO must confront official skepticism and shifting standards of credibility. Part III describes the means employed in obtaining evidence, interviewing witnesses, and establishing responsibility for human rights violations. The field of international human rights has come of age. No longer the exclusive province of theorists and idealists, human rights has become a prominent subject of international diplomacy. In regions as diverse as Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa, human rights concerns have been a central factor in some of the most dramatic political developments of the past decade. Throughout this process, the prestige of nongovernmental organi- zations (NGOs) that work to promote respect for human rights has also grown. Representatives of such leading NGOs as Amnesty Inter- national (AI) routinely meet with heads of state and other top officials of the governments they monitor, I and their work receives prominent play in the international press. * Visiting Lecturer and Orville Schell Fellow, Yale Law School; Deputy Director, awyers Committee for Human Rights (1983-1988). The author is grateful for the cooperation of numerous colleagues who generously shared their insights about the subject of this Article, particularly the research staff of Amnesty International and the professional staff of Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. The author is especially indebted to Andrew Moravcsik and Jemera Rone, whose thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this Article were invaluable. Responsibility for the views, and any errors, in the final draft is the author's alone. 1. Even governments that refuse to meet with NGO representatives take some human rights organizations seriously enough to publicly denounce their work. For example, the government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), which had failed to respond to repeated requests by the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights to visit the PRK and meet with government officials, later denounced the Committee's report as an insane slander. U.S. Lawy ers' Report on Human Rights Criticized, Phnom Penh Domestic Service, Aug. 7, 1985, reported in Foreign Broadcast Info. Service, Aug. 9, 1985, at HI.

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