Summary Information
At a Glance
| Call No.: | HRW RG 5 |
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| Bib ID: | 8960940 View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Human Rights Watch (Organization). Americas
Division. |
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| Title: | Human Rights
Watch Records
1966-1994
[Bulk Dates: 1980-1994].
|
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| Physical description: | 96.25 x linear ft. (77 record cartons)
|
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| Language(s): | In English
and Spanish
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| Access: |
This collection is located off-site. Please consult the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library for further information. The records of Human Rights Watch are restricted
and require the permission of the organization to view, copy, and/or publish. If you
wish to request boxes from this collection, please send an email to
rbml@columbia.edu detailing the collection, series, and box numbers in which you are
interested. Once Human Rights Watch has reviewed the request, the scholar and the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library will be contacted with specific instructions.
The records of Human Rights Watch are restricted and require the permission of the
organization to view, copy, and/or publish. If you wish to request boxes from this
collection, please send an email to rbml@columbia.edu detailing the collection,
series, and box numbers in which you are interested. Once Human Rights Watch has
reviewed the request, the scholar and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library will be
contacted with specific instructions.
More information » |
|---|
Arrangement
Arrangement
Record Group 5 is arranged into 4 series:
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Description
Scope and Content
Materials include correspondence and e-mail communications, mission reports,
testimonies and interviews, addresses and contact lists, confidential interoffice
memos, legal and advocacy material, internal planning and policy material,
declassified government and United Nations documents, published and unpublished
human rights reports from individuals and fellow non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), press clippings and news releases, and maps. Another category of documents
consists of HRW reports and briefing papers, as well as press releases and open
letters to heads of state, governments and various government agencies.
Materials related to missions contain unpublished information on sources, cases, and
the state of affairs in various countries. They include professional and personal
mission notes taken by AmW country researchers during investigative missions,
testimonies by and interviews with victims of various human rights abuses,
pre-mission and post-mission memos, addresses and contact lists.
Thematically, these documents deal with the various political and social transitions
in the Americas. The papers comprise such human rights advocacy initiatives as the
attempt to alleviate the plight of political prisoners and refugees; the promotion
of freedom of expression; and the suppression of political violence.
Series 1: Aryeh Neier, 1978-1989
This series documents Executive Director, Aryeh Neier's efforts from 1981 to
1989 to establish Americas Watch (AmW) as a full operating division of Human
Rights Watch (HRW). The series is divided into three subseries:
chronological correspondence, country, and general files. The correspondence
files span 1981 to 1986 and record AmW's founding and initial human rights
projects. Chile, El Salvador and Peru comprise the alphabetically arranged
country files. Covering the period 1978 through 1984, these files cover such
subjects as anti-terrorism efforts, democratic reform initiatives, and the
plight of political prisoners and refugees. Arranged alphabetically, the
general files comprise mainly AmW fundraising data, press releases, and
staff memorandums.
Series 2: Cynthia Brown, 1980-1994
Cynthia Browns initial work as Associate Director for Americas Watch stressed
investigative missions to El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia. In 1983, she
inaugurated yearly trips to monitor the human rights situation in Chile.
Extending from 1980 to 1992, the alphabetically arranged country files,
therefore, emphasize Chile. Other nations include Argentina, Bahamas,
Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Organized alphabetically and running from
1982 to 1994, the general files predominantly contain such administrative
files as inter-office correspondence, memorandums, press releases, reports,
and schedules. The alphabetical professional files hold correspondence
(1984; 1987-1989) with human rights groups, advocates, and Congressional
testimony. Finally, the subject files include labor rights, police targets,
the United Nations, U.S. policy, and women's issues.
Series 3: Guatemala Files, 1966-1990
Divided into three alphabetically arranged subseries, this series encompasses
the work of three individuals involved in AmW's Guatemala projects.
Represented in the first sub series (1966-1988) is Jean-Marie Simon, an
American photo-journalist and human rights activist, who AmW engaged as a
consultant in the early 1980s. The sub series contains correspondence,
interviews, notes and subject files related to her contributions to several
AmW Guatemala reports and her personal photographic book project: Guatemala:
Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny (Norton, 1987). The second subseries
(1978-1984) holds Eliecer S. Valencia's Guatemalan refugee project files
collected during the research for his volume, Guatemalan Refugees in Mexico,
1980-1984 (AmW, 1984). Embodied in the third subseries are Frank E. Howard's
efforts as a legal consultant (1989-1990) on behalf of AmW handling asylum
cases.
Series 4: Mary Jane Camejo, 1971-1994
The series is divided into two alphabetically arranged subseries of country
and general files. Mary Jane Camejo was an AmW Research Associate, who
focused on Latin American politics specifically in Cuba, the Dominican
Republic and Haiti. The country files reflect this specialization with the
largest group of material associated with these three nations. The files
document the plight of Cuban artists, dissidents and political refugees, and
Haitian sugar cane labors. Other represented countries include Antigua,
Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru,
Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Uruguay. The general files consist primarily of human rights law and
policy reports.
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection is located off-site. Please consult the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library for further information. The records of Human Rights Watch are restricted
and require the permission of the organization to view, copy, and/or publish. If you
wish to request boxes from this collection, please send an email to
rbml@columbia.edu detailing the collection, series, and box numbers in which you are
interested. Once Human Rights Watch has reviewed the request, the scholar and the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library will be contacted with specific instructions.
More information and link to off-site request form
The records of Human Rights Watch are restricted and require the permission of the
organization to view, copy, and/or publish. If you wish to request boxes from this
collection, please send an email to rbml@columbia.edu detailing the collection,
series, and box numbers in which you are interested. Once Human Rights Watch has
reviewed the request, the scholar and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library will be
contacted with specific instructions.
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University
Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to
publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright
permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Human Rights Watch Records, Record
Group, Box Number; Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research, Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and
Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University
Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
Papers processed 2008 Christopher M. Laico
Finding Aid written 2008 Christopher M. Laico
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT
conversion December 19, 2012
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid adheres to that prscribed by
Describing
Archives: A Content Standard
2012-12-21
xml document instance created by Christopher M. Laico
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Additional Creators
| Heading | CUL Archives:
Portal | CUL Collections:
CLIO | Nat'l / Int'l Archives:
ArchiveGRID |
|---|
| Radio Martí Program (U.S.).--Office of Research
& Policy. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Historical Note
Record Group 5 contains the records of Human Rights
Watch/Americas Watch (AmW). Established in 1981 as an outgrowth of the Helsinki
Watch Committee, the AmW division promotes human rights in the Western Hemisphere.
It concerns itself particularly with harassed human rights groups in repressive
countries. AmW, for example, assists Latin American monitoring organizations in
disseminating information about oppressive practices. It also mounts external
pressure within countries to ensure human rights protections through sponsored human
rights missions and publishes reports on their findings.
The Americas Watch division is funded by private
foundations, citizens, and does not accept government funds. As a strictly
non-political, non-partisan group, it investigates and attempts to report
objectively on human rights conditions. Its policy recommendations, in turn, relate
solely to ways in which the United States can assist human rights monitors in
countries with poor human rights records.
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