HRW NL - Annual Report FY22 Incl. Independent Auditor's Report (Public Version)

Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland
Annual Report 2021/2022
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ANNUAL REPORT
1. WHO WE ARE................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Human Rights Watch, Inc. ......................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland ................................................................................. 4
1.3 Governance & Organizational Structure ..................................................................................... 5
1.4 The Netherlands Committee ...................................................................................................... 9
2. HOW WE WORK........................................................................................................................................... 11
2.1 Mission Statement ................................................................................................................... 11
2.2 Core Values .............................................................................................................................. 11
2.3 Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 11
2.4 Our Methodology .................................................................................................................... 31
2.5 Fundraising ............................................................................................................................. 32
2.6 Beneficiaries ........................................................................................................................... 34
2.7 Communication....................................................................................................................... 34
2.8 Risk Management ................................................................................................................... 35
3. MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES 2021/2022 ................................................................................................. 38
3.1 Fundraising ............................................................................................................................. 38
3.2 Outreach & Advocacy .............................................................................................................. 50
3.3 Press ....................................................................................................................................... 53
3.4 Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 57
3.5 Financial Summary .................................................................................................................. 59
4. FUTURE ........................................................................................................................................................ 62
4.1 Strategy and expectations new fiscal year ............................................................................... 62
4.2 Multiple year budget ............................................................................................................... 64
5. FINANCIAL REPORT ...................................................................................................................................... 65
5.1 AUDIT ...................................................................................................................................... 65
5.2 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................. 65
5.3 FINANCIAL POSITION ............................................................................................................... 67
6. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 68
6.1 Balance Sheet as at June 30, 2022 .......................................................................................... 68
6.2 Profit and Loss Account 2021/2022......................................................................................... 69
6.3 Notes to the statements .......................................................................................................... 71
6.4 Notes to the balance sheet as at June 30, 2021 ....................................................................... 74
6.5 Notes to the profit and loss account 2021/2022 ...................................................................... 77
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6.6 Expenses Specification overview............................................................................................. 80

7. OTHER INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................. 86
Independent auditor’s report .................................................................................................. 86
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1. WHO WE ARE
1.1 Human Rights Watch, Inc.

Human Rights Watch, Inc. is a non-profit, nongovernmental human rights organization first established in 1978 and
headquartered in New York that closely coordinates with a network of 33 regional offices around the world that share
its name (hereinafter “Human Rights Watch”), including Stichting (Foundation) Human Rights Watch Nederland.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to protecting the human rights
of people around the world.
The organization is made up of 592 staff members representing 79 nationalities. Its staff consists of human rights
professionals, including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities.
Human Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, and targeted advocacy, often in
partnership with local human rights groups. Each year, Human Rights Watch publishes more than 50 reports, around
1,800 news releases, and approximately 300 videos on human rights conditions in some 100 countries, generating
extensive coverage in local and international media.
With the leverage this brings, Human Rights Watch meets with governments, the United Nations (hereinafter “UN”),
regional groups like the African Union and European Union (hereinafter “EU”), financial institutions, and corporations
to press for change in policy and practice that promote human rights and justice around the world.
1.2 Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland

Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland is part of the international Human Rights Watch organization. The
Foundation participates in these activities whenever effective strategy calls for its involvement. For additional
information about Human Rights Watch research and advocacy related to the Netherlands, please go to the
Netherlands country research page at https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/netherlands.
Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland (the “Foundation”) is a foundation incorporated under the laws of the
Netherlands, having its registered office in Amsterdam. The Foundation is registered at the Commercial register of
Chamber of Commerce under file number: 41216606.
ANBI Status
The Foundation has an ANBI (Algemeen nut beogende instellingen) status.
In English this is known as a Public Benefit Organization (PBO).
RSIN number: 816121977
In November 1996, Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland was founded. The Foundation is part of the
international Human Rights Watch organization. The Foundation’s primary purpose is to raise money in the
Netherlands to support the worldwide operations of Human Rights Watch.
In January 2009, the Netherlands Committee of Human Rights Watch was founded, a group of volunteers who
support the office through fundraising, outreach, and advocacy initiatives.
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In September 2010, Human Rights Watch opened its Netherlands office in Amsterdam in order to support the
work of Human Rights Watch worldwide, as well as to intensify its advocacy on key global human rights issues. The
Foundation is incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands. The main purpose of the entity is fundraising.
In 2021/2022, the staff in the Netherlands office working on fundraising, outreach, and advocacy consisted of a
Netherlands Director, Officer, Senior Coordinator (till 31 October 2021) and associate (from 31 October 2021. Also
based in the Netherlands are a Deputy European Media Director, Senior Operations Manager, Associate Director
(Foundations/Grant Writing team), and Senior Officer for the Chief Programs Office
Since its founding, Human Rights Watch Netherlands has strengthened relations with those in the Netherlands
financially supporting the organization, and with advocacy targets and partners, such as the Netherlands Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and members of Dutch parliament, among others.
1.3 Governance & Organizational Structure

In 2020, Human Rights Watch restructured its self-governance system to enhance effective management and secure
rigorous checks and balances. The system currently includes the activities of our Board of Directors, the Transitional
Executive Committee (TEC) (now Executive Committee (EC) as of August 2021), Operational Leadership Team (OLT),
Management Team (MT), Program Leadership Team (PLT), and staff at large. This new organizational structure was
developed to strengthen our management structures to advance our mission; principles of transparency,
accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a positive workplace culture.
Human Rights Watch’s EC (consisting of Executive Director Kenneth Roth, Chief Operating Officer Wisla Heneghan,
Chief Programs Officer Tirana Hassan, Chief People Officer Colin Mincy, Chief Development Officer Valentina Rose, and
Program Director Sari Bashi) is responsible for managing the day-to-day governance of the organization and making
decisions related to the size and allocation of the annual budget, among other responsibilities. Up until the
appointment of Wisla Heneghan as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Executive Director in March 2021, Shantha Rau
Barriga and Philippe Bolopion acted as Interim Co-Deputy Executive Directors. From September 2022, Tirana Hassan
has assumed the role of Acting Executive Director as Ken Roth steps down and moves on to the next stage of his career.
The EC is accountable to and evaluated by the Board and is supported by the MT (consisting of the Chief Operating
Officer, the Chief Programs Officer, the Director of Finance, the Chief People Officer, the Chief Technology Officer, the
Chief Development Officer, the Chief Advocacy Officer, the Chief Media Officer, the General Council and Staff
Representatives) and the PLT (consisting of the Chief Programs Officer, the Program Director, the Chief Advocacy
Officer, the Chief Media Officer, and the Legal & Policy Director).
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The organizational structure of Human Rights Watch Netherlands in 2021/2022.
Organizational Chart
Board of Directors
Director
Staff HRW NL
Board of Directors
Board of Directors Netherlands Director

Legal Representatives Authorized representative
Ms. Barbara L. Pirto Ms. Katrien van de Linde

Member since 7 November 2019 Since 3 December 2018
Chair Netherlands Director
Director of Finance and Administration, Finance, HRW
Mr. Justin A.J.W. Nieuwenhuys

Member since 27 November 1996
Secretary
Director, Fair Capital Partners
Fixed staff
Ms. Janet Visbeen
Member since 15 March 2019 Deputy European Media Director
Member Communications
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Associate Director
Ms. Michele A. Alexander Development & Global Initiatives
Member since 15 June 2010 (Foundations and Grant writing team)
Member
Chief Development Officer, Development Global Officer
Inititatives Development & Global Initiatives
Ms. Karene A. L. Diene Senior Coordinator (till 31 October 2021)

Member since 1 November 2019 Development & Global Initiatives
Treasurer
Associate Director of Finance Associate (from 31 October 2021)
Development & Global Initiatives
Non-Board member
Authorized representative with limits Senior Operations Manager
Operations
Mr. Jean-Claude Gourdine
Since 1 December 2018 Senior Officer
Senior Associate Director, Financial Operations Europe Chief Programs Office
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The Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, Inc., is the international board overseeing the financials of the entire
organization. Human Rights Watch Netherlands is also represented by a local Board.
• The Board of Directors of the Foundation consists of at least three persons.

• Directors are appointed for a period of one year. After this period, they can be reappointed.
• Directors are appointed, suspended, and dismissed by the chair of Human Rights Watch Netherlands.
Responsibilities of Board Members

The Board is responsible for managing the organization’s assets and ensuring they are used to fulfill its mission.
The Duty of Care requires directors to be familiar with Human Rights Watch’s finances and activities, and to participate
regularly in its governance.
The Duty of Loyalty requires directors to act at all times in the best interest of Human Rights Watch and to act with
particular openness and sensitivity with respect to any matter that might present a conflict of interest.
The Duty of Obedience requires directors to ensure that Human Rights Watch complies both with applicable laws and
regulations and with its internal governance documents and policies.
Expectations/Roles and Responsibilities of Board Members

• Support the organization to carry out its mission
• Ensure fiscal compliance with the organization’s stated mission.
• Approve the annual budget of the office prepared by the Finance division.
• Approve the audited accounts.
• Support Human Rights Watch’s programmatic efforts by participating in advocacy or outreach projects, as
appropriate and necessary.
• Contribute expertise through participation on at least one Board, Council, or Advisory Committee, or special
project.
• Share networks and help raise funds.
• Attend and participate in Board meetings, if possible, in person, or by phone or videoconference.
• Attend an annual dinner.
• Make Human Rights Watch a philanthropic priority.
Director
Ms. Katrien van de Linde is the Director of Human Rights Watch Netherlands. The Netherlands reports to the Deputy
Managing Director based in Zurich.
Staff Human Rights Watch Netherlands
Development and Global Initiatives

Globally, the Development and Global Initiatives department is led by the Chief Development Officer (CDO) and is
responsible for the fundraising and outreach activities of Human Rights Watch.
The Amsterdam office represents Human Rights Watch in the Netherlands. The office consists of a small team,
including the Netherlands Director, an Officer, and a Senior Coordinator/Associate. The team is primarily responsible
for activities pertaining to fundraising (development), but also engages in press and advocacy work.
The Deputy Managing Director of the Development and Global Initiatives department, based in Zurich oversees the
Amsterdam Office.
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Also based in the Netherlands is a Associate Director (Foundations/Grant Writing team) who focuses on fundraising
from institutional donors in the Netherlands and globally. She reports to the Managing Director, Foundations/Program
Liaison, based in Denmark.
Communications/Media
The Media Department is primarily responsible for the communications, public relations, and media aspects of Human
Rights Watch. Globally, the Department is led by the Chief Communications Officer and consists of Communications,
Digital, Multimedia, and Public Engagement divisions.
The Deputy European Media Director is part of the Communications Division. He is based in the Netherlands and not
only oversees media work in the Netherlands but also works in several other European countries. He reports to the
European Media Director, based in Brussels.
Finance & Administration

The Finance & Administration Department is led by the Director of Finance & Administration and includes the Financial
Planning & Analysis, Administration, Accounting, and Regional Operations & Finance Divisions.
The Senior Operations Manager based in Amsterdam is responsible for Finance, Human Resources, Facilities
Administration, and IT-related duties of the Amsterdam office. She is also working on several European/Global
projects. She reports to the Senior Associate Director in charge of our European offices, based in Geneva.
Chief Programs Office

The Senior Officer to the Chief Programs Officer/Deputy Executive Director is based in Amsterdam. She works for the
Programs Office, which oversees our research, advocacy, communications, and legal & policy, and she reports to the
Deputy Director, Strategy and Collaboration based in New York, United States.
Compensation information
The compensation reflects fiscal year 2021/2022 ending 30 June 2022.
All compensation is in accordance with the compensation regulations (Regeling beloning directeuren van
goededoelenorganisaties) set by branch organization Goede Doelen Nederland.
• The members of the Board did not receive any kind of financial compensation for their role and activities on
the board.
• The gross salary of the Director including all benefits and holiday allowance was € 123,000 (1 FTE).
The compensation for employees is based upon the following standards:
• Equal secondary employment conditions for all employees.

• Salary increases based upon the result of annual performance evaluations.
• Overtime is not paid out. Employees can take time off in lieu.
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1.4 The Netherlands Committee

The Human Rights Watch Council is a network of 1,200 philanthropists, investors, and influencers, who raise awareness
of local and global human rights issues in 30 cities worldwide.
Council members are key to the organization’s ability to maintain its independence—Human Rights Watch does not
accept government funding and relies exclusively on private donations to support its global work. The Human Rights
Watch Council is not a legal entity and its members do not have financial responsibility for the organization. The
primary role of the Council members is to build awareness of human rights issues within their community, as well as
conduct advocacy and fundraising on behalf of Human Rights Watch.
Within the Council, Committees are Human Rights Watch’s most established membership group. They are formed
through nomination by the Human Rights Watch Board of Directors. Committees are supported by a Committee ‘city
director’ or Human Rights Watch staff member based in-country who provides support and direction for Committee
activities. Each Committee is chaired by one or more volunteer Committee leaders. Each Committee is responsible for
raising awareness and funding for the organization, including through hosting flagship events such as the annually
recurring Voices for Justice Annual Dinners. Members participate in local meetings and events in their city and make
an annual donation to their capacity.
In the Netherlands, the Council is represented by the Netherlands Committee. The Netherlands Committee was formed
in 2009 and counted 25 members in June 2022.
Netherlands Committee chart FY22:
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The Netherlands Committee leadership is formed by two Co-Chairs, two Vice-Chairs, and the Chair of the Outreach
Subcommittee. The full Committee meets semi-annually, and members who want to be more involved can join the
Outreach Subcommittee or the Dinner Ambassadors. Subcommittees can also invite non-Committee members to join.
All subcommittees have chairs, and these chairs must be members of the Netherlands Committee. The Netherlands
Committee co-chairs and vice chairs together with the chairs of the subcommittees form an Executive Subcommittee,
which meets four times a year to support the Human Rights Watch Netherlands office and set the agendas for the full
Netherlands Committee meetings.
Netherlands Committee members serve three-year, renewable terms. New members are vetted by the Executive
Committee. Subcommittee membership is revisited annually.
The international Human Rights Watch Board of Directors supports the organization to carry out its mission and has
fiduciary responsibility to the global organization. The Board of Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland carries out
this work for the Netherlands office and is responsible for approving the annual budget and audited accounts.
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2. HOW WE WORK
2.1 Mission Statement

Human Rights Watch advances human rights worldwide. We investigate wrongs, expose the facts, offer solutions, and
pressure those with power to respect rights. We collaborate with people claiming their rights, learn from partners, and
engage the public. Human Rights Watch upholds the freedoms and defends the protections that promote dignity,
equality, and justice.
2.2 Core Values

Human Rights Watch is:
• Committed to promoting equality, dignity, and justice worldwide. Our work is grounded in standards
contained in international human rights law, humanitarian law, criminal law, and refugee law. In applying these
standards, we are guided by those most affected and by our partners, as well as by the principles of dignity,
equality, and justice.
• Independent. We maintain neutrality in armed conflict, do not endorse political parties or candidates, and
focus on promoting and advancing human rights rather than pursuing partisan agendas. We do not accept
government funds, directly or indirectly, or support from any private funder that could compromise our
objectivity, independence, or reputation.
• Accurate, Objective, Transparent and Ethical. We maintain high standards in our research, communications,
and advocacy to ensure that HRW investigates, assesses, and presents information that is accurate and
impartial. We uphold high standards of ethics when engaging with victims, witnesses, partners, and others;
responsibly collect data; and strive for transparency regarding our methodology, structure, and funding.
• Focused on impact. In pursuing our work, we focus on impact, whether immediate or in the long term.
Incremental progress can sometimes involve curtailing or preventing worsening rights situations. We succeed
when we contribute to positive and sustainable changes to laws and policies and their implementation, as well
as concrete improvements in people’s lives, through our direct work and in consultation and collaboration with
others
• Engagement with diverse moments for change. Through mutual respect and reciprocity whenever possible,
we seek active and sustained partnerships with a diverse range of activists and movements, especially those
most affected by abuses and groups working alongside them. We work to defend civil society from attack,
magnify the work of partners, and help secure the space that they require to operate.
2.3 Objectives
By investigating human rights violations, exposing them in the media, and advocating for improvements, Human Rights
Watch seeks to make a positive change in the world. To achieve this, we must be responsive and nimble, able to leap
into action quickly to respond to breaking events and document human rights abuses as they are occurring. Our
ultimate goal is to protect and promote human rights for all people, especially those at greatest risk of exploitation
and abuse. We elevate the voices of those who do not have the power to speak for themselves. We fight for the
vulnerable, and we engage the powerful in their defense.
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Human Rights Watch in The Netherlands
Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland (“the Foundation”) was founded in November 1996. It has ANBI charity status
in the Netherlands and is part of the international Human Rights Watch organization.
The general goal of the Foundation is to defend human rights and support the work of Human Rights Watch, as follows:
• Protecting human rights around the world in times of war and peace by documenting violations,
publishing the findings, and using this information to stop the violations and prevent violations in the
future; and
• Undertaking any other educational, humanitarian, literary, or scientific activities in this context.
The specific objectives of the Foundation are:

• Fundraising to support the worldwide operations of Human Rights Watch; and
• Advocacy and communication initiatives supporting the work of Human Rights Watch.
The Foundation’s primary purpose is to raise money in the Netherlands to support the worldwide operations and
programs of Human Rights Watch. In January 2009 the Netherlands Committee of Human Rights Watch was founded,
as a group of volunteers who support the office through fundraising, outreach, and advocacy initiatives. The group had
26 members in June 2021.
In September 2010 Human Rights Watch opened its Netherlands office in order to support the work of Human Rights
Watch worldwide, as well as to intensify its advocacy on key global human rights issues. As of 2020/2021, the staff in
the Netherlands office working on fundraising, outreach, and advocacy consists of a Netherlands Director, Officer, and
Senior Coordinator. Also based in the Netherlands are a Deputy European Media Director, Operations Manager, Senior
Grant Writer, and Senior Operations Officer.
Since its founding, the Dutch team has strengthened relations with Dutch donors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
multiple members of parliament, among others. Human Rights Watch Netherlands also bolsters domestic press
coverage of human rights issues by preparing and distributing materials tailored to the Dutch media. Human Rights
Watch’s research, findings, and recommendations are covered weekly by leading Dutch news outlets, including by NOS
Journaal and Nieuwsuur. In addition, our researchers and advocates are frequently interviewed by a large variety of
national news outlets, including Trouw, de Volkskrant, NRC, and Telegraaf.
Core activities and methods

The core activities of Stichting Human Rights Watch the Netherlands are development and outreach. The main
fundraising event in the Netherlands is the ‘Voices for Justice’ Annual Dinner. This year’s dinner, taking place in June,
was titled ‘HRW Leadership Dinner’ as it substantially differed from the usual VfJ dinners. It constituted a more
exclusive and intimate dinner with our closest donors without the holding of an auction, predominantly being smaller
in scale due to Covid-19 related uncertainties and circumstances. The revenue from these annual dinners support the
organization’s work worldwide and constitute a significant portion of the funds raised in the Netherlands. Beyond
fundraising, the dinners deepen relationships with existing supporters, attract new supporters, and further develop
Human Rights Watch’s reputation in the Netherlands. Human Rights Watch is deeply grateful for its loyal supporters
to continue to donate again after two years of canceled dinners due to Covid-19 pandemic, securing the work of our
organization once more.
In addition to organizing the successful Voices for Justice Annual Dinners, the Dutch team regularly hosts smaller donor
cultivation events with existing and prospective donors. These events, which have taken place both online yet
increasingly in-person again due to the ongoing yet decreasing Covid-19 crisis, as well as the daily activities of the
development team, have secured a significant amount of funding over the years. Donors include individuals,
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organizations, trusts, and foundations. The closest partner in the Netherlands is currently the Dutch Postcode Lottery,
which has been supporting the organization since 2009.
2.3.1. Determination of Projects
How we prioritize and plan

Human Rights Watch considers the severity of the human rights violations taking place, the number of affected people,
and our ability to have a positive impact on the situation. Our staff members, who are experts on particular regions or
thematic issues, develop sets of priority issues through consultation with partner organizations in the relevant country
or countries.
To prepare for the unexpected, Human Rights Watch has top-level researchers in our Crisis and Conflict Division who
can be deployed at a moment’s notice. This capacity for emergency response means that Human Rights Watch may be
the first or only organization reporting from the ground in conflict situations.
Key programs
Human Rights Watch is organized both by region (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and
North Africa (MENA), and the US) and by theme (Arms; Business and Human Rights; Children’s Rights; Crisis and
Conflict; Disability Rights; Environment and Human Rights; International Justice; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender (LGBT) Rights; Refugee and Migrant Rights; and Women’s Rights).
Human Rights Watch Netherlands

As previously mentioned, Human Rights Watch Netherlands (the Foundation) works collaboratively with Human Rights
Watch, Inc, to raise funds to support the overall work and objectives of Human Rights Watch, Inc., globally. Throughout
the year the Foundation monitors the cashflow and funds needed for the continuity and earmarked reserve of the
Foundation.
When there is a surplus, the Foundation will request a fund transfer to Human Rights Watch, Inc., with the condition
that the cashflow requirement of the Foundation is kept. Before requesting a fund transfer it must be determined
whether it concerns unrestricted and/or restricted funds.
Unrestricted funds
The Foundation will request a funding proposal from the writing team at Human Rights Watch, Inc. The Foundation
will receive grant proposals for underfunded projects, which include a description of each project. The proposal must
be in line with the statutes and overall priorities of Human Rights Watch Netherlands. Thereafter, the proposal is
presented and submitted to the Board of Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland for approval. Once approved, the
funds can be transferred to Human Rights Watch, Inc.
Restricted funds
The Foundation will present an overview including proof of restrictions to the Board for their approval. Once approved,
the funds can be transferred to Human Rights Watch, Inc.
In 2021/2022, various projects were supported by restricted funds provided by our Dutch donors. The most prevalent
one that has been funded generously by our community of donors is toward our work pertaining to Russia’s
unprovoked aggression in Ukraine since February 2022. Dutch donors also enabled Human Rights Watch’s work on
other major crises and pressing human rights situations worldwide.
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• Ukraine Emergency Appeal: War in Ukraine: Protecting Civilians and Promoting Justice
On 24 February 2022, Russia commenced a full-scale military conflict in Ukraine. The unprecedented military
aggression—marked by serious violations of the laws of war—is the most dangerous conflict in Europe since
the Second World War. It is jeopardizing and upending the lives of millions of people and posing a profound
challenge in the global contest between democracy and autocracy.
Human Rights Watch has documented rights abuses that have attended the crisis in Ukraine since 2013, when
a protest movement in the capital, Kyiv, overthrew the government and Russia’s subsequent occupation of
Crimea emboldened pro-Russia militant groups to seize power across eastern Ukraine. Tensions dragged on
for years and developed into the full-blown Russian invasion of Ukraine that we are witnessing today.
The human rights implications are severe—deadly harm to civilians; destruction of hospitals, schools, and
homes; and the fastest-growing displacement crisis in Europe since 1945. As Russia attacks Ukraine, it is
muzzling dissenting voices and spreading misinformation at home.
Human Rights Watch acted in crisis response mode to the unfolding events. To address an emergency of this
magnitude, we are maintaining a presence on the ground and mobilizing support from colleagues with
specialized expertise from across the organization. We seek to cut through the fog of war, document violations
of human rights and humanitarian law on all sides, protect civilians, and set the wheels of justice in motion.
Regional expertise | With offices in Kyiv and Moscow and decades of experience defending human rights in
the region, we have long been a leading voice on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Our work has achieved impact,
including an investigation into the use of cluster munitions, the release of detainees, and international
protection of a journalist facing death threats. Our analysis of restrictive laws in Russia are a trusted source for
policymakers and donors worldwide and help to cut through misinformation.
Research capacity | We deploy crisis and conflict researchers—expert in the laws of war and maneuvering in
conflict zones—to work with our country specialists and document abuses on the ground. Refugee rights
researchers take witness testimonies in bordering countries. Weapons experts and digital investigators
complement our fact-finding by leveraging research tools—satellite data and open-source material—to
remotely assess troop movements, identify methods and locations of attacks, and corroborate our findings.
Our researchers have verified the use of cluster munitions by Russian forces, documented conditions for
refugees, advocated for a robust monitoring and accountability mechanism at the United Nations, and
reported on the ongoing effort to suppress dissent in Russia.
Securing justice | Our reporting is often used as evidence in the prosecution of individuals suspected of
genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Over a decade of reporting by Human Rights Watch and
others on Syrian-Russian forces’ callous disregard for civilian life in Syria led to a landmark verdict in 2021
convicting a Syrian official of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.
Global reach | To influence the international response, we engage global media outlets, which cite our work
nearly 1,000 times a day, as well as 12 million social media followers. Based in six continents, our advocates
use our research to engage global leaders, international organizations, and other stakeholders, and apply
targeted pressure. As such, we are a go-to source of information for the global public, media, and
policymakers. The media mentioned our work 15,000 times during the first week of the war, including Al
Jazeera, Vox, New York Daily News, The Guardian, Washington Post, ZDF (German TV), and Time Magazine.
Already in the first weeks since the escalation, our research drew 1 million visits to our website—a milestone
for the organization. As the situation is still continuously evolving, and rapidly so, many Human Rights Watch
staff are working on this every day still. To this end, we are still appealing to our global network of supporters
at this critical time of need.
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Partnerships | We have established partnerships throughout the region. We are in touch with Ukrainian
partners to provide support and are similarly supporting Russian human rights defenders, independent
journalists, and academics. While we do not deliver aid or services, we advocate for the safety of humanitarian
workers and call for the free flow of aid. We often speak out on issues our humanitarian actors—who may be
constrained in their ability to criticize governments—bring to our attention.
Immediate Priorities | Human Rights Watch urgently seeks to end human rights violations by all parties to the
conflict, protect civilians, and promote justice. As long as the conflict is active, our key areas of focus include:
Documenting Rights Abuses and War Crimes | To garner international support and a swift humanitarian
response, our researchers are documenting and shedding light on the situation for people caught in the conflict
and refugees fleeing from it. Our experts on the ground are interviewing survivors and witnesses of attacks,
and—supported by our digital investigators and weapons experts—spotlighting the need for humanitarian
assistance, evacuation routes in Mariupol, and access to safety for people with disabilities. They are
investigating the environmental impact and risks of attacks on nuclear plants, the conditions for civilians in
areas under Russian occupation, and the dire situation for children trapped in a Kharkiv hospital.
As the conflict escalates, it is critical that we continue gathering evidence of war crimes to pave the way for
justice and future trials. The Russian military’s attacks have caused civilian deaths and injuries and damage to
hospitals, schools, and homes. There is mounting evidence of war crimes. For example, Human Rights Watch
and others have confirmed the Russian use of cluster munitions—indiscriminate weapons—that hit a hospital
and a preschool killing civilians, including a child. We also documented the use of air-dropped bombs in
residential areas and the continuous shelling of evacuation routes by Russian forces.
Ensuring the Safety and Protection of People Fleeing Conflict | At the time of this writing, more than 3 million
people have fled their homes, many seeking refuge outside Ukraine. We aim to secure dignified, respectful
treatment for all people fleeing war. We are documenting the anguish and hardship experienced by refugees
inside and outside Ukraine and advocating for their protection.
Our experts are investigating Russian forces preventing civilians from leaving the country, conditions at the
Hungary-Ukraine border and at Budapest’s train station, foreign nationals held in detention centers, and
unequal treatment for foreigners—including students from Morocco, Nigeria, Ecuador, and elsewhere—
attempting to flee. We are also interviewing refugees in Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to verify accounts of
unlawful conduct inside Ukraine.
European countries have opened their borders, and people have rushed to donate food and open their homes
for people escaping war in Ukraine. We welcome this response and outpouring of solidarity, but are also calling
out the stark contrast with Europe’s historically harsh response to people escaping other wars and crises. This
includes the war in Syria, which displaced more than 12 million people.
Mobilizing Global Leadership | As Russia intensifies its attacks, our global advocates are using our real-time
reporting and analysis to exert pressure for a swift international response, including protection of
humanitarian corridors, European Union assistance, and investigations to secure justice.
With partners, we successfully urged member countries to the International Criminal Court to refer the
situation in Ukraine to the court’s prosecutor for investigation. We were also closely involved in pushing for a
UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate violations and
abuses committed in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. These mechanisms enable the
international community to document abuses committed by all parties, identify perpetrators, and collect
evidence.
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We will continue to use our research and influence to exert pressure on world leaders in the halls of power—
including the EU, UN, and European capitals. We are advocating for the suspension of Russia from the HRC,
which would further isolate the government diplomatically. We are also working on a “10 Issues to Watch List”
for journalists and advocates.
Defending Russian Civil Society | Russia has long sustained a sweeping crackdown on free expression, but its
most recent efforts to silence dissenting voices are chilling. Authorities are vigorously suppressing public
disapproval of the government’s war in Ukraine, making meaningful debate impossible. Amid unprecedented
government censorship, we seek to defend Russian civil society and counter disinformation with facts. We are
reporting on new laws criminalizing independent war reporting and anti-war protests; authorities targeting
peaceful protests and arbitrarily arresting thousands of protesters; and the Education Ministry instructing
teachers to spread disinformation. We are also investigating threats of internet service suspension and are
looking at the impact of generalized sanctions on the human rights of people in Russia.
Civilians flee the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling and bombing on March 5, 2022, in Ukraine
© 2022 ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images
• Afghanistan Emergency Appeal: Protecting Human Rights under Taliban Rule

Twenty years after the US‐led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban have been back in the seat
of power since August 2021. Their reconquest was staggeringly swift and has already precipitated a
cascade of human rights abuses across the country. Left unchecked, the return of Taliban rule could
eviscerate significant forward progress achieved by Afghans and the international community over
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the last two decades—the freedom for girls to go to school, for women to work outside the home, for
journalists and activists to exercise free speech, and more.
Human Rights Watch acted in crisis response mode. Our researchers and advocates worked with
partners to facilitate safe resettlement for tens of thousands of Afghans who fled the country because
they were at risk of persecution by the Taliban. We are working to get thousands more, who are at
risk, out of the country. And we are also leveraging our access to power at the highest levels of
governments to advocate for longer‐term protections for people remaining in Afghanistan that will be
crucial for tracking and ensuring accountability for rights abuses under Taliban rule.
For decades, Human Rights Watch has been a leading defender of rights in Afghanistan, reporting on
the situation on the ground and refocusing international attention, time and again, on the Afghan
people’s struggle for freedom and dignity. We have documented and exposed a litany of rights
concerns in the country, spanning girls’ education, the consequences of a long legacy of impunity,
civilian deaths resulting from insurgent attacks and US and NATO airstrikes, the plight of Afghan
refugees, and many more. Through this work, we have cultivated a network of trusted contacts in‐
country, which enabled us to share up‐to‐the‐minute reporting on what was unfolding in the cities
seized by the Taliban in their advance to Kabul. These same networks, combined with significant
experience of multiple senior experts on Afghanistan, position us to serve as an essential voice in
monitoring Taliban rule in the months ahead.
On the global stage, recent events in Afghanistan have only strengthened Human Rights Watch’s
credibility as an authority on rights in the country, following our years of forewarnings about
government abuse and corruption and the Taliban’s rapid resurgence. We will continue to use our
knowledge, access, and influence to exert intense pressure on world leaders in the most influential
halls of power—including the European Union, United Nations, G7, European capitals, and
Washington, where some of the most pivotal decisions on Afghanistan will be made in the months
and years ahead.
Immediate Priorities
Resettling Afghans at greatest risk | Throughout the evacuation crisis at Hamid Karzai International
Airport in August, we supported our partners around the clock to evacuate Afghan civilians in danger
of retaliation by the Taliban, including those who worked to promote human rights, democracy, and
education; academics, writers, journalists, and women in high‐profile roles; those who aided US
forces; and religious and ethnic minorities. Tens of thousands of at‐risk Afghans were able to evacuate
abroad. To facilitate their safe resettlement, we are calling on the US and allied governments to
expand processing capacity and ease protocols for processing and granting entry to refugees. We are
also urging states to direct funding to countries that are willing to welcome Afghans and pressing the
neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to open their borders. In keeping
with our history of protecting the rights of refugees, we will strive to improve conditions at every step
of their journey, including access to education, health care, and other services.
Defending women’s rights | A generation of Afghan girls and young women have grown up believing
that the days of Taliban rule were a part of the past, not their future. Many pursued their dreams by
studying, working, and changing their country. We will scrutinize the Taliban’s approach to the rights
of women and girls and use our global platform to expose efforts to block access to schools, health
care, or employment, or to restrict women’s freedom of movement. We will also keep a close eye on
efforts to dismantle the system of protections for victims of violence, including shelters and a 2009
law criminalizing child marriage, sexual violence, and other forms of gender‐based violence.
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Mobilizing global leadership | As the US government and others conclude their longstanding presence
in Afghanistan, our global network of advocates is exerting pressure on multiple points to persuade
governments to establish a credible and robust UN monitoring and accountability mechanism—one
that enables the international community to track human rights abuses committed under Taliban rule,
identify perpetrators, collect evidence of wrongdoing, and pursue justice and accountability.
Documenting rights abuses under Taliban rule | We are investigating reports of persecution and
retaliation by the Taliban, including summary executions of soldiers and former government
personnel, raids on the homes of journalists and activists, crackdowns by the Taliban on peaceful
protests, and discrimination against minority groups. While we cannot send a researcher into
Afghanistan at this time, we are communicating with trusted contacts to report accurate information
about developments on the ground. Our digital investigators are identifying ways to conduct research
from afar, leveraging remote investigative tools and methods, such as opensource and geospatial
research, which we are using to investigate a mass grave outside of Kandahar.
Sustaining crucial foreign aid | From education and health care to road repairs, essential services in
Afghanistan have been funded entirely through international aid. We are urging donor countries not
to disengage but to find ways to continue providing desperately needed humanitarian assistance to
the country, even under Taliban rule. The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is already dire as the
population grapples with an unyielding drought and internal displacement of more than 3.5 million
people. A sudden cut in humanitarian aid would have a catastrophic effect on Afghans’ access to some
of the most basic services.
With our plans constantly evolving and shifting over the months that followed, the situation in
Afghanistan required an organization‐wide effort from Human Rights Watch. Mobilizing and
sustaining our emergency response demands significant resources as we shift staff with specialized
expertise—on women’s rights, crisis and conflict, refugees and migration, and advocacy—to support
our country researchers.
We are grateful to our global network of supporters.
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A mural calling for an end to violence against women in Kabul, Afghanistan

© 2017 ArtLords
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights:

Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program exposes abuses around the world and works with activists to
advocate for laws that will protect everyone’s dignity. We responded to crises in Afghanistan and Ghana, as
well as deepened our global body of work promoting legal gender recognition and launched a new project
on digital targeting in the Middle East and North Africa.
Digital targeting against LGBT people across the Middle East and North Africa | Across the Middle East and
North Africa region, LGBT people and organizations advocating for LGBT rights have relied on digital
platforms as significant tools for empowerment, access to information, movement building, and networking.
In many contexts where governments prohibit LGBT groups from operating on the ground, LGBT rights
organizing happens exclusively online. While online mediums have extended a lifeline for LGBT people to
express themselves and expose anti-LGBT violence and discrimination, they have also become tools for state-
sponsored repression. We set out to produce a report that will expose state-led digital targeting against LGBT
people and activists across the region—building on our previous work in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi
Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Libya. The report will highlight governments’ failure to uphold
international obligations, urge state actors to protect LGBT people from the consequences of these practices
and influence policies and data protection legislation that safeguard LGBT communities from digital violence
and subsequent threats to their basic rights, livelihoods, and bodily integrity. To do this work, we have
created a coalition of partner organizations, including LGBT rights and digital right organizations in the Middle
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East and North Africa region, which will serve to connect these groups under the umbrella of LGBT digital
rights advocates.
El Salvador | Human Rights Watch launched a project to document the discrimination transgender people
face because their official documents do not reflect their gender identity. Our goal is to produce a report that
will demonstrate why it is necessary and urgent for the government to pass a gender identity law. With
preliminary findings, we wrote letters to lawmakers in the Commission of Women and Equality, urging them
to advance the gender identity bill that sat in their Commission ahead of a significant political change in the
legislature in May 2021.
Thailand | Transgender people in Thailand have no route to legal recognition of their gender identity, making
them vulnerable to various forms of discrimination. We worked with our partner, the Thai Transgender
Alliance, and produced a 60-page report, “‘People Can’t Be Fit Into Boxes’: Thailand’s Need for Legal Gender
Recognition.” Our research found that the absence of legal gender recognition, coupled with insufficient legal
protections and pervasive social stigma, limits transgender people’s access to vital services, and exposes
them to daily indignities. Thai transgender people said they were routinely denied access to education, health
care, and employment. Thailand has a reputation as an international hub for gender-affirming surgery and
transgender health care. But this global reputation obscures Thailand’s severely limited legal mechanisms to
protect transgender people at home. We found that Thailand has limited legal provisions that offer some
security to transgender people, but they fall far short of comprehensive protections.
South Korea | LGBT people in South Korea experience isolation and mistreatment in schools. Our 76-page
report, “‘I Thought of Myself as Defective’: Neglecting the Rights of LGBT Youth in South Korean Schools,”
finds that bullying and harassment, a lack of confidential mental health support, exclusion from school
curricula, and gender identity discrimination are particularly pressing concerns for LGBT students. We have
called on the South Korean government to implement antidiscrimination protections and ensure that LGBT
youth have supportive resources to safeguard their health and education.
United States | Over the course of a year, we investigated the structural conditions that render transgender
people vulnerable to violence. On November 18, 2021, in advance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance,
we released the culmination of our findings and advocacy recommendations: the 65-page report, “‘I Just Try
to Make It Home Safe’: Violence and the Human Rights of Transgender People in the United States.”
We expect the report to continue to aid advocacy efforts over the long-term. We published a dispatch
responding to the Biden administration’s pledge to address violence and identifying recommendations for
other lawmakers, and spoke out against legislation targeting LGBT young people in Florida. This will inform
our advocacy in future legislative sessions, when anti trans bills are likely to be introduced in many states
across the US.
Japan | In 2019 we launched the #EqualityActJapan campaign pushing the Japanese government to introduce
an LGBT non-discrimination law. The campaign fed into the momentum around the Tokyo Olympics. Together
with Athlete Ally, All Out and 80+ LGBT organizations in the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (J-ALL), we
gathered over 100,000 petition signatures in favor of an equality bill in Japan.
Afghanistan | LGBT Afghans and people who do not conform to rigid gender norms in Afghanistan have faced
an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety and lives under the Taliban. Our
colleagues in the Women Right’s Division worked with us to produce the 43-page report, “‘Even If You Go to
the Skies, We’ll Find You’: LGBT People in Afghanistan After the Taliban Takeover.”
Ghana | Arbitrary arrests and detention of LGBT people in Ghana, and a proposed draconian anti-LGBT bill
are causing serious economic hardship and psychological stress for LGBT people. During a 13-day research
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mission to Ghana in July, Human Rights Watch, with support from two organizations, the Centre for Popular
Education and Human Rights, Ghana (CEPEHRG) and Alliance for Dynamics Initiative (ADI), interviewed the
21 people who were arrested and one of six other meeting participants who escaped arrest. We found that
the trauma of unlawful arrest, weeks of arbitrary detention and five court hearings, for a misdemeanor
charge of unlawful assembly was unconscionable.
• International Justice & Human Rights:

Despite significant challenges, we were part of promising advancements to ensure perpetrators of the most
serious crimes are held to account.
Over the past year, our work with survivors, lawyers, activists, and others helped build momentum for
landmark prosecutions of grave crimes in Syria. On January 13, 2022, a German court in Koblenz convicted a
former Syrian intelligence official and sentenced him to life in prison for crimes against humanity. Anwar R.
ran one of Syria’s notorious detention facilities, which was part of a network of prisons where thousands
have been tortured. Human Rights Watch documented many of these abuses, and two of our reports were
relied on by prosecutors during the trial. Our analysis and outreach about the trial helped shape the media
coverage of the case. By amplifying the voices of those most affected, we helped make the meaning and
importance of the trial accessible beyond the courtroom.
Universal jurisdiction remains a crucial vehicle in the fight against impunity for serious international crimes,
especially when other avenues for accountability are blocked. We continue to promote greater application
of the principle through country-specific efforts and our involvement with the European Union Genocide
Network.
A key objective of our work remains ensuring that the International Criminal Court (ICC) can effectively fulfil
its role as the crucial court of last resort on the most serious crimes. Over the next year, we will continue to
share our vision with the new ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, for what meaningful, independent delivery of
justice looks like.
We are also pushing for sound consideration and implementation of the Independent Expert Review of the
ICC’s performance. The review, which we initiated a call for, offers an invaluable common framework for
discussion between the ICC, states parties, and civil society about changes needed to strengthen the court’s
performance and its effective delivery of justice. This includes encouraging governments to support and
financially invest in the court to ensure it can deliver on its mandate.
• Children’s Rights
Human Rights Watch is committed to advancing the rights of children and pushing for reforms that will allow
children to safely attend school, avoid abusive and needless detention, seek asylum when fleeing danger,
and be protected from hazardous working conditions. A major focus of our work is ensuring all children have
access to free, quality, and inclusive education. Children who go to school not only have a better chance at
future education and career opportunities; they are also less vulnerable to child labor, child marriage, and
recruitment as child soldiers. By sustaining a long-term focus on issues we feel pose the most danger to
children, we successfully push for changes that improve lives.
Tanzania | Girls in Tanzania now have the opportunity to continue their education after the government
announced in November 2021 that it will lift its ban on schooling for adolescent mothers. Through sustained
national and international advocacy and media outreach that is grounded in our own research, we helped
end this discriminatory policy. We provided indisputable evidence on how the ban is harmful to students in
our 2017 report, numerous appeals to the World Bank, and in a 2021 follow-up report.
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Safeguarding Children’s Privacy During Online Learning | The Covid-19 pandemic upended the lives and
learning of children around the world. Most countries pivoted to some form of online learning, replacing
physical classrooms with online classrooms through the use of EdTech websites and apps. In their rush to
connect children to virtual classrooms, few governments checked whether the EdTech they were rapidly
endorsing or procuring for schools were safe for children.
In our report “How Dare They Peep into My Private Life?: Children’s Rights Violations by Governments that
Endorsed Online Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic,” we examined 290 companies that collected,
processed, or received children’s data since March 2021. We found that most online learning platforms
installed tracking technologies that trailed children outside of their virtual classrooms and across the internet.
Some invisibly tagged and fingerprinted children in ways that were impossible to avoid or erase without
destroying the device.
Increasing Access to Education for Refugee Children | The Global Compact on Refugees aims to get all
refugee children into education within three months of displacement, but this is rarely achieved. As crises
protract, short-term planning and bad policy can result in children not having access to education for years.
Human Rights Watch has found that discriminatory policies and practices are often at the root of the
problem. Our ongoing research and advocacy in different country contexts is building toward a report looking
at barriers to education access for refugees at a global level.
Keeping Students and Schools Safe during Conflict | In many countries suffering conflict, students, teachers,
and schools are caught in the crossfire or intentionally targeted as a tactic of war. Schools are often the
largest or most solid structure in rural areas. Because of this, some troops choose to establish camp in
them, store ammunition in classroom closets, or situate snipers in classroom windows. The result is that
students are forced either to stay at home and interrupt their education or study alongside armed men,
attempting to learn in the line of fire. As crises protract, short-term planning and bad policy can result in
children not having access to education for years.
As leader of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, we helped spur a movement to launch the
Safe Schools Declaration, which makes schools off-limits to militaries. Since its 2015 launch, 114
countries have endorsed the declaration. Under the commitments of the Safe Schools Declaration and
accompanying guidelines, we now see countries restricting military use of schools, creating space for
children to attend school safely.  
Over the next year, we will launch an international initiative for a new United Nations treaty to expand the
right to education to guarantee free education for all children from pre-primary school through secondary
school. We will conduct advocacy following our recent report that calls out Education Technology companies
for violating children’s right to privacy and exploiting their personal information during remote learning while
schools shut during Covid. We also have upcoming work focused on keeping students and schools safe during
conflict and ensuring more African governments adopt protective measures so that students who are
pregnant or are mothers can continue their education.
• Women’s Rights
Human Rights Watch has been protecting the rights of women and girls for over 30 years. We are committed
to working with local partners to help women realize their rights to education, land and property ownership,
reproductive autonomy, and freedom from gender-based violence and discrimination. While attacks against
women’s rights are proliferating, women around the world are organizing to demand their rights and
opportunities for progress and change do exist.
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A core pillar of our work to defend women’s and girls’ rights is promoting sexual and reproductive health.
Equitable access to reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion, is a fundamental
human right. Yet in countries around the world, restrictive laws, racism, and other barriers are preventing
women, girls, and pregnant people from accessing quality and affordable reproductive health care. These
barriers put lives at risk and undermine bodily autonomy.
Human Rights Watch is well placed to catalyze momentum in the global reproductive rights movement.
We’ve extensively documented how abortion bans lead to an increase in unsafe abortions, leading to higher
maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Our work investigating cervical cancer deaths in the United States
shows how exclusion from essential healthcare services and information drives inequalities in reproductive
health outcomes, with devastating impacts on Black women. And our research on the rising threat of the
global climate crisis on maternal and new-born health spotlights the underreported impact of heat exposure
during pregnancy.
Our work has achieved significant impact over the past year. Our research in Latin America, for example,
helped shift public and institutional support for abortion reforms, such as those in Argentina, Colombia,
Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico—all countries with new human rights standards upholding the right to access
safe and legal abortion.
The need for our work to defend and advocate for women’s and girls’ autonomy over their bodies has gained
greater urgency since the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The
roll back of abortion rights in the US may embolden authoritarian governments around the world to enact
laws restricting women’s rights. We cannot allow the global progress made in countries that expanded
reproductive rights to shift in the wrong direction.
Over the next year, we will focus research and advocacy on decriminalizing abortion and advancing access to
reproductive health care and information in Latin America and the United States, with goals to expand this
work globally.
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2.3.2. Impact
Human Rights Watch is an independent, global organization known for its credibility and commitment to truth. With
support from partners, we strive to foster a world where all people—regardless of race, religion, age, gender, sexual
orientation, disability, ideology, or socioeconomic status—can exercise their fundamental human rights.
These are extraordinarily challenging times for the human rights movement. The Covid-19 pandemic changed daily life
as we know it, exacerbated existing human rights inequalities like never before, and brought unprecedented threats
to our attention. Schools across the globe were closed, planes were grounded, and health systems were stretched to
the brink. Mass surveillance and disinformation campaigns thrived under Covid-19 responses, at the cost of freedom
of expression and privacy. Issues such as inequality in health care, race-based police violence, and the resulting global
outrage after the killing of George Floyd, dominated global news and required our greatest support and attention.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has been working around the clock to urge world leaders to prioritize human rights
in their pandemic responses and to raise the alarm on abusive measures taken under a pretext of efforts to contain
the virus. Despite global adversities, we continue to make a positive difference for many individuals who would be in
greater jeopardy without the work that we do. We are working to lay the foundation for a better, more equitable post-
pandemic world.
Below contains a list of examples of significant impact made worldwide, resulting from Human Rights Watch’s work in
2021/2022:
• UKRAINE | EXPOSING ABUSES IN THE UKRAINE WAR

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, our publications have generated a huge media
response, as we work to identify apparent war crimes by both Russia and Ukraine. We have verified
the use of cluster munitions by Russian forces, documented conditions for refugees inside and outside
Ukraine, pressed the United Nations for accountability mechanisms, and reported on efforts to
suppress dissent in Russia.
With dozens of staff conducting eyewitness interviews, reviewing images, and verifying cluster bombs
and other kinds of attacks, we are a go-to source of information on the war. Our report on apparent
war crimes by Russian troops—involving unspeakable deliberate cruelty—gained massive media
coverage, allowing us to broaden the public’s understanding of the atrocities.
With partners, we helped convince members of the International Criminal Court to refer the situation
in Ukraine to its prosecutor for investigation and the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish
a Commission of Inquiry.
Using analysis by our digital media lab, we urged both Ukrainian authorities and internet companies
to stop posting videos of captured Russian soldiers, which violates protections under the Geneva
Convention. We met with Twitter officials, and they announced they would remove tweets by
governments and state-affiliated media that depict prisoners of war.
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Tetyana Tomenko in front of her house, which was damaged during

shelling in Novognativka, eastern Ukraine, February 20, 2022.
© 2022 AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
• AFGHANISTAN | PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER TALIBAN RULE

In Afghanistan, we were a trusted source for governments in identifying rights defenders, journalists,
and others in urgent need of evacuation. We are using our decades of experience in the country to
report on abuses and build international pressure to mitigate the Taliban’s brutal rule and address the
humanitarian crisis that is rapidly unfolding.
Twenty years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban are back in the seat of
power. Their reconquest was staggeringly swift and has precipitated a cascade of human rights abuses
across the country. Many in the international community urged a “wait and see” approach, but our
documentation of life under the Taliban—even before their victory—provides ample evidence of the
human rights violations we can expect to see throughout the country. Women and girls in particular
face loss of freedom of movement outside their homes, compulsory dress codes, and limited access
to employment and education.
Through decades of work directing international attention to the Afghan people’s struggle for freedom
and dignity, we have cultivated a network of trusted contacts in the country. This enabled us to share
up-to-the-minute reporting on what was unfolding in the cities seized by the Taliban as they advanced
on Kabul in August 2021. Given the magnitude of the crisis, our staff worked around the clock calling
diplomats and government contacts, compiling lists of those most at risk, and collaborating with
veterans’ groups and other partners to demand that the US and other governments provide safe
passage and resettlement for Afghans at risk, including those who had worked for foreign
governments, NGOs, and media organizations. For a few critical days, our team was in constant
contact with Afghans at risk, some of whom had worked with us, to connect them to government
officials and private contractors facilitating evacuations. And in September 2021, we held a virtual
briefing of diplomats which contributed to the UN Human Rights Council creating a new investigative
mechanism to monitor Taliban conduct.
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Our researchers and advocates continue to work with partners to help ensure safe resettlement for
some of the tens of thousands of Afghans who have fled the country. We are working to get thousands
more Afghans who are at risk of persecution out of the country.
And we are leveraging our access to power at the highest levels of governments to address the
growing humanitarian crisis in the country, advocate for longer-term protections for refugees, and
ensure accountability for rights abuses under Taliban rule.
Two boys pass members of a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force,

in Laghman province, Afghanistan, March 13, 2020.
© 2020 Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times/Redux
• UZBEKISTAN | ENDING FORCED LABOR IN THE UZBEK COTTON HARVEST

Uzbekistan reached a turning point, in March, when the Cotton Campaign, which includes Human
Rights Watch, confirmed that during last year’s harvest, authorities, for the first time, refrained from
systematically forcing people to labor in the fields.
For years, Uzbek activists had courageously gone into the fields to monitor the millions of people at
work under one of the world’s biggest state-run forced labor programs. We played a unique role in
rallying a bank and the government to do the right thing. Our report and video, released jointly with
the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, documented the system, and our advocacy with the
World Bank, which was funding projects linked to coerced labor, was key.
Although the bank’s loan agreements required Uzbekistan to comply with rules against forced labor,
the government was forcing employees from the private and public sectors—including teachers,
medical workers, students, and children as young as 10—to plant, weed, and harvest cotton. When
people refused, authorities threatened to end their regular jobs, stop welfare payments, or, in the
case of students, expel them. When the bank’s Uzbek team accidentally left an internal conversation
on our voicemail, we exposed its intention to resist our pressure and shepherd farm projects through
“unscathed.” After that, the bank’s president met with Uzbekistan’s president, and in 2017, the
government released some 200,000 people from the harvest.
• INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE | PROMOTING NEW AVENUES TO JUSTICE FOR THE WORST CRIMES
The war in Syria has dragged on for more than a decade, killing at least 350,000 people, leaving more
than 12.3 million hungry, and forcing more than 1 million to abandon their homes. While all parties to
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the conflict have committed serious crimes, government and progovernment forces account for the
majority of atrocities against civilians. As President Bashar al-Assad has tightened his grip on power,
hope for fair trials, domestically, to determine criminal responsibility for grave crimes has waned.
Attempts to involve the International Criminal Court or ad-hoc international tribunals have likewise
been thwarted. But German authorities have been investigating crimes in Syria since the start of the
uprising—and as large numbers of Syrians began arriving in Germany, prosecutors gained access to
victims, witnesses, material evidence, and even suspects. In Germany, as in many countries,
prosecutors are allowed to exercise universal jurisdiction, and two former Syrian intelligence officials
eventually went on trial in the town of Koblenz. Human Rights Watch had documented many of the
abuses, and during the trial, German prosecutors relied on two of our reports. Coverage of our report
and interactive feature on the trial helped raise new hope for justice worldwide. From our
observations of the proceedings, we drew lessons for encouraging more— and increasingly effective—
universal jurisdiction cases in Europe.
Syrian activist Wafa Mustafa holds a photograph of her father, who was forcibly disappeared in Syria, outside a courthouse in Koblenz, Germany
in June 2020, where a landmark trial was underway of two alleged former Syrian intelligence officials on crimes against humanity charges.
© 2020 Thomas Lohnes/AFP via Getty Images
• ROLE OF THE USA | MOVING THE US TO HELP END ABUSES IN CHINA AND MYANMAR
The United States Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in December, forbidding
importation of goods made in whole or in part in China’s Xinjiang region—or by entities in China linked
to forced labor. And the State Department determined, in March, that the Myanmar military
committed genocide and crimes against humanity during attacks on Rohingya Muslims across Rakhine
State beginning in 2016.
Our sustained advocacy helped spur the US government to adopt rights-respecting policies on China
and Myanmar, demonstrating the power of our strategies on some of the most difficult human rights
issues. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, forbidding importation of goods made in the Xinjiang
region of China, arose from years of discussions among congresspeople, the Uyghur diaspora
community, labor rights groups, and others. While our partners documented forced labor, we
revealed the pervasive nature of repression—exposing mass arbitrary detention facilities, reverse
engineering a police surveillance app, and documenting a US firm’s sale of DNA sequencers to the
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Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. That gave us standing to dismantle the business community’s
assertion that it could perform adequate due diligence in Xinjiang. We will work with partners on
implementation of the law, which will take effect in June. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
highlighted our research in his determination, in March, that the Myanmar military had committed
genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya Muslims. Security forces have committed
repeated atrocities, including a 2017 campaign of destruction and ethnic cleansing. One million
Rohingya are sheltering in Bangladesh. Following last year’s coup, Myanmar heightened restrictions
on humanitarian access to Rakhine State, where more than 500,000 Rohingya remain—130,000
detained in camps. The restrictions led to illnesses and deaths. We will keep pressing the US to
coordinate with other countries to pursue justice. We will also advocate for increased sanctions to
block the Myanmar military from receiving foreign payments for the fruits of its lucrative extractive
industries, including natural gas, gemstones, and timber.
At a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, on February 26, 2021, police arrest a man protesting the military coup.
© 2021 STR/AFP via Getty Images
• CANADA | DOCUMENTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CANADA

Climate change represents the biggest global threat to human rights in our lifetime. As one of the
world’s leading human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch is using its voice and significant
global platform to spotlight the human cost of climate change in countries around the world and press
for rapid solutions. Our recent work on climate impacts in Canada has contributed to incremental, but
important, progress from the government. In 2020 our report and documentary video revealed how
Canada is failing to protect Indigenous peoples from climate impacts that are depleting their
traditional food sources. After those releases, we launched an advocacy campaign aimed at pressing
Canada to take more ambitious climate action, including by setting stricter emission targets and
phasing out significant financial support for fossil fuels. Our engagement helped move the Trudeau
government to commit to taking several important steps. For the first time, the Canadian government
will allot funds to support First Nations and Inuit to: manage climate impacts on health, including
access to traditional food; increase funding for a federal food subsidy program for remote northern
communities; and release a parliamentary report integrating our recommendations on how to better
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support northern Indigenous communities. The government also created a body with representatives
of Indigenous peoples to advise the environment minister on achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
And it adopted climate legislation that will increase transparency and accountability in Canada’s
efforts to meet its climate change commitments.
In October 2021 we released a short report that highlights how British Columbia failed to prepare for
or address extreme heat impacts on older people and people with disabilities, resulting in preventable
suffering and death. Our research received broad media coverage, including a number of radio and TV
interviews with our researchers, individuals featured in the report, and advocacy partners. Following
pressure from reporters, the BC Minister of Health responded to our findings, acknowledging that the
province’s measures were not sufficient to address the impacts of heat on vulnerable populations. We
will continue to push the BC government on this and have already arranged briefings with multiple
branches to discuss next steps.
Weenusk First Nation member, Mike Wabano, sets up camp for caribou hunting on a frozen river near Peawanuck, December 14, 2019.
As a result of warming temperatures, ice and snow cover is often thinner and more unstable.
© 2019 Daron Donahue
• BRAZIL | DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR POLICE ABUSE

For decades, police abuse has been a chronic problem in Brazil. Brazilian police have killed 22,000
people, most of them Black, in the past five years. President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain,
has encouraged police violence and proposed legal changes that would make it harder to hold abusive
officers accountable. Through our investigative research, along with our influence and physical
presence in Brazil, we have helped ensure that none of Bolsonaro’s damaging legislative proposals to
date have passed. We documented extrajudicial executions and other killings by police that resulted
from the use of excessive force. We have also shown the failure of authorities to investigate those
deaths properly and hold abusive officers accountable. In April, we joined families of victims,
community associations, the Rio de Janeiro Public Defender’s Office, and other organizations in
testifying at a Supreme Court hearing about strategies to reduce police killings in Rio de Janeiro, where
the problem is particularly acute. Upon the request of Justice Edson Fachin, we submitted
recommendations for improving forensic analyses and investigations into police abuses. In May,
Justice Fachin issued an opinion that cites much of this testimony and devotes 3 of its 71 pages to
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quoting Human Rights Watch’s presentation at the hearing. Fachin endorsed some of our
recommendations, such as the need for a concrete plan to curb police killings. We have also kept
pressure on prosecutors to ensure adequate investigations into police killings. In April, we sent a letter
to the Rio de Janeiro attorney general, criticizing his decision to dissolve a unit of prosecutors
specialized in police abuse. Three weeks later, we called for an independent investigation into a police
raid that left 28 people dead. The attorney general opened an investigation a few days later. Building
on our decades of work on this issue, we will continue to press for comprehensive reform, so that the
police become effective, professional forces that uphold the rule of law and fulfill their mission to
serve communities.
Policemen patrol the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro on September 14, 2012.
© 2012 Reuters
• INDONESIA | TERMINATING UNSCIENTIFIC “VIRGINITY TESTING” FOR ARMY OFFICERS

In July 2021, the Indonesian army chief told army commanders to end the invasive practice of “virginity
tests” as part of the recruitment process for female officers. All branches of the Indonesian military
and police had required “virginity tests” for decades, and the general’s announcement capped a long
effort by Human Rights Watch and many other women’s rights groups to end this abusive, unscientific,
and discriminatory practice.
“Virginity testing” is a form of gender-based violence and is a widely discredited practice. In November
2014, the World Health Organization issued guidelines saying, “There is no place for virginity (or ‘two-
finger’) testing; it has no scientific validity.” Human Rights Watch first exposed the use of virginity tests
by security forces in 2014. The police denied the practice but were contradicted by victims and others.
After the Ministry of Home Affairs explicitly ordered an end to the use of virginity tests, the police
stopped using them. However, the government failed to stop testing by the military. The Indonesian
Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Indonesian Medical Association remained silent and
never demanded that the military cease inflicting the tests. Women who had been subjected to testing
when they married into military families quietly spoke against it. The National Commission on Violence
Against Women consistently demanded that the military end it. Our Indonesia researcher engaged in
sustained advocacy, working with Indonesian activists, military wives and daughters, and individual
doctors, including some in the military, who regularly provided information to Human Rights Watch
about the practice.
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Our contribution toward eradicating this practice marks a small but important step toward gender
equality in Indonesia and demonstrates the value of our persistence and tenacity in pursuing reforms
over many years. Because of our joint and sustained efforts, Indonesian women who wish to serve in
the military today are no longer subject to this degrading and discriminatory practice.
Female national army officers and police officers escort hundreds of women who packed the area in front of the State Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia on
March 8, 2020, in commemoration of International Women’s Day.
© 2020 Kuncoro Widyo Rumpoko/Pacific Press/Sipa USA/AP Images
2.4 Our Methodology

Human Rights Watch is a leader in impartial documentation, wide exposure of violations, and effective advocacy that
leads to concrete, on-the-ground change that improves the day-to-day lives of people around the globe. Our
methodology to defend human rights consists of three steps:
Human Rights Watch investigates wrongdoing. Deep and careful research in some 100 countries brings an unparalleled
lens on human rights to the public. We stake our credibility on the facts we report, devoting great effort to ensuring
the accuracy and fairness of every word we publish. Our researchers go to the site of violations to interview victims
and witnesses, examine physical evidence, identify those responsible, and develop the most effective interventions.
They use witness testimony paired with photos, video, forensic tools, technological evidence, statistical analysis, and
satellite imagery—everything they can to piece together as complete and accurate a picture as possible.
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Human Rights Watch exposes the facts widely, often as events unfold. Our reach is extensive, so that our findings go
directly to people with the power to make a difference. We often collaborate with global outlets; there are daily 140
some media stories citing Human Rights Watch. We have a sophisticated in-house team that creates some 6,000
products annually in 60 languages with wide distribution, including to our more than 11.5 million social media
followers.
Human Rights Watch presses those in and with power for rights-respecting change. Our data and investigations are a
means to an end. With advocates in key capitals across four continents, we have access to influential policymakers
worldwide and convince them to use their influence to curb abuses. We focus on issues strategically, selecting projects
where we can secure concrete change in people’s lives.
2.5 Fundraising
Policy
Human Rights Watch reserves the right to refuse donations from individuals or institutions if the organization
determines that such funds might undermine Human Rights Watch’s credibility, independence, or reputation.
To maintain its independence, Human Rights Watch does not accept government funding. Our work is supported
entirely by private donations from a diverse, influential, and vibrant international community of supporters, including
the Human Rights Watch Council—a network of over 1,300 philanthropists, investors, and influencers.
We will decline a corporate donation if the company is a focus of current Human Rights Watch work, or the company
is a direct competitor of a company that is the focus of Human Rights Watch’s work. This policy applies to all
solicitations from corporations and individuals who are “major stakeholders”—that is, those whose role or affiliation
with a corporation makes their identity inseparable from the company. In cases where it is not clear whether a
donation would be in compliance with the policy, the Business and Human Rights Program will conduct due diligence
to determine whether Human Rights Watch can accept such funds.
Strategy
The director of Human Rights Watch Netherlands determines the fundraising strategy for the Netherlands in
coordination with the managing directors. This is primarily a major gifts strategy, focusing on high-level gifts. This
fundraising strategy is based on the cultivation of existing relationships with donors via events throughout the year
and regular contact. The aim of the Netherlands office is also to bring in new supporters for the work of Human
Rights Watch.
The Netherlands Executive Committee plays an important role in the fundraising strategy. Members introduce
Human Rights Watch researchers and advocates to their networks, which helps to expand Human Rights Watch’s
networks and to build relationships with key targets groups, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of
parliament, the media, potential partner organizations, and possible donors.
Human Rights Watch strives to keep our global fundraising budget to less than 20 percent of the organization’s total
budget, investing frugally but smartly in our fundraising operations. As our program colleagues have come to learn,
such a strategy—reaching out to the few who can advance the cause most effectively—gives us the best results and
represents the most efficient use of resources. As the Dutch Foundation’s primary purpose is fundraising, the ratio
for Human Rights Watch Netherlands will be higher than the ratio set for Human Rights Watch globally. Human
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Rights Watch Netherlands strives to maintain a fundraising ratio (vs total expenses and vs total revenue) of
maximum 20 percent. The actual ratios can be found on page 60.
Methods
Events
Fundraising Events
Usually, Human Rights Watch Netherlands organizes one major fundraising event per year: the Voices for Justice
Annual Dinner. The revenue of the dinner supports the organization’s work worldwide and constitutes a significant
portion of the funds raised in the Netherlands. Beyond fundraising, the dinner deepens relationships with existing
supporters, attracts new supporters, and further develops Human Rights Watch’s representation in the Netherlands.
After two consecutive years of cancelled dinners due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,, we were very fortunate to
be able to host the annual dinner again in 2021/2022. . While Covid-19 not completely out of sight, the dinner was of
a more intimate and exclusive nature, inviting our closest and most committed relations.
Cultivation Events
Dutch supporters of Human Rights Watch host briefings to introduce their network to the work of Human Rights
Watch. Human Rights Watch researchers and advocates are the guests of honor and give firsthand accounts of their
work in the field. These events steward existing supporters and increase name recognition and exposure to the work
of Human Rights Watch, reaching new potential supporters.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic related regulations and restrictions worldwide, we organized a number of both
digital and in-person briefings and events, including the Technology & Human Rights lecture series at the Dutch
Postcode Lottery office in June 2022.
Human Rights Weekend

The annual Human Rights Weekend serves as an outreach event and as an indirect fundraising tool. The Weekend is
open to the wider public to increase name recognition and to inform interested parties about the work of Human
Rights Watch, by screening various human rights-related documentaries and movies combined with expert talks and
Human Rights Watch researcher briefings. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 edition again took place
online, this year on Sunday 6 March 2022. During the 2022 Weekend, we host several smaller events for Dutch
supporters and relations.
Proposals
An individual interested in donating to Human Rights Watch may request a proposal defining the scope of the work
their donation would enable, including the timeframe, budget, and expected impact. Human Rights Watch also
researches foundations whose interests align with its work and submits proposals asking for support. A team of writers
in the Development Division drafts and reviews proposals.
Affinity Groups
LGBT Global Circle

The LGBT Global Circle of Friends is an international community of members who financially support Human Rights
Watch’s work to defend the rights of LGBT people with a minimum contribution of €5,000 per year. Members receive
benefits such as invitations to insider briefings with Human Rights Watch experts in the Netherlands and
internationally.
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Justice Circle
In 2016 Human Rights Watch launched the Justice Circle (also known as Lawyers for International Justice), a global
initiative aimed at deepening the International Justice Program's connection to lawyers and other individuals
interested in promoting justice for atrocities. Members donate a minimum of €2,500 per year to support the work of
the International Justice Program and receive benefits such as invitations to insider briefings and special events with
Human Rights Watch experts. In addition, Human Rights Watch is supported by several donor law firms in the
Netherlands.
2.6 Beneficiaries
The primary beneficiaries of Human Rights Watch’s work are victims of human rights violations or those at risk of
having their rights violated. Local non-profit organizations and civil society actors also benefit from our work as we
seek to protect their rights to operate freely and to improve the human rights environment in which they work. We
use our reputation as an internationally respected human rights organization to amplify the voices of local and regional
civil society actors by connecting them with policymakers or funders to whom they may not otherwise have access.
As one of our target audiences, policymakers are well served by our timely reporting and advocacy. They often call on
us for analysis in complex and fast-moving situations such as the refugee crisis in Europe. Our work elucidates complex
situations from a human rights perspective, bringing to light little-known rights violations and providing policymakers
with concrete, realistic recommendations to address violations. Media outlets also frequently turn to us for our
analysis and insight as they report on human rights issues. Our increasing production of multimedia helps provide
content for media outlets. Many have had their foreign reporting budgets cut, and our pre-packaged products—such
as video, audio clips, and photo essays—can be easily incorporated into their programming.
2.7 Communication
Human Rights Watch communicates with a variety of Dutch stakeholders, including individual donors, foundations,
companies, government officials, members of parliament, nongovernmental organizations, and media outlets. We
employ a number of communication methods.
Each year, Human Rights Watch publishes more than 50 reports and 1,800 news releases on human rights conditions
in some 100 countries, generating extensive coverage in local and international media.
Social media is an increasingly important communication tool. As of June 30, 2022, Human Rights Watch had more
than 38 million views on its YouTube channel, 33 million visits to its website, 2.8 million Facebook likes, 5 million Twitter
followers, and 1.1 million Instagram followers. A full list of Human Rights Watch social accounts and their links can be
found here.
Supporters can subscribe to a weekly or daily e-newsletter to receive periodic overviews of the world’s most urgent
human rights issues through written news, original video, pictures taken by award-winning photographers, and
podcast interviews with Human Rights Watch researchers and eyewitnesses.
In the Netherlands, Human Rights Watch communicates most often through direct contact with supporters: meetings,
emails, letters, and phone calls, as well as regular updates on the work that their support has made possible.
Netherlands Committee members receive a six-weekly e-newsletter. We also have a Dutch Facebook page with 4,430
followers, our Twitter account @HRW_NL has over 2,000 followers, and Deputy European Media Director Jan Kooy
@KooyJan has a popular and active Twitter account with almost 15,000 followers.
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2.8 Risk Management

The management of Human Rights Watch, Inc., designed a risk matrix focusing on the major risks the organization
faces and the current controls that are in place. Throughout the year the management updates, evaluates, and
monitors those risks. On an annual basis, they present a risk status report to the global board.
As this is an extensive report, this annual report only focuses on the principal risks for Human Rights Watch
Netherlands.
1. Covid-19 Pandemic
Over the past year, Covid-19 has evolved into new variants that are more contagious but less severe than previous
strains. As a result, many countries have relaxed or discontinued restrictive Covid regulations such as lockdowns, travel
restrictions and mask mandates, but a few still have such policies in place.
To the extent that local regulations permit, HRW has relaxed its Covid protocols to permit in-person work including
office use, in-person research and events, and business travel. HRW continues to require enhanced protocols to
protect vulnerable populations in its research, media and advocacy work.
HRW maintains Covid metrics for its offices and other locations where HRW staff work. These metrics are updated on
a regular basis and analyzed to determine if an escalation of its Covid protocols is warranted.
The organization’s continued response to Covid-19 has focused primarily on ensuring its duty of care as well as
continuity of operations. HRW staff continue to work largely remotely, and the organization maintains several
initiatives to help ensure staff resilience, work-life balance, and physical and mental health.
2. Fundraising Risk
Human Rights Watch faces two primary risks with respect to its fundraising operation—the unanticipated loss of a
significant donor and a sustained global financial downturn.
Since a significant percentage of Human Rights Watch’s income comes from a relatively small number of (institutional)
foundations and individuals, the unanticipated loss of one or more significant donors could affect Human Rights
Watch's ability to raise sufficient funds to cover its operations. We reduce that risk through the endowment and
reserve funds, which are managed by the Investment Committee of the international Board of Directors. In addition,
by building and strengthening the 1,000-member Human Rights Watch Council, we are able to secure multiyear
financial commitments and develop a steady flow of new supporters in our donor pipeline. Close communication with
such major donors also allows us to be flexible in reallocating funds if needed. Lastly, there is also a provision in the
organization’s worldwide budget to help offset potential major donor falloff.
A sustained global financial downturn could also affect Human Rights Watch's ability to raise sufficient funds to cover
its operations. If we were to experience such a downturn, the endowment and reserves would help reduce possible
funding gaps. Again, by continuing to build and strengthen the Human Rights Watch Council, we reduce the chances
that donors would decrease their giving or end their pledges. Lastly, Human Rights Watch continues to globally
diversify its fundraising, which also helps to spread the risk associated with specific economies.
3. Financial and other internal control failures, errors, and omissions

Lapses in oversight and/or financial and other internal controls could lead to fraud or material misstatement of the
organization’s financial position.
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Current controls in place:

• Documented fiscal policies and procedures
• Staff training
• Periodic reviews, reconciliations
• Internal and external audits
• Bank anti-fraud programs
4. Reputational risks
1) Reputational risks tied to staff or volunteers

Staff or volunteer misconduct has the potential to damage Human Rights Watch’s reputation.
Examples of controls in place:

• Regular consultation with direct reports
• Institutional policies and procedures
• Organizational ombudspersons
• Insurance
• Organization policies addressing full range of misconduct
• Ensure appropriate supervisory systems are in place
• Training for staff and volunteers
• Stress and resilience task force and counsellors
2) Reputational risks tied to donors and Committee members

Given Human Rights Watch's reputation for objective treatment of human rights issues, there is potential for
reputational damage if donors or Committee members have conflicts of interest with Human Rights Watch's
institutional policies.

• Identification of conflicts of interest
• Active management of Committees
• Vetting by the Business and Human Rights Division of potential conflicts of interest
3) Reputational risks tied to partnerships and special events

Given Human Rights Watch's reputation for objective treatment of human rights issues, there is potential for
reputational damage if partners or special event sponsors have conflicts of interest with Human Rights
Watch's institutional policies.

• Vetting of partners prior to agreements
• Contract reviews
• Insurance
4) Reputational risks tied to Board members

Given Human Rights Watch's reputation for objective treatment of human rights issues, there is potential
for reputational damage if Board members have conflicts of interest with Human Rights Watch's
institutional policies.
- Board actions alleged to be negligent may trigger civil, criminal, and/or regulatory action against Human
Rights Watch and/or individual Board members.
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• Board candidate vetting processes
• Research on members and Committee leadership vetting
• Insurance
Security risk
Security risks apply to all Netherlands-based staff working in the field.
Security remains a serious risk for our staff and the biggest impediment to accessing information needed to conduct
our investigations. Researching human rights violations and abuses sometimes requires staff to operate in hostile
environments, and when doing so, we must be fully aware of the security threats present in such locations. To manage
and mitigate security risks, we have a full-time security director to help enhance the physical security of our frontline
staff and that of our partners. Our researchers have undergone Hostile Environment and Emergency First Aid training.
They check in with headquarters staff on a daily—sometimes hourly—basis, conduct extensive security analysis, and
develop protection plans prior to arriving on mission.
IT security: attacks on and breaches of Human Rights Watch IT systems

Human Rights Watch's global profile makes it a target for state and non-state actors attempting to attack and breach
IT systems.

• Security assessments
• Staff training on threats and best practices; constant reminders
• Defensive/secure technologies
• Access controls and authentication
• Consultation and liaison with external subject matter experts as required
Data management
The lack of standardized information management systems increases risks pertaining to noncompliance with data
protection legal requirements and effective information retrieval and processing.

• Human Rights Watch data protection policy
• Human Rights Watch vendor management policy
• Improvement and automation of data management processes
• Training on European Data Protections Standards
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3. MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES 2021/2022

Human Rights Watch has earned a reputation as a leading human rights defender because of our ability to take on a
broad spectrum of human rights concerns—from discrimination to genocide. In 2021/2022 we worked to mainstream
the rights of marginalized people and include them in the larger human rights framework, including women, children,
LGBT people, people with disabilities, and victims of abuses related to the environment.
In 2021/2022, the activities of Human Rights Watch Netherlands included fundraising, outreach, and advocacy. Part of
the donations received in the Netherlands were used to support the work of Human Rights Watch globally. This work
resulted in significant impact described on our website: www.HRW.org/impact.
3.1 Fundraising
Total income
In 2021/2022, Human Rights Watch Netherlands raised € 3,469,737 in donations. This amount raised was donated
directly to the Foundation in the Netherlands. More information on the fundraising- and other ratios in comparison to
the total expenses and donations can be found in the financial report starting on page 63.
In addition to this revenue, Human Rights Watch Netherlands is involved in raising even more funds.
Some of the contributions are raised by the Netherlands team but the contributions were made to other Human Rights
Watch entities.
Major partnerships
Some of our major contributors who very generously support our cause and work by their substantive, dedicated and
continuing trust in us and partnership with us, include:
I – Dutch Postcode Lottery

Human Rights Watch is incredibly grateful to the Dutch Postcode Lottery (NPL) for its annual support of Human Rights
Watch, Inc., in the Netherlands since 2009. NPL is the world’s second largest private charity lottery and they provide
Human Rights Watch, Inc., with €1,370,000 per year in general operating support.
II – Foundation Support
Human Rights Watch Netherlands receives support from several Dutch foundations. Below we highlight two partners
of our foundational support, Adessium Foundation and Stichting Vluchteling.
• Adessium Foundation:
The support from Adessium Foundation continues to enable the work of Human Rights Watch in the Middle
East and on refugee rights in Europe. Our researchers and advocates have been able to keep an international
spotlight on the plight of civilians in conflict, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers throughout Europe, the
Middle East, and North Africa during another incredibly challenging year. The grant supportive of “Protecting
Civilians in Conflict in the Middle East and Advancing Refugee Rights in Europe” enabled us report on the
needs of some of the most marginalized people who are caught in or fleeing devastating crisis and conflict
situations around the world, including the war in Ukraine. Below are key impacts we helped to realize with
Adessium’s support over the last year of this grant:
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Ukraine | When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Human Rights Watch
responded immediately by deploying a team of emergency response researchers to the scene. Rich Weir
began from a base in Kyiv on day one, while Belkis Wille and Jonathan Pedneault started in Lviv, joining our
Ukraine expert, Yulia Gorbanova, who has covered the conflict in the country’s east since 2014. Several other
Human Rights Watch experts later joined the team on the ground, which has now visited more than 20 cities,
towns, and villages affected by the war, including in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions north of Kyiv, in the
southeastern region around Zaporizhzhia, and in the southern region around Odessa. In these locations, we
have interviewed victims and witnesses, emergency responders, morgue workers, doctors, and local officials.
We have also analyzed physical evidence, including attack sites, weapons remnants, gravesites, and in some
cases the bodies of those killed. Outside of Ukraine, we have deployed other researchers to Poland and
Moldova to interview refugees and are working from bases in Geneva, Berlin, and Washington.
Our aim in Ukraine has been to protect civilians caught in the fighting and to preserve hope for justice by
collecting and preserving evidence for future prosecutions. We are using our research to advocate for
authorities to safeguard access to basic services and humanitarian aid, allow safe passage for civilians out of
besieged cities, and conduct formal investigations of grave crimes. And we are working to ensure humane
responses to the millions of people who have fled Ukraine, the greatest number of refugees on the move in
Europe since World War II.
Our efforts have already contributed to positive impact, such as helping convince members of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) to refer the situation in Ukraine to its prosecutor for investigation and the
UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to establish a Commission of Inquiry. In March, using analysis by our digital
investigators, we urged Ukrainian authorities and internet companies to stop posting videos of captured
Russian soldiers, which violated protections under the Geneva Convention. We met with Twitter officials,
who later announced they would remove tweets by governments and state-affiliated media that depict
prisoners of war.
While the situation is currently still evolving and unfolding, a few key areas of work are described below:
Protecting civilians trapped in besieged cities | It is now well known that the Russian military is
indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals, schools, and homes, causing large-
scale civilian deaths and injuries. We also found extensive evidence of summary executions, torture, rape,
looting, and enforced disappearances in areas occupied by Russian forces—all of which amount to war crimes
and potentially crimes against humanity.
Our research and analysis have been crucial in broadening the public’s understanding of the atrocities and
showing the media and policy makers that the attacks and other abuses we have documented violate the
laws of war. During the first week of the war, the media mentioned our work 15,000 times, and our research
drew 1 million visits to our website. In April we urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to prioritize
the plight of civilians in Mariupol, where thousands of civilians have been trapped, with little to no access to
food, water, medicine, power, or means of communication, and no safe way to escape. Within a week, a
“safe passage operation” finally began, with support from the UN and the ICRC, allowing some civilians to
travel safely to Ukraine-controlled territory.
Documenting the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas | We have
documented numerous incidents involving the use of “explosive weapons with wide-area effects in
populated areas,” known as EWIPA, which heightens concerns of unlawful, indiscriminate,
and disproportionate attacks. These weapons have a large destructive radius, are inherently inaccurate, or
deliver multiple munitions at the same time. We are using our research in Ukraine, along with our work on
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EWIPA around the world, to build support for a political declaration to commit to ending the use of these
weapons.
In Chernihiv, a city in north eastern Ukraine, we documented how Russian aircraft dropped multiple unguided
bombs on an intersection in a residential neighborhood in the middle of the day on March 3. The attack
reportedly killed at least 47 people, wounded many more, and damaged a high-rise apartment, hospital, and
other civilian infrastructure. Although we were unable to exclude the possibility of a military target in the
area at the time, we found no evidence of a significant target. In Irpin, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, we exposed
how Russian forces repeatedly bombarded an intersection that hundreds of civilians were using to flee from
northern Ukraine to Kyiv, killing several civilians. And in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, we
documented and mapped 43 attacks in the first 11 days of the war that damaged civilian buildings and
impeded access to food and medicine.
In addition to these unlawful attacks, we have documented several cases of Russian forces using cluster
munitions in densely populated civilian areas, including in Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Vuhledar. These attacks
killed and injured dozens of civilians and damaged a hospital, an ambulance, a preschool yard, and many
homes, businesses, and civilian vehicles. Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 international treaty
because of their widespread indiscriminate effects and long-lasting danger to civilians. For each attack, we
interviewed victims and witnesses and analyzed satellite imagery, photos, and videos. We are advocating for
Russian forces to stop using these weapons and for governments to condemn these attacks.
During the reporting period, we conducted additional research on the long-term effects of EWIPA, including
a report on Israeli airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during the May 2021 fighting.
Our research and analysis found that the attacks apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war
crimes. And in December we reported on an attack in the town of Ariha in Syria’s Idlib governorate on
October 20, 2021, when the Syrian-Russian military alliance fired at least 14 large-caliber artillery shells into
the town, killing 12 civilians and injuring 24. The apparent lack of military targets in the areas that were hit,
amid homes, stores, schools, and markets, highly suggests an indiscriminate attack.
Ensuring safety and protection for people fleeing conflicts | Over 11 million people—a quarter of the
Ukrainian population—have fled their homes. We seek to secure dignified, respectful treatment for all people
fleeing war. We are documenting the anguish and hardship experienced by refugees inside and outside
Ukraine and advocating for their protection. Our experts are investigating Russian forces preventing civilians
from fleeing, conditions at the Hungary-Ukraine border and at Budapest’s train station, migrants held in
Ukrainian detention centers, and unequal treatment for foreigners—including students from Morocco,
Nigeria, Ecuador, and elsewhere—attempting to flee. We are also interviewing refugees in Poland, Slovakia,
and Hungary to verify accounts of unlawful conduct inside Ukraine.
European countries have opened their borders, and people have rushed to donate food and open their
homes for people fleeing war in Ukraine. We welcome this response and outpouring of solidarity and are
encouraging similar treatment for people fleeing other wars and crises, including the war in Syria, which
forced more than 12 million people to flee. In Denmark, Greece, Poland, and elsewhere, we have called out
the mismatched treatment of Ukrainian refugees and those from other countries.
Advocating for justice | In Kyiv, Yulia and Ida Sawyer, director of our Crisis and Conflict Division, are holding
meetings with Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office, the ministry of interior, the ministry of foreign affairs,
and a number of Ukrainian and international partners. We are briefing officials on our research findings and
sharing our recommendations for ensuring fair, effective, and impartial justice for war crimes and other
serious international crimes. Recommendations include prioritizing evidence preservation and establishing a
common system for archiving it, investigating alleged crimes by all sides, developing an overarching strategy
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for various accountability mechanisms, and protecting victims and witnesses and facilitating their
participation in judicial proceedings.
Syria | Securing ground-breaking justice for Syrian communities | On January 13, 2022, German prosecutors
convicted a former Syrian intelligence official and sentenced him to life in prison for crimes against humanity.
Anwar R. ran one of Syria’s notorious detention facilities, which was part of a network of prisons where
thousands have been tortured. Human Rights Watch has documented many of these abuses, and German
prosecutors relied on two of our reports during the trial. A week before the verdict, we issued a news release,
a Q&A piece, courtroom illustrations, and a special web feature with audio clips of our interviews, highlighting
the voices of several Syrians. Our work helped shape strong media coverage around the trial in Germany and
the international press, with media pickup in 16 languages across 50 countries.
The conviction represents a ground-breaking step toward justice for atrocities in Syria and a meaningful
moment for survivors of torture and sexual abuse in Syria’s prisons. It will also boost our advocacy for the
principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows authorities to prosecute serious crimes in their own courts,
regardless of where the crimes occurred. With our partners, we are calling for other countries to follow
Germany’s lead and prosecute serious crimes in Syria.
In another step toward justice and accountability for crimes committed in the Syrian conflict, states that are
parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) voted in April 2021 to suspend Syrian rights and
privileges at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). We had called on
governments to suspend Syria from the Convention for violating the treaty with impunity for years.
Protecting refugees returning to Syria | In October 2021 we published a report exposing how Syrians
returning from Jordan and Lebanon faced grave human rights abuses and persecution by the government
and affiliated militias, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and kidnappings. We are using our findings to
strengthen our advocacy with European countries, as well as neighboring countries, to urge them not to
forcibly return Syrian refugees. Last spring, we initiated a joint statement with partners, opposing Denmark’s
decision to revoke protected status for Syrian refugees from Damascus. Following this work, a number of
leading Danish outlets, including TV2 and BT Denmark, interviewed our researchers on the Danish decision.
Our work also paved the way for us to brief parliamentarians and instigate a debate around the validity of
this decision. Our October 2021 report has been cited by Danish courts in appeals to overturn decisions to
revoke protection status for Syrians.
Safeguarding the flow of aid to Syria | We have advocated for the preservation of life-saving aid delivery for
Syrian refugees and millions of people living in Syria. The UN mechanism that has enabled cross-border aid
deliveries was due to expire in July 2021. Leading up to the date of expiration, we urged the Russian
government not to block the UN Security Council from reauthorizing and expanding cross-border aid to Syria
from Turkey and Iraq. We also conducted more than a dozen briefings, held a press conference, and updated
stakeholders on the consequences of failing to renew the resolution. Following significant pressure we
generated with partners, the Security Council voted unanimously to extend authorization of a vital aid
corridor, which has averted a collapse of a crucial aid lifeline for millions of Syrians in the northwest region.
Additionally, we have worked with the Syrian Legal Development Programme to draft a set of procurement
guidelines for UN agencies and humanitarian organizations working in Syria to ensure that the way they
acquire supplies and services does not enable rights violations and corruption. The guidelines were published
in January 2022, along with a toolkit of indicators and examples for how to incorporate our
recommendations. The UN subsequently created a human rights due diligence working group to improve
procurement processes. We plan to engage actively with this group and provide assistance where possible.
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Libya | Over the last year, we continued to monitor human rights conditions in Libya, including serious rights
violations perpetrated by armed groups and the prevailing culture of impunity.
Advocating for renewal of the Fact-Finding Mission | In June 2020 the Human Rights Council authorized the
Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) in Libya to investigate violations committed by all sides of the conflict in Libya
since 2016 and to collect evidence of atrocities for possible use in future litigation. Last year, we exerted
intense advocacy pressure in global capitals to ensure that the Council renewed the FFM mandate in October.
We worked with Libyan and international NGO partners to write countless letters, release a steady stream
of research, conduct high-level advocacy meetings, and maintain public pressure online. Our joint efforts
helped shore up backing from key capitals, including support from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. In the lead up to the next HRC session in June, we are now urging
member states to renew the FFM mandate in full.
Pressing the government to prioritize human rights | We continued to call on the Government of National
Unity (GNU) to commit to improving human rights conditions in Libya and to ensure upcoming free and fair
elections. Following our report in March 2021, Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabeiba ordered officials to
establish a comprehensive security plan for polling places, which was one of our key recommendations. We
also reported on a draconian decree issued by the previous Presidential Council that greatly restricts basic
freedoms for domestic and international civil society groups in the country. In July we also briefed the
Working Group on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law of the Berlin Process on the
shrinking space for civic groups.
Ensuring respect for the rights of migrants and refugees | We stepped up advocacy with Libyan authorities,
the European Union, and member states to ensure the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in
Libya are respected as we continued to document widespread abuses by guards in prisons and smugglers
and traffickers that includes gender-based violence, sexual abuse, beatings and forced labor. After Libyan
authorities destroyed their makeshift shelters and detained thousands, we called on the government and UN
agencies to respond to the humanitarian emergency involving more than 5,000 African asylum seekers,
refugees, and migrants who were in need of shelter, food, and medical treatment. Together with two other
groups, we released in June 2021 a 20-point action plan that outlines steps the EU and member states should
take to save lives at sea, ensure predictable disembarkation and relocation of people rescued, and promote
safe and legal pathways for refugees and migrants. We reiterated our call on the EU to reset its cooperation
with Libya to focus on protecting rights and ensuring accountability for abuses.
Exposing violations of the laws of war | In March we conducted a research mission to Tripoli and other parts
of western Libya to monitor status of identification of mass graves in Tarhouna left behind after the 2019-
2020 conflict between parties. We also researched involvement of armed groups including foreign private
security companies from Russia, in emplacing prohibited landmines during the last war, which resulted in the
killing of civilians. Our previous reporting helped spur the European Union to announce sanctions against
two militia commanders for their role in the disappearance of hundreds of people between 2014 and 2020,
only some who had been identified among the mass graves in Tarhouna.
Additionally, during the reporting period, we:

• Documented the arbitrary arrest by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) of 50 residents from the
eastern city of Derna following a January 16 prison escape of five Derna men and called for their
release.
• Called on governments to ensure that the conflict in Ukraine does not worsen the food crisis in the
Middle East and North Africa, and to protect the right to affordable, adequate food for everyone.
Libya relies on Ukraine for over 40 percent of its wheat imports and within the first week of Russia’s
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full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the price of wheat and flour soared as merchants wary of supply
disruptions raised prices up to 30 percent.
Turkey | In February 2022 we began to investigate cases of attacks on Syrians and their property in Turkey,
highlighting where authorities have failed to respond effectively to ensure accountability and victims’ access
to justice. The research also scrutinizes deportations and relocation of Syrians in neighbourhoods where they
have been the victims of xenophobic attacks. We plan to release a short report in the coming months and
will urge stakeholders in Turkey and the EU to respond to xenophobic and racist attacks and discrimination
in a timely and appropriate way. This work complements separate research we are conducting on arbitrary
detention and refoulement of Syrians, including the deportation of 150 Syrian men from Istanbul in February
2022, which will inform a separate report.
At the same time, we continued to monitor the treatment of Afghan asylum seekers in Turkey, following the
Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. On October 15 we published a report exposing how Turkish
authorities are violating international law by summarily pushing back Afghan asylum seekers crossing into
the country from Iran. The report represents the first full documentation by a NGO of Turkey’s pushbacks of
Afghans, following the Taliban’s return to power in August.
Greece
Protecting the rights of refugees in Greece | Over the reporting period, we maintained pressure on the Greek
government to reform policies that violate the rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Human
Rights Watch and others have repeatedly documented, and continue to expose, how Greek authorities
apprehend asylum seekers on Greek islands and summarily expel them to Turkey. People are often forced
onto Coast Guard boats, then cast adrift on small inflatable rescue rafts near the Turkish sea border. Our
work contributed to an important win in March 2022, when the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),
for the first time, issued an emergency order ordering Greek authorities not to carry out the summary return
of an asylum seeker to Turkey from the Greek Islands.
Defending the lifesaving work of humanitarian rescuers | In November 2021 we exposed Greece’s misuse
of the criminal justice system to prosecute humanitarian rescuers who provide life-saving aid to migrants and
asylum seekers trying to reach Greece. Our analysis shows authorities are perversely misrepresenting the
activists’ work as a smuggling ring, and that the activities of the activists are protected under international
human rights law and Greek law. This work builds on our July 22 dispatch exposing Greece’s efforts to
intimidate and harass NGOs that are monitoring pushbacks at Greece’s borders. In September we organized
a hearing for the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders with activists in Greece, revealing the
scale of hostility toward civil society groups working on migration issues.
Promoting access to education for refugee children | During the year we maintained pressure on the
government to stop denying refugee children access to education. Our work has contributed to forward
steps, including the adoption and implementation of a national strategy for unaccompanied migrant children;
the legal abolition of protective custody in police stations; and the transfer of some 2,000 unaccompanied
children from the islands to the mainland; among other steps.
EU Migration Policies | Over the last year, we continued to press the EU and its member states to safeguard
the rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers by ending illegal pushbacks of migrants on land and at
sea, and calling out Frontex, the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, for its abuses the EU’s external borders.
In June we issued a report documenting how the actions of Frontex show a pattern of failure to credibly
investigate or mitigate abuses against migrants at EU external borders. We engaged in intensive advocacy
with representatives of Frontex, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. Our work has
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contributed to forward steps on the issue, including a report by the European Parliament highlighting how
Frontex failed to protect the rights of people at the EU’s borders. The EU’s anti-fraud watchdog, OLAF, also
opened an investigation into Frontex.
Additionally, during the reporting period:

• Together with Amnesty International and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, we issued a 20-point
action plan in June 2021 for how the EU and its member states can help save lives at sea, ensure predictable
disembarkation and relocation of rescued people, and promote safe and legal pathways for refugees and
migrants.
• In response to the Afghan refugee crisis in August 2021, we called out the EU for its hostile rhetoric and
harmful policies in responding to people fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Even before the Taliban’s return
to power, Human Rights Watch was calling on European countries in July 2021 to stop deporting people to
Afghanistan where the security situation was already deteriorating.
• In February 2021, we submitted our concerns about the growing global practice of pushbacks to the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, ahead of his report on the issue. Our
submission was reflected in Gonzalez’s final report in May. Building on his report findings, we joined 50
organizations in signing a joint letter calling on the Human Rights Council to create an independent
monitoring mechanism on pushbacks and expulsions of migrants.
• Our advocates also seized on opportunities to conduct targeted advocacy with key states. In July we joined
our partners in urging Italy to stop funding the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept migrants at sea and return
them to Libya where they face arbitrary detention or other rights violations. We also raised concerns about
Croatia’s new border monitoring mechanism, which does not meet standards for credibility, independence,
and effectiveness, and undermines the commitment of the European Commission to end violations on EU
external borders.
• Stichting Vluchteling
Stichting Vluchteling continues to support our work on Addressing Global Migration Challenges. Ending in
2021, it was once again renewed in 2022, for which we are highly grateful. In addition, we received an
additional, very generous, grant for our Ukraine Emergency Appeal. Below we present an overview of the
work that was possible thanks to the support of Stichting Vluchteling. Finally, a section is included that
showcases some joint activities with Stichting Vluchteling in 2021/2022.
Addressing Global Migration Challenges | The partnership with Stichting Vluchteling enables us to respond
to refugee and migrant rights abuses as they unfold. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessary
changes to our research and advocacy strategies, we made progress together in addressing some pressing
human rights issues pertaining to refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people. Stichting Vluchteling’s
partnership in defending refugee and migrant rights around the world is fundamental to our work. Their
support offers us tremendous opportunities to conduct rigorous research and sustained advocacy to advance
the rights of people on the move and promote their fundamental freedoms.
Improving Access to Asylum | Following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, we turned
our attention to the humanitarian crisis and the increasing number of Afghan asylum seekers leaving
Afghanistan either with visa sponsorship from members of the US-led coalition or applying for resettlement
from third countries. We engaged in advocacy to ensure a quick response to support Afghans seeking
protection from Taliban persecution and rights abuses and to help asylum seekers and refugees fleeing to
countries like Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. We published a Q&A on evacuations, a news release and policy brief
for governments, and a letter and joint statement to European Union member states urging resettlement
and complementary pathways for Afghans. In September, we published a dispatch on Afghan refugee
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resettlement in the US, and followed up with another dispatch in October once it became clear that the
resettlement numbers were falling short.
In October 2021, we responded to a regional shift pushing for returns of refugees to Syria from Lebanon and
Jordan and to the Danish government’s decision to remove “temporary protection” for Syrian refugees from
Damascus. We published a ground breaking report and news release documenting conditions inside Syria
from refugees who returned from Lebanon and Jordan between 2017 and 2021.Returnees described that
the conditions were the same they had fled in the first place: grave human rights abuses, persecution,
arbitrary detention, torture, kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances at the hands of
the Syrian government and affiliated militias. Returnees also struggled to survive and meet their basic needs
in a country decimated by conflict. We found that while parts of Syria have not had active conflict hostilities
since 2018, Syria is not safe for return.
The report garnered widespread media attention, including by Al Jazeera, TRT World, the Manila Times, the
New York Times, Reuters, and the UK Times, among others. AJ+ and BBC Russia both did a video feature about
our findings and Syria TV, VRT Belgium, and Al Jazeera interviewed our refugee and migrant rights experts.
We consistently reiterated that, despite decreasing hostilities in certain parts of the country, Syria is not safe
for returns. We capitalized on the media attention and traveled to Denmark with Amnesty International,
which published a similar report, to brief senior officials, including the immigration minister and staff of the
Foreign Ministry, on the conditions of return for Syrian refugees. We also held private meetings with
European ambassadors in Lebanon and briefed the Council of the EU Mashreq/Maghreb Working Party.
Following a full year of research in2021, we published a report on February 10, 2022, on the serious harm
and hardship that Cameroonian asylum seekers deported from the US have faced in Cameroon since return,
including arbitrary arrest and detention; torture, rape, and other abuse; extortion; confiscation of IDs, which
impedes free movement and ability to work; and abuses targeting family members. We will use the report in
our advocacy to ensure that the US government offer Cameroonian asylum seekers access to safety.
In the US, we used our findings to urge federal authorities to protect at-risk asylum seekers and migrants and
provide a path to legalization for deeply rooted immigrant populations. In 2021 the Biden administration
explicitly cited our research when granting temporary protected status (TPS) to Venezuelans in Marchand to
hundreds of thousands of Haitians in August. These victories are helping to prevent new arrests, detentions,
and deportations of Venezuelans and Haitians who qualify for TPS.
Investigating Arbitrary Expulsions of Migrants, Refoulement, Pushbacks, and Coerced Returns | In August,
the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted Resolution 47/12—its most substantive resolution
on human rights of migrants to date. Human Rights Watch provided input on the resolution and submitted
suggestions on the draft text. Following sustained pressure from Human Rights Watch and other NGOs to
include language on pushbacks, the resolution reaffirmed HRC’s commitment to taking action to avoid the
loss of life of migrants, including by preventing pushback practices.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has precipitated a surge of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers into
countries throughout the region, including Turkey. In October, we published a report exposing how Turkish
authorities are violating international law by summarily pushing back Afghan asylum seekers crossing into
the country from Iran. The report represents the first full documentation by an NGO of Turkey’s pushbacks
of Afghans, following the Taliban’s return to power in August. We timed the report to be published one day
before then German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss
migration, among other issues. We also documented forcible evictions of the Hazara minority group inside
the country at the hands of the Taliban.
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When the Afghan government collapsed in August, the EU as a whole focused on building fences, walls, and
policies to keep Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries rather than ensuring safe passage to Europe of
those most at risk. In the past year, we have continued to address pushbacks and abusive treatment of people
on the move at Europe’s borders. We reported on Frontex, the EU border guard agency, failing to safeguard
people against serious human rights violations at the EU’s external borders, called for a fairer migration
system, and urged Greek authorities to stop criminalizing humanitarian rescuers and end its targeting of
NGO's and activists that support migrants. We have called on European countries to help end deaths at sea
and worked with Amnesty International and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles on a 20-point
action plan to protect the lives and rights of migrants in the Central Mediterranean. Human Rights Watch’s
Ken Roth, Judith Sunderland, and Eva Cossé also met with Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri in December to
urge him to take up our recommendations on internal oversight, human rights compliance, and using
surveillance in the central Mediterranean to save lives, rather than to facilitate interceptions of migrants by
the Libyan coast guard and returns to abusive conditions in Libya.
In summer 2021, in retaliation for EU sanctions against Belarus over its crackdown on dissent, Belarussian
authorities actively encouraged migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to travel to the EU via
Belarus, providing them with visas to travel to Minsk and further transport to the border with Poland. In
August, some 3,000 people attempted to cross on the Polish- Belarusian border, and about 900 people were
detained. In response to what Polish authorities called “an attack against Poland,” authorities constructed
barbed-wire fences along the border and introduced a state of emergency, blocking access for humanitarian
aid, NGOs, and journalists. We immediately deployed researchers, advocates, and media experts to
document and shed light on the situation for people trapped at the Poland-Belarus border to garner
international support and a swift humanitarian response. Our report was covered at least 289 times in 12
languages across 38 countries, including by Gazeta, OKO, EU Observer, Der Tagesspiegel, Zeit online, La libre,
RTBF, Het Laatste Nieuws, and Reuters.
Documenting Deterrent Measures, Discriminatory Restrictions, and Detention Practices | In May, the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees released its first generalized statement criticizing the “externalization” of
migration controls, by which rich, highly developed countries use neighboring countries with less capacity as
buffers to divert asylum seekers and prevent migration. We welcomed this significant development, as we
have been calling for an end to the externalization of migration controls for more than 15 years.
To highlight US abuses at the border, in October we released a report and news release based on US
government documents we obtained after six years of litigation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
We reviewed over 160 internal reports of misconduct and abuse of asylum seekers at the hands of US officials
and border agents. Though heavily redacted, the documents include records made by Department of
Homeland Security (DHS)officials detailing abusive treatment by border officials, including due process
violations; harsh detention conditions; denial of medical care; discriminatory treatment; and physical, sexual,
and verbal abuse. We have since submitted additional FOIA requests to obtain information about what, if
any, accountability measures the government has taken. We plan to use the information we gather to
produce short reports or multimedia products about the systemic nature of abuses within DHS. We will
leverage our findings and media coverage to promote a reimagined humanitarian response to the border
that focuses on meeting asylum seekers’ basic shelter, health, and safety needs and ensuring fair access to
the asylum process.
We also documented and reported on abuses stemming from immigration policy and enforcement on both
sides of the US-Mexico border. We called on the US to end harmful border expulsion policies and provide
redresss for those who have already been harmed. Despite a setback to the Migrant Protection Protocols
termination at the US Supreme Court, we have urged the administration to use all available options to end
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it. In November, DHS Secretary Mayorkas filed a memo acknowledging the serious harms the US subjects
asylum seekers to in sending them to Mexico—citing our 2019 and 2021 reports.
Following a report on the impact of immigration detention in Canada on mental health, in October 2021
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International launched a joint campaign, entitled #WelcomeToCanada,
against the practice of transferring immigration detainees to provincial jails. According to government
statistics, in the three-year period between April 2017 and March2020, about a fifth of immigration detainees
were held in 78 provincial jails across Canada. At the height of the pandemic, between April and September
2020, 50 percent of immigration detainees were held in provincial jails. The average length of detention more
than doubled, to29 days compared with the same period the previous year, and at least 85 people were
heldfor100 days or longer. The campaign calls on the general public to support advocacy efforts by writing,
calling, or tweeting their premiers urging them to cancel the contracts that allow immigration detainees to
languish in provincial jails.
In October 2021, we reported on the degrading treatment of migrant children and adults in Northern France
where, five years after authorities dismantled a migrant camp near Calais, large numbers of migrants
continue to arrive in the hope of crossing the Channel to reach the United Kingdom. Today, some 2,000
migrants—including hundreds of unaccompanied children—are living in wooded areas, in and around
disused warehouses, and under bridges in and around Calais. Several hundred more are staying in a forest
near Dunkerque. We documented repeated mass eviction operations, near-daily police harassment, and
restrictions on provision of and access to humanitarian assistance. The report received widespread media
attention in France and has been instrumental in increasing the pressure on the government to end the
abuses against migrant adults and children in northern France. In addition, our findings and
recommendations were included in a request several French groups made to the Committee on the Rights
of the Child to initiate an inquiry procedure to examine abuses against unaccompanied migrant children.
Countering the Rise of Xenophobia and Shrinking Support for Refugees and Asylum Seekers | We continued
to seek an end to xenophobia and shrinking support for the migrant cause. In November, we released a report
and compelling video on alternatives to detention in six countries: Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Spain, the UK,
and the US. We found that case management models that provide legal services, access to housing, and other
forms of support, such as referrals to medical services, offer governments a humane alternative to detention.
We are using our findings to advocate for case management models and against rights-abusive detention
alternatives such as ankle shackles and telephone monitors.
We engaged in substantive advocacy with the Cypriot and Bulgarian Ministries of Interior and developed
partnerships with NGOs in Europe and North America and various national and international coalitions
working on immigration detention. In Canada, we are using the report as part of advocacy efforts with the
Border Services Agency to end the practice of using provincial jails for migrants and to promote alternatives
to detention. We are hopeful this project is just the start, as we have engaged with colleagues in Australia,
Japan, and Thailand about ways to take alternatives-to-detention work forward. With an op-ed in the Dallas
Morning News, not a usual placement for Human Rights Watch, we were able to reach new audiences on
refugee and migrant rights.
Joint Activities with Stichting Vluchteling
Public Outreach Events | In August, our Netherlands office co-organized a global briefing call “Mission Alert
| The Return of the Taliban in Afghanistan” in the aftermath of the fall of Kabul. The meeting was attended
by several Stichting Vluchteling colleagues. In October, Israel-Palestine Director Omar Shakir visited the
Netherlands. He spoke at a public event of the Amsterdam Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at the University
of Amsterdam and gave a briefing to the Netherlands Committee. During both events he touched upon issues
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faced by Palestinian refugees, which are also covered in his report “A Threshold Crossed.” Due to new
government restrictions in light of the pandemic, we unfortunately had to postpone other planned in-person
events.
Media Outreach | In the past year, we continued to reach out to policymakers, the media, and the general
Dutch public about our work on refugee and migrant rights around the world. Some recent examples include
the Standaard, Telegraaf, VRT Nieuws, Trouw, and NRC about the situation in Syria and the returns of
refugees; de Volkskrant, De Groene Amsterdammer, NOS, and NRC on our Afghanistan work; Het Laatste
Nieuws covering our Poland-Belarus reporting; and NRC on the death of a prominent Rohingya leader in a
refugee camp in Bangladesh.
We also used our strong social media presence in the Netherlands to raise awareness about the refugee and
migrant cause to the Dutch public. We tweeted about Frontex abuses, Denmark’s decision to remove
“temporary protection” for Syrian refugees, returnees to Syria, Syria not being safe for returns, our Syria
experts about the topic, Greek authorities targeting NGOs reporting on abuses against migrants, threats to
media freedom and journalists covering migration in Greece, the situation in Afghanistan, and migrant and
refugee rights in and around the EU. We also regularly promoted refugee and migrant rights on our Dutch
Facebook pages.
Joint Advocacy | In the past year, we continued our advocacy with Dutch policymakers on refugee and
migrant rights issues. In July, we wrote to the Dutch Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Migration to get the
government to contribute to the debates around follow-up on the EU Commission’s Pact on Migration. We
urged the government to support a border monitoring mechanism at EU borders to address Croatia’s abuses
against migrants, ensure accountability in Frontex operations, and protect lives and human rights in the
Central Mediterranean route. In August, we met with the Director-General for Migration at the Dutch
Ministry of Justice and Security to discuss our migration work and our policy recommendations. During his
visit to the Netherlands, Omar Shakir spoke to several policymakers and parliamentarians about the crimes
of apartheid and persecution in Israel-Palestine, including the realities for Palestinian refugees.
On several occasions, we discussed specific refugee rights situations with Stichting Vluchteling staff. Tineke
Ceelen and Eva Cossé spoke ahead of a trip to Greece and then met with INTERSOS in Greece in August,
where they discussed the situation at the border and on the mainland, as well as problems around NGO and
media access. In November, ahead of a visit to Poland by Stichting Vluchteling, we facilitated a briefing with
Benjamin Ward, Lydia Gall, and Tanya Lokshina on the situation at the Poland-Belarus border.
In addition, Refugee and Migrant Rights Director Bill Frelick had an introduction meeting with Benoit de Gryse
and our Deputy European Media Director Jan Kooy met with Stichting Vluchteling’s communication staff to
discuss upcoming priorities and exchange ideas for media outreach. We also promoted the work of Stichting
Vluchteling on our social media accounts, including here and here.
III – Stichting Run for Human Rights Watch
The Dutch initiative Run for Human Rights Watch was established in 2009 by a group of enthusiastic young
professionals with the support of the Netherlands Committee. As part of this initiative, 40 runners travel from the
Netherlands to New York each year to participate in the New York City Marathon. In the lead up to the marathon, the
group organizes fundraising and outreach events, including an auction and a benefit dinner, to raise funds and
awareness for Human Rights Watch. Thanks in part to the generosity of various Netherlands Committee members who
have offered to match these gifts, the runners have brought in more than 1 million euros for Human Rights Watch over
the years.
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After three challenging years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Run for Human Rights Watch group was unfortunately
again unable to run the NYC Marathon in November 2021, as the US borders only reopened the day after the NYC
Marathon. The runners group found a creative alternative for this, by running the Barcelona Marathon in stead on 7
November 2021. Throughout the year, the runners raised funds for the theme: “Ending Attacks on Education” / “Safe
Schools: Keeping Students and Schools Safe during Conflict.” Amongst the activities organized, one of the chief events
was an online charity auction that took place on 31 October. The group managed to raise an amount of €40,048.17 in
total, which was matched by the Brook Foundation.
Photo: Stichting Run for Human Rights Watch in New York in November 2019, the last year the group
ran the New York City Marathon.
IV - LGBT Global Circle
In many parts of the world, LGBT people face horrific abuse—death, torture, wrongful arrests, domestic violence,
censorship, and discrimination—simply for who they love, how they look, and who they are. In 2004, Human Rights
Watch became the world’s first international human rights organization to create a permanent LGBT Rights Program.
Over the last one and a half decade, we have challenged human rights violations across the globe and helped improve
the lives of LGBT people.
To make this important work happen, a substantial amount of funds is needed. The LGBT Global Circle of Friends is a
global community of members who support this work with a multi-year contribution of €5,000 per year (or more) and
enjoy benefits such as access to insider briefings with our human rights experts and invitations to special events.
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VII - Justice Circle
Over the past two-plus decades, the use of courts

empowered to try those accused of the world’s worst
atrocities—mass slaughter of civilians, rape used as a
weapon of war, and ethnic cleansing—marks a sea
change in human rights enforcement. But prosecutions
of grave crimes remain contentious and difficult due to
a range of political, legal, and economic factors. Justice
continues to remain out of reach for many victims. This
moment of increased opportunities and demands poses
a critical juncture for justice advocates and supporters
to build on the momentum for accountability. Human
Rights Watch and others need to bring effective pressure
to bear so that justice initiatives are not pushed aside by
states in favor of short-term political solutions.
Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program works with colleagues across Human Rights Watch to conduct
on-the-ground research, cutting-edge analysis, and advocacy to ensure fair, credible trials of the gravest crimes before
international and national courts. The program works on pressing country situations such as Syria, South Sudan, and
North Korea.
Launched in 2016, the Justice Circle aims to deepen the International Justice Program's connection to lawyers and
other individuals interested in promoting justice for atrocities. The circle consists of a small group of dedicated
individuals who support and engage with the International Justice Program. Members donate €2,500 or more per year
to support the work of the International Justice Program and receive benefits such as invitations to insider briefings
and special events with Human Rights Watch experts.
3.2 Outreach & Advocacy

During the year of 2021/2022, we conducted a variety of outreach activities. Despite limitations posed by the Covid-
19 pandemic, we were able to organize a virtual online session on sports and human rights and series of expert
briefings. Moreover, we secured widespread coverage of our research by major Dutch media outlets. Even though the
Covid-19 pandemic was still impacting our outreach activities in 2021 and the start of 2022, we were able to organize
a series of expert briefings and engagements. Our work was covered by major Dutch media outlets and our global
staff-maintained advocacy touchpoints with contacts in the Hague and abroad.
Between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022, our Advocacy and Outreach efforts can effectively be pointed out by
highlighting a variety of activities and multiple types of news outlets with which we were able to regain and strengthen
our visibility after some challenging Covid-19 years. Indeed, while limitations posed by Covid-19 still affected our
efforts, we were again able to substantively gain traction in terms of media coverage and secure renewed our visibility
in terms of outreach events. With the core activities of Human Rights Watch Netherlands being development and
outreach, the organization has remained active in the Dutch political landscape through its advocacy initiatives. Doing
so, we develop and cultivate relationships with Dutch officials and members of parliament in the Netherlands as well
as abroad and raise our research findings and recommendations on pressing human rights issues. Again, despite Covid-
19 pandemic related restrictions, we have been able to continue our advocacy work throughout the year of 2021/2022.
Our advocates and researchers from the field had regular meetings about pressing human rights issues with members
of the Dutch and European Parliament, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Security
and Justice, amongst others. Using virtual meetings and other communication tools, Human Rights Watch kept Dutch
advocacy contacts informed about a variety of issues and pressed for action where necessary.
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Below presents a detailed timeline of Outreach & Advocacy initiatives and impact in the Netherlands in FY22:
In August 2021, we organized a Mission Alert Call regarding the situation in Afghanistan. As such, our Netherlands
office co-organized a global briefing call “Mission Alert | The Return of the Taliban in Afghanistan” in the aftermath
of the fall of Kabul. During this call, Patricia Gossman, Associate Director of the Asia Division, Heather Barr,
Associate Director Women’s Rights and Katrien van de Linde, Director Netherlands discussed the implications of
the departure of US troops after 20 years, the take-over of the Taliban, and the impact this regime change will
have on women and children in Afghanistan.
In September 2021, we took part in LexisNexis’s RELX Cares month. Over 200 Lexis Nexis employees received a
briefing from Gabriela Ivens, Head of Open-Source Research for Human Rights Watch’s Digital Investigations Lab.
Gabriela provided insights on how she works and which tools she uses. She focused her webinar on how Human
Rights Watch exposed ‘kettling’ practices the NYC law enforcement officials used on protesters in the Bronx, New
York.
In October 2021, we welcomed Omar Shakir, our Israel and Palestine Director, to Amsterdam. Omar is the author
of the report ‘A Threshold Crossed’—which found that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against
humanity of apartheid and persecution. During his stay in Amsterdam, he gave a lecture about his report for the
Amsterdam Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Amsterdam. In addition, he also gave a briefing
to the Netherlands Committee. During both events he touched upon issues faced by Palestinian refugees, which
are also covered in his report. Third, Omar provided a briefing to international law and tax firm, Loyens & Loeff
on the current situation in the Israel and Palestine region, and the implications his report had on international
policies.
In the second half of 2021, our advocates and researchers had several meetings with Dutch officials, including
parliamentarians, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice and Security on different human
rights issues. We kept our advocacy contacts informed both through virtual meetings and in person. Omar Shakir
talked to several officials about his report during his visit in October. Other issues covered by visiting staff included
refugee and migrant rights, EU policy regarding illegal pushbacks of migrants, the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan,
and human rights issues in Kazakhstan.
Dutch media outlets extensively covered the work of Human Rights Watch in fall/winter 2021. In September 2021,
Fereshta Abbasi was interviewed by Nieuwsuur on women’s rights in Afghanistan. In October, De Telegraaf
amongst others dedicated a full page to the destruction of and war crimes committed in Syria for which Sara
Kayyali, Senior Syria Researcher gave statements and recorded a video. In November, Sophie Richardson, China
Director, was interviewed by Zembla about the origins of the Covid-19 virus, and how the political playing field
influences the pandemic. Our recent report on executions and enforced disappearances in Afghanistan under the
Taliban, “No Forgiveness for People Like You,” was featured prominently on public broadcaster NOS.
During the first half of 2022, our work was defined by several outreach and advocacy initiatives in the
Netherlands. With support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, we were able to engage the Dutch public both online
and offline. We saw our work covered extensively in Dutch media outlets, with unprecedented attention for our
research after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We were also able to reconvene for live events after a couple of
difficult years during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, we have published various articles
and reports on the conflict. Our publications have received hundreds of media mentions in major Dutch
newspapers. Our Executive Director Kenneth Roth spoke with Nieuwsuur about numerous potential war crimes
by Russian forces. Following the horrific events that HRW documented in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, Jan Kooy
spoke with NPO Radio 1 about the importance of gathering strong and irrefutable evidence during this time.
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Furthermore, HRW Netherlands Director Katrien van de Linde explained the importance of securing war crime
documentation to younger audiences in a video produced by NOS Jeugdjournaal.
In the first weekend of March 2022, we held an online event featuring an exclusive streaming of Adam Sobel’s
‘The Workers Cup’ (2017), regarding the human rights circumstances of migrant workers that prepare the FIFA
World-championships 2022. In addition, Max Christern (ex-NRC Handelsblad journalist and HRW Netherlands
Committee member) interviewed Bettine Vriesekoop (old ping-pong professional and China expert), which
premiered on Youtube. Together they reflected on the Winter Olympics in Beijing, 2022, and discussed the
upcoming FIFA World Championship in Qatar, 2022.
On the 23rd of March 2022, ‘Netherlands for Ukraine’ and Human Rights Watch Netherlands organized a special
event called ‘Far away but so close!,’ at Capital C’s building in Amsterdam. Several high-level speakers were
present, supported by Human Rights Watch, Capital C and Sijthoff Media. Experts provided insights into the
conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and cyber security specialists discussed cyber-attacks and the consequences
on organizations. Business leaders gave personal stories about the effect this war has on people, teams,
organizations and businesses. In addition, various presentations about initiatives to help Ukraine were given. For
Human Rights Watch, Associate Director Programs Fred Abrahams and HRW Netherlands Director Katrien van de
Linde gave a presentation.
In addition to having a prominent voice in Dutch media for our coverage of the situation in Ukraine, we also
conducted key advocacy on the war. In The Hague, our Executive Director Kenneth Roth and our International
Justice Program Associate Director Balkees Jarrah met with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim
Kahn. During the meeting they spoke about a possible collaboration for sharing evidence on, mostly Russian, war
crimes.
Along with our advocacy and media work, the Dutch government’s loosening of Covid-19 restrictions made it
possible for us to organize live events with our network of supporters. In June, we held our annual fundraising
dinner at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Our final event during the reporting period was with the Dutch
Postcode Lottery and marked the farewell to HRW’s Dutch network of our Executive Director, who has been
leading our organization for over thirty years. Thanks to Ken’s guidance, our organizational reach has expanded
significantly. We now investigate human rights abuses in more than 100 countries, including the Netherlands. In
an interview with Buitenhof, Ken reflects on the state of the world today and what progress has been made for
human rights during his tenure.
Alongside Ken’s goodbye at the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s offices, we held a panel discussion about Technology
and Human Rights. The panelists included HRW’s Tech & Human Rights Director Frederike Kaltheuner, human
rights lawyer Nani Jansen Reventlow, and Open-Source Analyst at Bellingcat Nick Waters.
From a thematic and geographical perspective, some of the most prevalent and visible examples of our Advocacy work
in particular in the Netherlands are the following:
Rule of law in the EU | The Netherlands continued to be a key advocacy target of Human Rights Watch’s efforts to
ensure EU institutions are equipped and willing to address the decline of the rule of law in EU countries. Human
Rights Watch briefed the Dutch delegation in Brussels ahead of the two series of ministerial hearings on Poland and
Hungary under Article 7, the EU mechanism dealing with countries at odds with their EU rule of law commitments.
The Netherlands remains a strong supporter of EU action on the situation in both Hungary and Poland and has
fiercely supported the rule of law conditionality for access by EU member states of EU funding.
Migration policies | In August 2021, ECA’s Judith Sunderland and Philippe Dam met with Jan-Willem Beaujean,
Director General on Migration Policies at the Ministry of Justice. Human Rights Watch raised concerns on the
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continued patterns of push at external borders of EU member states and called for solid border monitoring
mechanisms. We also flagged our research on the failure of the leadership of the EU’s border control agency,
Frontex, to address human rights violations against migrants committed by governments where Frontex operated
or to investigate of its own involvement in illegal pushbacks. Human Rights Watch also pressed the Netherlands to
support greater solidarity among EU member states with first countries of arrival and to set up effective relocation
mechanisms and made recommendations on the EU response to the expected wave of refugees from Afghanistan,
following the take-over of the countries by Taliban forces. In October, Human Rights Watch also briefed high level
officials from the Dutch Marechaussee sitting at the board of Frontex about our findings, concerns and
recommendations.
Human Rights in Turkey | In June 2021, the Brussels permanent mission of the Netherlands co-hosted with Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International on the human rights situation in Turkey, ahead of a debate on EU’s relation
with Turkey among EU heads of states. During this briefing, Human Rights encouraged EU member states to
condition progress in their relations with Turkey to progress on human rights, and not to start discussions on a new
customs union with Turkey until core human rights and rule of law concerns are fixed. To date, discussions on a
renewed customs union remain on hold.
Human rights in Russia | Human Rights Watch lobbied repeatedly the Dutch government at Brussels-, Geneva- and
capital’s level to support EU leadership for the creation of the mandate of a UN special rapporteur on the human
rights situation in Russia. The Netherlands became gradually more supportive of the initiative. At time of this
writing, a final decision has still to be agreed by all EU member states.
Human Rights in Central Asia | Human Rights Watch reached out to the Netherlands following the January events
in Kazakhstan, during which hundreds of people were killed by security forces during a wave of protests, in
particular in the economic capital Almaty. The Netherlands has a strong interest in the human rights situation in
Kazakhstan, given the country host the only Dutch embassy in Centra Asia.
3.3 Press
Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland bolsters domestic press coverage of human rights issues by preparing and
distributing press releases and pitching stories tailored to the Dutch media. Major Dutch media outlets covered the
work of Human Rights Watch on a daily basis: Human Rights Watch’s research, findings, and recommendations are
covered weekly by leading Dutch news outlets, including NOS Journaal, Nieuwsuur, and radio outlets. In addition,
our researchers are frequently interviewed by a large variety of national news outlets, including Trouw, de
Volkskrant, NRC, Algemeen Dagblad, and more.
Because of hundreds of mentions in various Dutch news outlets, HRW is a go-to source for the Dutch public. Please
find below some of our Dutch press coverage in the fiscal year 2021/2022:
July 2021
✓ 7 July 2021 / NRC, ‘Taliban verdrijven Afghanen met geweld uit woningen’, the Taliban have been
on the rise in Afghanistan since international troops left the country. Militants loot and burn
houses, Human Rights Watch said.
✓ 27 July 2021 / NOS, Israël pleegde oorlogsmisdaden in Gaza, zegt Human Rights Watch, “Israel
indulged in war crimes during the most recent outbreaks of violence between Gaza and Israel,
Human Rights Watch says. The human rights organization has been investigating cases of civilian
deaths. "Died with no apparent military target nearby," HRW said.
August 2021
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✓ 11 August 2021 / De Telegraaf, Schaatsers riskeren 21 dagen (!) quarantaine bij bezoek aan
Winterspelen van Peking | Schaatsen | Telegraaf.nl. NickTol1 spoke to @KooyJan about what
this means for #human rights of athletes, journalists, and everyone in China.
✓ 13 August 2021 / Trouw, Chinese stuwdam in Cambodja is een ramp voor mensenrechten, zegt
Human Rights Watch | Trouw. “Cambodia gets clean energy thanks to a large dam. But the
construction violated the rights of thousands of people," Human Rights Watch said. The message
refers to the report 'Underwater' of 10.08.2021.
✓ 18 August 2021 / AD, Is Beijing juiste plek voor Winterspelen? ‘In China is het sinds 1989 nooit
meer zo slecht geweest’ | Buitenland | AD.nl. mention of Jan Kooy: ‘‘In 2021 that is really no
longer tenable. All over the world you have regimes that try to polish their terrible human rights
record with sporting events. It hasn't been this bad in China since 1989. You are talking about a
regime responsible for crimes against humanity. There's a truckload of evidence. Chinese
President Xi Jinping wants to pimp his reputation through the Games.”
September 2021
✓ 8 September 2021 / NOS, De uitzending van 8 september: Vrouwenprotesten in Kabul / Remkes

neemt formatie over / Proces aanslagen Parijs / Coronabewijs in horeca: hoe werkt dat? / 'VS
verkwanselde invloed' | Nieuwsuur (nos.nl). Much has changed for women since the Taliban
seized power in Afghanistan last month. Women have to adhere to Islamic dress codes and many
of the freedoms they had are in jeopardy. Nieuwsuur spoke with Fereshta Abbasi. She conducts
research on women's rights in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch.
✓ 8 September 2021 / NRC, Wetenschappelijke tijdschriften trekken studies Erasmus MC-
onderzoeker met dna Oeigoeren terug - NRC. “Human Rights Watch already warned in 2017 that
the Chinese authorities were taking DNA blood from Uyghurs on a large scale as a 'health check'.
However, DNA profiles from these blood samples were forwarded to the Chinese police for
database building. Uyghurs were often not informed about this, let alone that they had given
permission.”
October 2021
✓ 1 October 2021 / De Volkskrant. Taliban arresteerde al tientallen journalisten. Persvrijheid in

gevaar, waarschuwt Human Rights Watch | De Volkskrant. “The Taliban's guidelines are so
general that journalists are self-censoring for fear of ending up in jail,” said HRW director Patricia
Grossman.
✓ 9 October 2021 / De Telegraaf, Gruweldaden IS: 'Kan geur van dode lichamen nog herinneren' |
Video | Telegraaf.nl. Video with Sara Kayyali of HRW. It has been 10 years since the war in Syria
started. Now it seems that prosecution is finally possible for the many parties that have
committed all kinds of war crimes there. We spoke about it with chief of the Foreign Office of De
Telegraaf Frank van Vliet and Sara Kayyali, who is investigating the many abuses in Syria from
Human Rights Watch.
✓ 18 October 2021 / NU.nl, Human Rights Watch pleit voor rol Nederland in erkenning apartheid
in Israël | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl. The Netherlands should not wait for other
governments and organizations to recognize the Israeli government's policy towards Palestinians
in the occupied territories as apartheid. ‘‘That could make an important contribution to a
solution to the long-standing conflict’’, said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director of human
rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
✓ 20 October 2021 / DeGroene, Turkse militairen slaan Afghanen terug naar Iran – De Groene
Amsterdammer. “Like a madman, he hit my brother with a stick and shouted, 'Why did you come
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here?'” An Afghan woman told Human Rights Watch about the confrontation with a masked
Turkish soldier at the Iran-Turkish border.
November 2021
✓ 8 November 2021 / BNNVara, De belangenpandemie - Zembla - BNNVARA. A video in which

Sophie Richardson is interviewed about the political game surrounding the origin of the
coronavirus. Disturbing insight into working conditions and obstructive authorities in
investigation in China.
✓ 21 November 2021 / De Volkskrant, Ineens duikt de Chinese tennisspeelster Peng Shuai overal
op, maar dat leidt alleen maar tot extra argwaan | De Volkskrant. After the persecution of
hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the dismantling of the rule of law in Hong
Kong, it is possible the treatment of one tennis player who gives the last push for such a boycott.
Human Rights Watch researcher Wang Yaqiu shows Peng Shuai that even "athletes, however
prominent, are at the mercy of the incalculable power of the Chinese government." Wang: "No
one is safe."
December 2021
✓ 5 December 2021 / De Volkskrant, EU en VS veroordelen executies Afghaanse

overheidsmedewerkers door Taliban | De Volkskrant. The countries responded to a report
released last week by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, which documented
more than 100 executions and kidnappings of people who were police officers or soldiers under
the previous regime in Afghanistan. According to Human Rights Watch, 47 former members of
the security forces were also killed after surrendering or being captured.
✓ 30 December 2021 / RTL Nieuws, Man die opkwam voor stakende arbeidsmigranten in Qatar
krijgt drie jaar cel | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl. The national army of Myanmar
stormed the village of Done Taw in early December. Just before that, a local resistance group
attacked a military convoy with homemade bombs. In the ensuing act of revenge, the army
gathered all the men of the village together in a hut and set it on fire. "An extrajudicial killing, a
massacre," said Phil Robertson, HRW.
January 2022
✓ 3 January 2022 / NU.nl, Human Rights Watch vraagt IOC-baas Bach maand voor Spelen op te
stappen. Acording to HRW director Wenzel Michalski, it is high time that Bach resigned, like the
other top officials of the Olympic movement. Michalski thinks the IOC has no regard for the
oppression by the Chinese state of Uyghurs and Tibetans and the repression in Hong Kong. "If
even business demands that human rights violations against Uyghurs in Xinjiang be exposed by
businessmen, then it should be clear to Mr. Bach and others that their time has come," Michalski
told German radio. "They must step down and leave the job to a new generation of human rights-
conscious officials.
✓ 19 January 2022 / NOS.nl, , Verplichte app Olympiërs niet goed beveiligd: 'China graaft in
privégegevens'. the My2022 app, which Beijing Olympic Games participants are required to use
to submit health data, is subject to security vulnerabilities. In addition to technological flaws, the
app seems to be able to detect keywords such as "Tibet" and "Xinjiang", located in the Uyghur
region. HRW's China director, Sophie Richardson, argued that "all technological means are being
used to dig into private data and silence everyone."
February 2022
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✓ 5 February 2022 / Trouw, Human Rights Watch: 'Oeigoerse vlamontsteekster is middelvinger van
China naar rest van de wereld'. According to Yaqiu Wang, China specialist at HRW, choosing
Uyghur athlete Yilamujiang as flame igniters is "a middle finger to the rest of the world." HRW's
statements were accompanied by a storm of criticism of China and the IOC.
✓ 21 February 2022 / RTLnieuws.nl, Spelen een doorslaand succes? Het is maar net wie je het
vraagt. HRW recently called the Beijing Games "the horror Games", referring to the situation of
oppression of the Uyghurs. The IOC has knowingly partnered with China, according to HRW,
making them complicit in crimes against humanity.
March 2022
✓ 5 March 2022 / de Volkskrant, Onderzoek bevestigt berichten over discriminatie op basis van ras
en nationaliteit bij Oekraïense grens. Non-Ukrainians who fled the country are at risk of unequal
treatment. Interviews with dozens of non-Ukrainians revealed a pattern of blocking and delaying
foreign refugees from buses and trains. Associate director for Europe and Central Asia, Judith
Sunderland, argues that anyone fleeing the war should have an equal chance to leave the
country. HRW calls on the European Commission to make it clear to the Ukrainian authorities and
other interested parties that every person should be able to access the European Union.
✓ 17 March 2022 / NRC.nl, Human Rights Watch: ‘Rusland gebruikte clustermunitie in Mykolajiv’.
Based on interviews and analyzing photos and videos, Human Rights Watch has revealed that the
Russian military has fired missiles and cluster munitions several times at Mykolaiv, Ukraine. The
use of cluster munitions is prohibited by conventions. The OHCHR also reports that it has received
credible reports about the bombing of the Ukrainian city.
✓ 17 March 2022 / NOS.nl, Franse zenders moeten op zwart in Mali, persvrijheid zwaar onder druk.
HRW finds after investigation that Malian armed forces have killed at least 71 civilians since
December 2021. In response to the broadcasts, the Transitional Malian military government
wants to ban the news channels for making "false accusations". This puts pressure on press
freedom in Mali.
April 2022
✓ 3 April 2022 / Nieuwsuur, ‘Boetsja-drama lijkt oorlogsmisdaad, maar hoe bewijs je dat?’ After
possible war crimes in Butsha came out, Nieuwsuur spoke with HRW researcher Yulia Gorbunova
about proving war crimes. Gorbunova tells in the fragment that she spoke to inhabitants of Bucha
on the spot. She also talks about the importance of other sources, such as videos, which must
first be fully checked.
✓ 4 April 2022 / NPO Radio 1, ‘Vermeende oorlogsmisdaden in Oekraine.’ Following on from one
of HRW's most viewed articles ever about the alleged war crimes in Boetsja, Jan Kooy speaks
about what Human Rights Watch is doing to hold the perpetrators accountable.
✓ 4 April 2022 / Nieuwsuur, ‘Nieuwsuur fragment Fred Abrahams.’ Program Director Fred
Abrahams talks about parallels between current Russian responses to the allegations and past
events. "This is the Russian script of deception and distraction. We have seen it before in Syria
and Chechnya.
✓ 5 April 2022 / Jeugdjournaal, How do you prove that war crimes have been committed?. HRW’s
Netherlands Director explains the situation in Ukraine to the younger Dutch Audience.
May 2022
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✓ 18 May 2022 / NRC, Human Rights Watch: Russische troepen pleegden oorlogsmisdaden rond
Kiev Boetsja-drama lijkt oorlogsmisdaad, maar hoe bewijs je dat? Russian soldiers have
committed war crimes in Ukraine. Torture, summary execution, disappearances and unlawful
murder have been exposed by HRW, which bases its report on findings from 65 interviews,
physical evidence and photos and videos.
✓ 31 May 2022 / NRC, Online klaslokaal blijkt dataverzameling: ‘Gegevens van kinderen gedeeld
met advertentiebedrijven’. Online education platforms that have been used by children during
the pandemic, use tracking and share information about children with advertisement companies
and other parties. HRW has researched 164 education platforms and concluded that 146 of these
platforms have shared children’s personal information with 196 other parties or gave access to
the information.
✓ 12 May 2022 / NRC, Human Rights Watch: stop gebruik clusterbommen. Russian forces have used
six types of cluster munition, killing hundreds of civilians, while Ukraine is said to have used the
weapon at least once. Human Rights Watch calls for a termination of the use of cluster bombs
and urges Russia and Ukraine to join the international treaty that prohibits the use of cluster
munition.
June 2022
✓ 12 June 2022 / Buitenhof, Over de staat van mensenrechten. HRW’s stepping-down Executive
Director Kenneth Roth discusses contemporary issues concerning human rights and reflects on
whether human rights have improved in the thirty years he has been director of HRW. He
discusses Russia, China and Israel. Although banned from Russia, HRW can still monitor abuses
in Ukraine. China is the real threat, as they present their autocratic system as an alternative to
the democratic world system, but undermine human rights standards. Israel engages in
systematic discrimination of Palestinians and can be accused of fuelling apartheid.
✓ 16 June 2022 / RTL Nieuws, ‘Rusland gebruikt zeven soorten landmijnen in Oekraïne’. HRW
reports that Russia has employed seven types of land mines in the war with Ukraine. Some mines
were used with the goal to injure people. Both Ukraine and Russia use mines with the goal to
damage vehicles, but Russia is the only party using them to injure people as well. The use of the
latter type of landmines is prohibited in international treaties, but Russia has never signed these
treaties.
3.4 Evaluation
Human Rights Watch Netherlands and Human Rights Watch are committed to rigorous, transparent, and consistent
monitoring and self-evaluation. When looking at impact, the Human Rights Watch network determines whether it has
met its goals to bring about positive change for those facing human rights violations. Human Rights Watch Netherlands
and Human Rights Watch consider input on progress from key interlocutors, local human rights partners, and critics.
They gauge how effectively they have allocated resources. To ensure that the Human Rights Watch network reaches
the highest standards of accuracy and objectivity in its research and achieves the greatest impact from its advocacy, it
engages in self-evaluation throughout the year.
Often, since it takes a great deal of time to bring entrenched human rights violations to an end, Human Rights Watch
Netherlands and Human Rights Watch consider interim criteria for evaluation. These include:
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• whether we have succeeded in generating prominent Dutch press coverage about the violations
investigated;
• whether the Dutch or other governments acted on these revelations by protesting the violations or
exerting diplomatic or economic pressure on the abusive government;
• whether we succeeded in building or protecting outspoken Dutch opposition to violations;
• whether and how Dutch and other governments engage with the Human Rights Watch network or
adopt and implement new policies to address the violations it identifies and documents;
• whether efforts are reflected in support from public media and Dutch donors; and
• whether the violations we have investigated and reported on decrease or come to an end.
Fundraising success is measured by whether we raise the operating budget each year. A leadership gifts team focuses
on the strategy for exceptional gifts of USD $100K+, while a team of four managing directors each oversee a portfolio
of city directors, including the Netherlands (associate) director. Each city/country office determines its own goals in
coordination with her/his managing director.
All Human Rights Watch employees are required to set annual goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic,
and tangible. Six-month and annual performance reviews are completed for each employee by their supervisor,
evaluating whether the employee is on track to realize those goals. Netherlands staff meet weekly to review all current
projects and ensure efficient collaboration.
3.4.1. Evaluation summary of qualitative objectives
Fundraising
In the past fiscal year, our fundraising consisted primarily of the following entities and designations:
Dutch Postcode Lottery

The objective was to continue our current annual grant and to receive extra project support from the Dutch Postcode
Lottery. The current grant of € 1,370,000 was received in our Dutch bank account. We did not get nominated for extra
support.
Foundations
In addition, ongoing contact and collaboration resulted in the renewal and continuation of support from a range of
other major donor foundations in the Netherlands, including Stichting Vluchteling and Adessium Foundation.
HRW Leadership Dinner

Despite continuing uncertain conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic and consecutive infection waves, we were
fortunate enough to be able to organize our annual Voices for Justice dinner again in 2022, after two years of cancelled
dinners. This year it was titled the HRW Leadership Dinner, for its more selective and intimate character. The total
amount of donations raised during this evening at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam amounted to approximately €
800.000,00. This number includes both donations that we received that were pledged on the evening of the dinner, as
well as table purchases. This is a significant increase compared to our fundraising efforts of past years which totaled
€254,250 and €288,690 in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 respectively, when we organized alternatives to the annual
dinner.
Run for Human Rights Watch

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the 2021 group of Run for Human Rights Watch remained committed
and managed to raise €80,096.34 for our work on child refugee rights to education. This includes a matching donation
from Brook Foundation.
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LGBT Rights; International Justice; Ukraine Emergency Appeal

We continued to receive support from the vast majority of Dutch members in Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Global Circle
and a variety of law firm donors. The Human Rights Watch Netherlands office helped organize a global online event
during the Covid-19 pandemic to strengthen and cultivate both the relations between Human Rights Watch and Circle
members, and between the members themselves. In addition, together with our colleagues in the International Justice
Program, we remained in close contact with our law firm donors. In February 2022 Human Rights Watch launched an
emergency appeal after Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine to raise extra funds to protect civilians and
promote justice.
Events
After the difficult pandemic years, we were able to increase our organization of both off-line, in-person events again,
especially since 2022 again. Hence, in 2021/2022 Human Rights Watch Netherlands organized several successful events
and briefings by Human Rights Watch staff. These briefings, meant for current and new supporters, tackled topics such
as children’s rights, technology and human rights, and LGBT rights. Examples of these events are listed in paragraph
3,5 and include the Capital C fundraising event for Ukraine, and the Technology & Human Rights lecture series, among
others.
Press coverage
One of the goals of the Netherlands office is to generate prominent Dutch press coverage about the violations
investigated. In 2021/2022, the Dutch media regularly covered Human Rights Watch research and interviewed our
researchers on pressing human rights issues. We saw our work covered extensively in Dutch media outlets, with
unprecedented attention for our research after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An extensive list of examples can be
found in paragraph 3.3.
Advocacy
We have been able to continue our advocacy work throughout the year of 2021/2022. Our advocates and researchers
from the field had regular meetings to press human rights issues with Dutch government officials, members of
parliament and others, both in the Netherlands and in the EU. The matters being addressed ranged from EU migration;
Frontex’ ineffectivity in mitigating human rights violations at the EU’s external borders; crimes against humanity in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict; refugee resettlement schemes for Afghans in wake of the Taliban takeover, August 2021;
and asylum for Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion, February 2022.
3.5 Financial Summary

Human Rights Watch strives to keep our global fundraising budget to less than 20 percent of the organization’s total
budget, investing frugally but smartly in our fundraising operations. As our program colleagues have come to learn,
such a strategy—reaching out to the few who can advance the cause most effectively—gives us the best results and
represents the most efficient use of resources.
As the Dutch Foundation’s primary purpose is fundraising, the ratio for Human Rights Watch Netherlands will be
higher than the ratio set for Human Rights Watch globally. Human Rights Watch Netherlands strives to maintain a
fundraising ratio (vs total expenses and vs total revenue) of maximum 20 percent.
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Total expense ratios 2021/2022
Expenditure per category to total cost

Protecting and defending human rights 24.80%
Support the work of HRW Inc. 48.57%
Education, humanitarian, literary or scientic activities 0.17%
Advocacy & Communication initiatives 3.27%
Fundraising 13.60%
Management and administration 9.59%
Total 100.00%
Total ratios expenses to revenue 2021/2022

Result 2021/2022 is - € 77,303.69
Expenditure per category to total revenue

Fundraising* 13.90%
P&L result* -2.23%
Total 100%
*The ‘Fundraising’ category includes expenses related to fundraising work;

salaries of the development and outreach team, and operational costs (e.g., accommodation and office expenses that
need to be divided per headcount.
*As a Non for profit organisation, we strive not to have profit at the end of our fiscal year.
We closed FY22 with a negative result of € 77,303.
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Total ratios FY21 2020/2021
Expenditure per category to total cost

Fundraising 17.58%
Total 100.00%
Expenditure per category to total revenue

Result 2020/2021 is € 209,458

Fundraising* 16.27%
P&L result* 7.48%
Total 100%
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4. FUTURE
4.1 Strategy and expectations new fiscal year

Having defended human rights for more than 40 years, Human Rights Watch now comprises of 592 staff who represent
79 nationalities worldwide and strive daily to achieve equality, justice, and dignity for all.
The challenges to our work are immense, but we see encouraging signs that our steady, methodical approach to
advancing rights is making a difference, and that, with the collective strength of our partners and affected
communities, we can achieve change.
After years of joint effort with partners in Brazil, we are seeing momentum on high to address the scourge of police
killings that has plagued the country for decades. In Myanmar, our work with partners to expose the military junta’s
record of abuses is spurring a cascade of steps that will further isolate the abusive regime: major companies are
withdrawing their operations from the country and the European Union has expanded its sanctions regime.
Last fall, Tanzania—one of only three African countries that completely barred pregnant girls and mothers from
school—lifted its discriminatory ban following years of pressure that we generated with our partners. And through
persistent advocacy with global players like the International Monetary Fund, we are working to shape how
international financial institutions use their economic leverage to protect civic space, which could have a powerful
impact across many countries.
At the same time, we are confronting an era of intensifying challenges to human rights in every region of the world.
Russia’s brazen attack on Ukraine will have profound rights implications for years to come and has already harmed
civilians and displaced millions of Ukrainians. From Brazil to Turkey, populist demagogues are testing the limits of their
power by undermining democratic institutions and the rule of law. Meanwhile, authoritarian governments, such as
those in China and Saudi Arabia, continue to wield their power in deflecting scrutiny for the worst crimes—a trend
that is emboldening other autocrats to spurn international norms and seek reinforcement in the company of a growing
axis of tyranny.
These dynamics are making it more challenging than ever to hold perpetrators to account for serious crimes and to
tackle complex threats that demand significant levels of global cooperation. Climate-related harms are undercutting
fundamental human rights and will only intensify as temperatures rise. Harmful migration policies continue to
exacerbate suffering for people who are already fleeing poverty, violence, or other devastation. And governments are
increasingly weaponizing technologies to suppress peaceful dissent and propagate disinformation designed to
advance their own interests.
Below we outline our challenges and priorities for the next two years. We respectfully request a grant of X during this
period. A grant of this size would make a tangible difference in our ability to keep our work and staff whole to confront
the challenges facing our world and our movement. Thank you for your unparalleled partnership and continued belief
in our shared mission.
To meet the challenges in these dark times, Human Rights Watch must be prepared to maximize our influencing power
in the service of human rights—and we must do so in concert with our partners in the global ecosystem. Every
challenge to our health, security, and future is grounded in threats to our common humanity. In turn, any effective
response, whether to ensure we live in a pandemic-free world or to address gross violations from Ethiopia to Yemen,
depends on collective, collaborative solutions. This is the heart of human rights work.
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We must also look to continually innovate along all three pillars of our methodology. With strong programmatic
leadership in place, we are now building multiyear strategies with a focus on issues, such as the environment,
technology, and economic inequality, that could have catastrophic consequences for vast populations of people if we
cannot chart a course to address them. Sharpening our influence online continues to be vital to broadening support
for human rights values and driving humane, ethical debates around rights issues. All the while, we must be prepared
to test new avenues for exerting decisive pressure where it counts, by leveraging our collective and individual
strengths across the diverse movement for change.
In Amsterdam, the Netherlands Director has worked actively with the Co-Chairs, Executive Committee and Committee
to generate income for the activities of HRW during the second pandemic year. Due to the second Covid outbreak, the
turnover by Taliban ruling in Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine, there was a need for extra funding to subsidies the
extra work. The HRW NL network/community showed tremendous compassion and faith in the work of our
organization by contributing a total of € 1 million to support these global, extra activities.
In 2022, the Netherlands office worked closely with foundations, partner organizations and key cultural institutions
such as the Dutch Postcode Lottery, Stichting Vluchteling, the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the
artist duo Studio Drift. In the coming year HRW will strive to continue down this path by partnering with key cultural
organizations by for example hosting an HRW Summit in the cultural city of Arles in the South of France.
The outreach and fundraising events of the Netherlands office of Human Rights Watch continue to be very important
for the organization. These will be organized in collaboration with our Committee members and partner organizations.
The Human Rights Watch Netherlands Committee has welcomed new members and our younger group of supporters.
Run for Human Rights Watch, remains an important part of our yearly activities with a large group of alumni and
supporters. The Netherlands office will remain grateful to and in close contact with the many Dutch foundations and
individuals who support our work.
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4.2 Multiple year budget

Budget Budget Budget
2022/2023 2023/2024 2024/2025
INCOME € € €
Revenue from individuals 721,084 721,084 721,084

Revenue from foundations & corporations 723,000 723,000 723,000
Revenue from legacies
Revenue from lotteries
Total Income 1,444,084 1,444,084 1,444,084
EXPENSES
Contribution to objectives
Protecting and defending human rights 684,027 503,953 457,007
Support the work of Human Rights Watch Inc. 207,300 327,300 367,300
Education, humanitarian, literary or scientic activities - - -
Advocacy and Communication initiatives 135,227 139,153 143,307
1,026,553 970,407 967,613
Fundraising
Special events 17,800 18,300 18,800
Costs fundraising activities 370,020 381,140 392,580
387,820 399,440 411,380
Management and administration

Costs management and administration 102,227 105,253 108,407
102,227 105,253 108,407
Total Expenses 1,516,600 1,475,100 1,487,400
The projections are conservative, hence why the Dutch Postcode Lottery grant isn’t included in the
expected revenue. However, the Foundation expects to receive a significant amount from this donor
in FY23.
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5. FINANCIAL REPORT
To the management of Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland

Prinsengracht 583
1016 HT Amsterdam
Processed by Karene Diene

Date: November 3rd, 2022
Dear Board Members,
We hereby send you the financial statements for the year 2021/2022 of your Foundation.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting guidelines for annual reporting 650
for fundraising institutions of the Dutch Standards on Auditing.
5.1 AUDIT
In accordance with your instructions we have compiled the annual account 2021/2022 of the Foundation, including
the balance sheet with counts of €1,920,983 and the profit and loss account with a negative result of € 77,304.
5.2 GENERAL
5.2.1. Company
The promotion of domestic human rights including the elimination of the infringement of those rights and the
promotion of effective remedies following any breach, for the benefit of the public by:
(a) advancing education in human rights by teaching, producing materials or by conducting or commissioning
research (and publishing the results);
(b) raising public awareness and cultivating a sentiment on favour of human rights using publications, lectures,
human rights awards, the media, public advocacy and other means of communication;
(c) promoting the sound administration of domestic human rights law by conducting or commissioning research in
domestic human rights and publishing the same to the public;
(d) promoting the enforcement of domestic human rights law.
The promotion of international human rights for the benefit of the public by:
(a) advancing education in human rights by teaching, producing materials or by conducting or commissioning
research (and publishing the results),
(b) raising public awareness and cultivating a sentiment in favour of human rights using publications, lectures,
human rights awards, the media, public advocacy and other means of communication provided that this does
not extend to promoting directly a change in the law or government policy or the administrative decisions of
government authorities.
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5.2.2. Board of Directors
On June 30, 2022, the members of the board are:
Ms. Barbara L. Pirto, Chair

Mr. Justin A.J.W. Nieuwenhuys, Secretary
Ms. Janet Visbeen, Member
Ms. Michele A. Alexander, Member
Ms. Karene A. L. Diene, Treasurer
Director
Mrs. Katrien Van de Linde, Director for Development & Global Initiatives
5.2.3. ANBI-status
The Dutch Foundation has a so called ANBI-status. This means that since the Foundation only serves objectives of
general social benefit no gifts taxes are due and gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible in the Netherlands.
5.2.4. Appropriation of the net result 2021/2022

The negative result for the year 2021/2022 amounts to €77,304 compared to a positive result for the year 2020/2021
of €209,958. The proposed appropriation of result is to add the sum to the reserves, which is already reflected in the
financial statements.
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5.3 FINANCIAL POSITION

The balance sheet can be summarized as follows:
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6. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
6.1 Balance Sheet as at June 30, 2022

After result appropriation
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6.2 Profit and Loss Account 2021/2022
Actuals Budget Actuals Budget

2021/2022 2021/2022 2020/2021 2020/2021
Notes € € € €
INCOME 521,084
Revenue from individuals 6.5.1 707,684 521,084 572,117 790,200
Revenue from foundations & corporations 6.5.2 1,105,019 723,000 873,947 705,000
Revenue from legacies 6.5.3 - - - -
Revenue from Nationale Postcode Loterij 6.5.4 1,370,000 - 1,355,000 -
Contributions receivable revaluation 6.5.5 (4,796) - 91 -
In-Kind Revenue 6.5.6 291,831 - 0 -
Total Income 3,469,737 1,244,084 2,801,155 2,016,284

EXPENSES
Contribution to objectives
Protecting and defending human rights 6.5.7 482 - 358,650 -
Support the work of Human Rights Watch Inc. 6.5.8 2,601,938 559,000 1,391,634 1,129,000
Education, humanitarian, literary or scientic activities 6.5.9 6,002 2,500 5,039 2,500
Advocacy and Communication initiatives 6.5.10 116,033 132,957 127,054 118,086
2,724,454 694,457 1,882,377 1,249,586
Fundraising 6.5.11
Special events 71,685 13,500 9,153 114,500
Costs fundraising activities 410,617 377,629 446,502 341,243
482,302 391,129 455,655 455,743
Management and administration 6.5.12
Costs management and administration 340,161 162,414 253,665 138,071
340,161 162,414 253,665 138,071
Unrealized Gain/Loss 125 - - -

125 - - -
Total Expenses 3,547,041 1,248,000 2,591,697 1,843,400
Result before financial income (77,304) (3,916) 209,458 172,884

Financial Income - - - -
Result (77,304) (3,916) 209,458 172,884
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Signature of the financial accounts 2021/2022
Amsterdam,
Ms. Barbara Pirto Mr. Justin A.J.W. Nieuwenhuys
Ms. Michele A. Alexander Ms. Janet Visbeen
Ms. Karene Diene
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6.3 Notes to the statements

GENERAL
General information
Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland (the “Foundation”) is a foundation incorporated under the laws of the
Netherlands, having its registered office in Amsterdam. The Foundation is registered at the Commercial register of
Chamber of Commerce under file number: 41216606.
The Foundation has an ANBI (Algemeen nut beogende instellingen) status.
In English known as a Public Benefit Organization (PBO). RSIN number: 816121977
The Foundation is part of the global Human Rights Watch network. This international collaboration works to stop
human right violations. Human Rights Watch Inc oversees this group and maintains operational control and oversight.
The financial figures of Stichting Human Rights Watch are included of the consolidated financial statements of Human
Rights Watch Inc.
The general objective of the Foundation, also mentioned in the Articles of Association, is to defend human rights and
support the work of Human Rights Watch, as follows:
- Protecting human rights around the world in times of war and peace by documenting violations, publishing the
findings, and using this information to stop the violations and prevent violations in the future
- Undertaking educational, humanitarian, literary, or scientific activities to further this mission.
The Foundation also have additional objectives such as:

- Advocacy and communication initiatives
- Fundraising to support the worldwide operations of Human Rights Watch.
The Foundation’s primary purpose is to raise money in The Netherlands to support the worldwide operations and
programs of Human Rights Watch
Estimates
In applying the principles and policies for drawing up the financial statements, the board of Stichting Human Right
Watch Nederland make different estimates and judgments that may be essential to the amounts disclosed in the
financial statements. If it is necessary in order to provide the transparency required under the Netherlands generally
accepted accounting principles the nature of these estimates and judgments, including related assumptions, is
disclosed in the Notes to the relevant financial statement item.
GENERAL ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE ANNUAL ACCOUNTS

The financial statements are drawn up in accordance with the Netherlands generally accepted accounting principles.
Assets and liabilities are generally valued at historical cost, production cost or at fair value at the time of acquisition.
If no specific valuation principle has been stated, valuation is at historical cost.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Dutch regulation of RJ 650 “Fundraising
Organization”.
PRINCIPLES OF VALUATION OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

Comparative figures
The figures 2020/2021 have been reclassed for comparatives purposes. These reclassification do not have an impact
on the result or on the reserves.
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Tangible fixed assets

Other tangible fixed assets are valued at historical cost or production cost including directly attributable costs, less
straight-line depreciation based on the expected future life and impairments.
Receivables
Receivables are initially valued at the fair value of the consideration to be received, including transaction costs if
material. Receivables are subsequently valued at the amortized cost price. Provisions for bad debts are deducted from
the carrying amount of the receivable.
Cash and cash equivalents

Cash at banks and in hand represent cash in hand, bank balances and deposits with terms of less than twelve months.
Overdrafts at banks are recognized as part of debts to lending institutions under current liabilities. Cash at banks and
in hand is valued at nominal value.
Foreign exchange
All assets denominated in foreign currencies, including cash in foreign interest-bearing cash accounts, are translated
at the exchange rates applicable at balance sheet date. Foreign currency transactions are translated into Euros at
exchange rates applicable at the time of the transactions. All realized and unrealized exchange gains and losses on
foreign currency balances are included in the statement of income and expenses for the year as a component of other
income and expense.
Long-term and short-term liabilities

On initial recognition long-term debts are recognized at fair value. Transaction costs which can be directly attributed
to the acquisition of the long-term debts are included in the initial recognition. After initial recognition long-term debts
are recognized at the amortized cost price, being the amount received taking into account premiums or discounts and
minus transaction costs.
On initial recognition current liabilities are recognized at fair value. After initial recognition current liabilities are
recognized at the amortized cost price, being the amount received taking into account premiums or discounts and
minus transaction costs. This is usually the nominal value.
Continuity Reserve
The continuity reserve is held to be able to cover short-term risks and to ensure that HRW Netherlands can meet its
future obligations.
The Board of HRW Netherlands decided on the minimal amount of equity that should remain in the Foundation as a
buffer for ongoing liabilities. At the board meeting it was decided to reserve 50% of the operating budget in our
account. This minimum amount is indicated as continuity reserve in the financial statements.
Earmarked reserve
This reserve consists of amounts of gifts which are accepted with a stipulation to be spend on a specific purpose. Until
completely spent, these amounts are taken in the earmarked reserve. This reserve can’t be spent freely.
Payroll Cost Sharing

The expenses on Advocacy & Communication initiatives and Management & Administration include expenses for other
HRW entities as some employees employed by the Foundation also do work for HRW inc.
This has a negative impact on the total costs spent on these expense categories and the expense ratios.
HRW couldn’t fully implement the payroll cost sharing process for consistency issues.
The total amount of these expenses is € 230,772 see a breakdown below:

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Advocacy & Communication initiatives: € 85,526

Management & Administration: € 145,246
Total: € 230,772
PRINCIPLES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE RESULT
General
The result is the difference between the revenues and the costs and other charges during the year.
Revenue recognition
The operations of HRW are financed principally by foundation grants and contributions received from the general
public. Grants and contributions are reported at fair value on the date they are received. Grants and contributions
received as recorded as unrestricted, temporarily restricted or permanently restricted support depending on the
existence or absence of any donor restrictions. When a donor restriction expires, that is, when a stipulated time
restriction ends of purpose and reported in the statement of activities as net assets released from restrictions. Revenue
for special events is recognized when the even takes places.
Costs
Costs are determined on a historical basis and are attributed to the reporting year to which they relate.
Cost allocation
The costs are allocated to the objective of fundraising as well as management and administration based on the
following criteria:
directly attributable costs are directly allocated
costs not directly attributable are allocated as follows:
personnel costs based on a well-founded estimate of the time spent by employees
other costs following the distribution of personnel costs
Employee benefits
Benefits to be paid periodically
The benefits payable to personnel are recorded in the profit and loss account on the basis of the employment
conditions.
Amortization and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are amortized and depreciated from the date of when they are available for use, based on the
estimated economic life / expected future useful life of the asset.
Financial income and expenses

Interest income and interest expenses
Interest income and expenses are recognized on a pro rata basis, taking account of the effective interest rate of the
assets and liabilities to which, they relate. In accounting for interest expenses, the recognized transaction expenses for
loans received are taken into consideration.
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6.4 Notes to the balance sheet as at June 30, 2021
CURRENT ASSETS
RESERVES AND LIABILITIES

The earmarked reserve has fluctuated from €880,536 to €600,536.
This variation is explained by an adjustment in prior year (€125,000), the new contributions that were received
(€524,126.95) as well as the eligible payments (€679,127).
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CURRENT ASSETS
Contributions receivable
All receivables less than €5,000 have not been booked as revenue and will be recognized once the funds are received
for these nonsignificant balances. The total amount of all receivables less than €5,000 as of June 30, 2022 was €16.370.
RESERVES AND LIABILITIES

The earmarked reserve has fluctuated from €880,536 to €600,536.
This variation is explained by an adjustment in prior year (€125,000), the new contributions that were received
(€524,126.95) as well as the eligible payments (€679,127).
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Assets and liabilities not recognized in balance sheet.

Multiyear financial liabilities
There are two long-term rental commitments. One for the office lease and one for the copier.
Lease rent: EUR 10,623.60 per quarter
Lease printer: EUR 322.19 per month
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6.5 Notes to the profit and loss account 2021/2022
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Explanation deviations profit & loss account
Revenue
Realized versus budgeted revenue 2021/2022
Looking at the type of revenue “Foundations & Corporations”, there was a significant difference between budgeted
and realized revenue. The Foundation received significantly more donations than expected.
Realized revenue 2021/2022 versus realized revenue 2020/2021

In 2021/2022 there was an increase of revenue explained by more donations received from the individuals and from
the Foundation/Corporations.
In 2021/2022, the Foundation didn’t receive legacy donations (2020/2021: € 0).
We also note a significant increase in the revenue, which can is explained by a rise of the payroll cost sharing
In-Kind revenue
HRW Inc. is recharging the payroll costs of the staff providing work for the Foundation.
This work is considered as Pro-Bono and is classified as In-Kind revenue in the financials (2021/2022 : €291,831).
Contribution of objectives
Support the work of Human Rights Watch Inc.

To support the work of HRW Inc., HRW Inc., makes grant requests annually after the board meeting, once the fund
balance is confirmed. Each grant request will be accompanied by a detailed grant proposal including budgeting to
ensure approved funds are used for the purpose of the grant. No funds will be transferred prior to majority board
approval and full expense details of approved grants will be shared in the subsequent annual board meeting to mitigate
the risk of grants being misspent.
Education, humanitarian, literary or scientific activities

Expenses for this objective are related to the Human Rights Weekend, the annual outreach event that takes place in
January/February. Expenses related to this event are covered by a sponsor. The budget process for this event is
different from other expenses. Once it’s known how much the sponsor contribution then a budget is made.
This budget is not included in the annual budget. The small portion of the annual budget is for unforeseen costs.
Advocacy and communication initiatives

The 2021/2022 expenses significantly decreased compared to 2020/2021.
Fundraising
Special events
The special events expenses in 2021/2022 increased compared to 2020/2021.
This increase is explained by the Annual Diner being held physically unlike last year. This event generated additional
costs.
Management and administration

The 2021/2022 expenses have increased compared to last year.
This variation is explained by the payroll costs rise and by the travels, which have resumed since Covid.
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6.6 Expenses Specification overview

Expenses Specification Overview 2021/2022
Contributed to objectives
Protecting Support the Education, Advocacy & Fundraising Management Actual Budget
and work of Human humanitarian, Communication and 2021/2022 2021/2022
defending Rights Watch literary or initiatives administration
human Inc. scientic activities
rights
Notes 6.5.6 6.5.7 6.5.8 6.5.9 6.5.10 6.5.11

€ € € € € € € €
Direct program costs

Contribution support activities HRW Inc. - 1,722,811 - - - - 1,722,811 -
Eastern Europe - Ukraine - - - - - - -
Europe & Central Asia 151,150 151,150 25,000
Children's Rights - Attacks on Education and Global Advocacy - - - - - 50,000
Children's Rights 376,237 - - - - 376,237 200,000
Refugees 194,500 - - - - 194,500 117,000
Women's Rights 85,000 - - - - 85,000 93,500
LGBT Rights 39,740 - - - - 39,740 41,000
Disabilities - Institutions & Education 5,000 - - - - 5,000 5,000
Public Engagement - Digital Advocacy 17,500 - - - - 17,500 17,500
Multimedia 10,000 - - - - 10,000 10,000
Total Direct Program costs 879,127 1,722,811 - - - - 2,601,938 559,000
Operating costs
Employee expenses 6.6.1 482 - 3,196 113,457 406,334 237,126 760,595 554,800
Special Events 6.6.2 - - 2,468 - 71,685 - 74,152 16,000
Amortisation and depreciation 6.6.3 - - - - - 9,480 9,480 -
Accomodation expenses 6.6.4 - - - - - 55,257 55,257 72,200
Office expenses 6.6.5 - - - 847 - 15,329 16,175 6,800
Travel and representation costs 6.6.6 - - 338 1,729 4,239 2,776 9,083 12,800
General expenses 6.6.7 - - - - 44.00 15,619 15,663 23,900
Financial expenses 6.6.8 - - - - - 4,573 4,573 2,500
Unrealized Gain/Loss 125 125
Total Operating costs 482 - P a 6,002

g e | 80 116,033 482,302 340,286 945,103 689,000
TOTAL EXPENSES 879,609 1,722,811 6,002 116,033 482,302 340,286 3,547,041 1,248,000
Notes to Contributed Objectives

In 2021/2022 we reallocated the restricted direct program costs from objective ‘Support the work of HRW Inc.’ to objective ‘Protecting and defending human rights.’ for more
clarity on how the funds are spent.
Payroll Cost Sharing

HRW Inc. recharged, to its affiliated entities, their share of the FY22 payroll cost.
These General and Management costs include the Finance, Development and Human Resources and General Counsel departments.
On another note, the expenses on Advocacy & Communication initiatives and Management & Administration include expenses for other HRW entities as some employees
employed by the Foundation also do work for HRW inc.
This has a negative impact on the total costs spent on these expense categories and the expense ratios.
HRW couldn’t implement the payroll cost sharing process for consistency issues.
The total amount of these expenses is € 230,772.70 see a breakdown below:
Advocacy & Communication initiatives: € 85,526.26

Management & Administration: € 145,246.44
Total: € 230,772.70
This amount couldn’t be recharged to HRW Inc. for consistency reasons.
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Expenses Specification Overview 2020/2021
Contributed to objectives
Protecting Support the Education, Advocacy & Fundraising Management Actual Budget
and work of Human humanitarian, Communication and 2020/2021 2020/2021
defending Rights Watch literary or initiatives administration
human Inc. scientic activities
rights
Notes 6.5.6 6.5.7 6.5.8 6.5.9 6.5.10 6.5.11

€ € € € € € € €
Direct program costs

Contribution support activities HRW Inc. - 1,391,634 - - - - 1,391,634 600,500
Central Asia - Uzbekistan 36,000 - - - - 36,000 36,000
Europe & Central Asia 25,000 25,000 25,000
Children's Rights 18,166 - - - - 18,166 100,000
Refugees 77,000 - - - - 77,000 102,000
Women's Rights 75,000 - - - - 75,000 93,500
LGBT Rights 77,200 - - - - 77,200 134,500
Disabilities - Institutions & Education 5,000 - - - - 5,000 5,000
Digal Investigations Lab - Satellite Imagery 17,500 - - - - 17,500 -
Public Engagement - Digital Advocacy 17,500 - - - - 17,500 17,500
Multimedia 10,000 - - - - 10,000 10,000
International Justice - 5,000
Total Direct Program costs 358,366 1,391,634 - - - - 1,750,000 1,129,000
Operating costs
Employee expenses 6.6.1 197 - 3,329 109,455.51 376,308.86 225,998.670 715,289 485,800
Special Events 6.6.2 - - 1,235 - 9,152.66 - 10,388 117,000
Amortisation and depreciation 6.6.3 - - - 1,389.40 5,615.49 2,373.556 9,378 -
Accomodation expenses 6.6.4 - - - 10,144.83 41,002.01 17,330.746 68,478 60,600
Office expenses 6.6.5 - - - 3,715.94 8,890.30 2,552.852 15,159 6,800
Travel and representation costs 6.6.6 87 - 474 - 33.86 4,393.53 1,339.594 6,261 17,900
General expenses 6.6.7 - - - 2,047.33 8,939.73 3,497.518 14,485 25,200
Financial expenses 6.6.8 - - - 334.74 1,352.89 571.841 2,259 1,100
Total Operating costs 284 - 5,039 127,054 455,655 253,665 841,697 714,400
TOTAL EXPENSES 358,650 1,391,634 5,039 127,054 455,655 253,665 2,591,697 1,843,400
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Specification information Operating Expenses

See P&L Expenses overview
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7. OTHER INFORMATION
Independent auditor’s report
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT
To: The Board of Directors of Stichting Human Rights Watch
Report on the audit of the financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2022
Our opinion
We have audited the financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2022 of Stichting Human Rights Watch,
based in Den Haag.
In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Stichting
Human Rights Watch as at June 30 2022 and of its result for the year than ended in accordance with Guideline
for annual reporting 650 “fundraising organisations” (RJ 650) of the Dutch Accounting Standards Board.
The financial statements comprise:

1. the balance sheet as at June 30, 2022;
2. the profit and loss account for the year ended June 30, 2022 and;
3. the notes comprising a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory
information.
Basis for our opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with Dutch law, including the Dutch Standards on Auditing. Our
responsibilities under those standards are further described in the ‘Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial
statements’ section of our report.
We are independent of Stichting Human Rights Watch, and her group companies in accordance with the
Verordening inzake de onafhankelijkheid van accountants bij assurance-opdrachten (ViO, Code of Ethics for
Professional Accountants, a regulation with respect to independence) and other relevant independence
regulations in the Netherlands. Furthermore we have complied with the Verordening gedrags- en beroepsregels
accountants (VGBA, Dutch Code of Ethics).
We believe the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Report on the other information included in the annual report

The annual report contains other information, in addition to the financial statements and our auditor’s report
thereon.
Based on the following procedures performed, we conclude that the other information:
- is consistent with the financial statements
- does not contain material misstatements and contains the information as required by RJ 650.
We have read the other information. Based on our knowledge and understanding obtained through our audit of
the financial statements or otherwise, we have considered whether the other information contains material
misstatements.
By performing these procedures, we comply with the requirements of RJ 650 of the Dutch Accounting Standards
Board and the Dutch Standard 720. The scope of the procedures performed is substantially than the scope of
those performed in our audit of the financial statements.
The board of directors is responsible for the preparation of the other information, including the Directors report in
accordance with RJ 650.
Description of responsibilities regarding the financial statements
Responsibilities of the Board of directors for the financial statements

The Board of directors is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in
accordance with RJ 650. Furthermore, the board of directors is responsible for such internal control as the board
of directors determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the financial statements that are free from
material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
As part of the preparation of the financial statements, the board of directors is responsible for assessing the
company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Based on the financial reporting frameworks mentioned, the
board of directors should prepare the financial statements using the going concern basis of accounting unless the
board of directors either intends to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative
but to do so.
The board of directors should disclose events and circumstances that may cast significant doubt on the company’s
ability to continue as a going concern in the financial statements.
Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objective is to plan and perform the audit engagement in a manner that allows us to obtain sufficient and
appropriate audit evidence for our opinion.
Our audit has been performed with a high, but not absolute, level of assurance, which means we may not detect
all material errors and fraud during our audit.
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they
could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial
statements. The materiality affects the nature, timing and extent of our audit procedures and the evaluation of the
effect of identified misstatements on our opinion.
We have exercised professional judgement and have maintained professional scepticism throughout the audit, in
accordance with Dutch Standards on Auditing, ethical requirements and independence requirements. Our audit
included among others:
• Identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to
fraud or error, designing and performing audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtaining audit
evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a
material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve
collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control;
• Obtaining an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures
that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the
effectiveness of the company’s internal control;
• Evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting
estimates and related disclosures made by the board of directors;
• Concluding on the appropriateness of the board of directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting,
and based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or
conditions that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we
conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the
related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our
opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report.
However, future events or conditions may cause a company to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluating the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the
disclosures; and
• Evaluating whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner
that achieves fair presentation.
We communicate with the board of directors regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of
the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant findings in internal control that we identify during
our audit.
Amsterdam, November 18, 2022
RSM Netherlands Accountants N.V.
W.S.
drs. S.F. Fokker RA

HRW NL - Annual Report FY22 Incl. Independent Auditor's Report (Public Version)

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Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland

Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland

Annual Report 2021/2022

6.6 Expenses Specification overview............................................................................................. 80

1.1 Human Rights Watch, Inc.

1.2 Stichting Human Rights Watch Nederland

RSIN number: 816121977

1.3 Governance & Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of Human Rights Watch Netherlands in 2021/2022.

Board of Directors Netherlands Director

Ms. Barbara L. Pirto Ms. Katrien van de Linde

Mr. Justin A.J.W. Nieuwenhuys

Ms. Karene A. L. Diene Senior Coordinator (till 31 October 2021)

• The Board of Directors of the Foundation consists of at least three persons.

Responsibilities of Board Members

Expectations/Roles and Responsibilities of Board Members

Staff Human Rights Watch Netherlands

Development and Global Initiatives

Finance & Administration

Chief Programs Office

The compensation reflects fiscal year 2021/2022 ending 30 June 2022.

The compensation for employees is based upon the following standards:

• Equal secondary employment conditions for all employees.

1.4 The Netherlands Committee

Netherlands Committee chart FY22:

2.1 Mission Statement

2.2 Core Values

Human Rights Watch in The Netherlands

The specific objectives of the Foundation are:

Core activities and methods

2.3.1. Determination of Projects

How we prioritize and plan

Human Rights Watch Netherlands

• Afghanistan Emergency Appeal: Protecting Human Rights under Taliban Rule

We are grateful to our global network of supporters.

A mural calling for an end to violence against women in Kabul, Afghanistan

• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights:

• International Justice & Human Rights:

• UKRAINE | EXPOSING ABUSES IN THE UKRAINE WAR

Tetyana Tomenko in front of her house, which was damaged during

• AFGHANISTAN | PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER TALIBAN RULE

Two boys pass members of a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force,

• UZBEKISTAN | ENDING FORCED LABOR IN THE UZBEK COTTON HARVEST

• CANADA | DOCUMENTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CANADA

• BRAZIL | DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR POLICE ABUSE

• INDONESIA | TERMINATING UNSCIENTIFIC “VIRGINITY TESTING” FOR ARMY OFFICERS

2.4 Our Methodology

Human Rights Weekend

LGBT Global Circle

2.8 Risk Management

3. Financial and other internal control failures, errors, and omissions

Current controls in place:

1) Reputational risks tied to staff or volunteers

Examples of controls in place:

2) Reputational risks tied to donors and Committee members

Examples of controls in place:

3) Reputational risks tied to partnerships and special events

Examples of controls in place:

4) Reputational risks tied to Board members

Examples of controls in place:

Security risks apply to all Netherlands-based staff working in the field.

IT security: attacks on and breaches of Human Rights Watch IT systems

Examples of controls in place: