The authorities in Nigeria are possibly waking up to the reality of the true nature of the mission of Amnesty International (AI) in their country. Hopefully, the realization that the international ‘non-governmental organisation’ may not be all about safeguarding human rights may have finally dawned on the most populous African country, which has been in the grip of extremists themed terrorism of the Boko Haram sect (which refers to itself as Wilyat Gharb Ifrqyyah – Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP), particularly in the country’s north-east.
This realization and the frustration that naturally follows was given vent at a meeting between Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai and AI’s Director Of Research Africa, Netsanet Belay, It is quite surprising that the Nigerian Army had erroneously expected AI or any of their franchises or affiliates will have anything positive to say about their country or the war they have been waging against terrorists, whose reign of terror in the enclave they earlier controlled was so barbaric that even al-Qaeda disowned them.
The tide turned with the coming of General Buratai as he found the strategy to motivate the fighting forces coupled with the acquisition of the hardwares that were previously dismally lacking. The anger of the Nigerian side during the meeting with AI representatives and afterwards is then understandable: instead of receiving acknowledgement for rescuing civilian populations from bloodthirsty terrorists the NGO came on a fault finding mission that could be potentially escalated to bring war crime charges against those who fought terrorists.
The Nigerian side would have to do better than getting angry. Its best bet is to understand the entity it is dealing with. On the surface, AI markets itself as that infallible guardian of human right across the globe. But how well does this claim seat? A content analysis of the reports it has issued in recent years – going back over a decade reveals a glaring discrepancy between the wording of reports about western countries and the wording for developing countries. Its findings and report about western countries often betray a sort of timidity that suggests that the exercise as regards this set of nations was meant to fulfill all righteousness. For other nations, the indictment from AI is always harsh in its damning conclusions.
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An answer to this trend can be found in the funding of the NGO. AI brands itself as an entity that is funded through membership and public donations thereby hinting at insulation from governments and corporate behemoths. Nothing can be further from the truth. For example, page 11 of its 2011 Report and Financial Statement stated that “The Directors are pleased to acknowledge the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Oak Foundation, Open Society Georgia Foundation, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Programme, Mauro Tunes and American Jewish World Service. The UK Department for International Development (Governance and Transparency Fund) continued to fund a four year human rights education project in Africa. The European Commission (EuropeAid) generously awarded a multi-year grant towards Amnesty International’s human rights education work in Europe.”
How then can Amnesty International take donations from such entities and still pretend to be objectively holding all to accounts in human rights issues? Countries that are at the receiving end of AI destabilization campaign should learn to task this tool of Western propaganda as to its true intents in raising issues of abuse in their home countries. In addition to asking about intent, nation should also ask the Ngo about its methodology. Oftentimes, reports are written from the comfort of five star hotels without speaking to the actual people involved in the subject of review. An article by Rick Sterling titled ‘“Spreading False Information”: Eight Problems with Amnesty’s Report on Aleppo, Syria’ aptly captured the gimmick that is AI. The treatise raised fundamental issues about a report on carnage in Aleppo which the NGO twisted to fit into the narratives of the power blocs that are desperate for regime change in Syria.
The article cannot be reproduced in full here but its subheadings are as follows: Amnesty ignores external interference in Syria; Amnesty approves the violation of international customary law; Amnesty relies on witnesses who are biased and possibly paid and coached; Amnesty relies on dubious data from a biased source; Amnesty ignores important background information; Amnesty ignores important current information; Amnesty echoes allegations which are unverified and probably false; and Amnesty fails to recognize what keeps the conflict going. There is no record that AI has been able to explain away these glaring shortcomings and bias in its reporting on Syria. In Nigeria, there is proof that AI mostly based its reports on anecdotal evidence, hearsay and interview with subjects, whose identities and affiliations it has no way of verifying. This leaves the possibility that those it has access to are from the propaganda arm of the terrorist.
If Amnesty claims it was able to visit territories under terrorists’ occupation to gather facts first hand then it must be able to elaborate the relationship it has with Boko Haram to get cover for its staff that are ordinarily targets for a group that abhors anything western. If the authorities in Nigeria look closely enough, they will see more similarities than dissimilarities in the way AI treated the Syrian report and how its tried to indict its Army. This observation fits into the concerns of those who had argued that AI lent itself as a propaganda tool for destabilizing countries whose leaders stood in the way of big businesses.
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