Researcher calls for assessment of NGO decisions and their impact on human rights protection

At this year’s summer academy of the Carlo Schmid Programme, Katrin Kinzelbach called for a systematic assessment of the impact NGO decisions have on human rights protection. Citing GPPi research on political prisoners, Kinzelbach pointed out how political prisoners in Iran who belong to an ethnic minority have a significantly lower chance of being adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International than other Iranian political prisoners. Despite these challenges, Kinzelbach argued that NGOs play a pivotal role for human rights protection and must keep their seat at the table in UN human rights bodies.