I Book Review: Ethics in Action: The Ethical Challenges of International Human Rights Nongovernmental Organizations, Nongovernmental Politics, NGO Involvement in International Governance and Policy: Sources of Legitimacy
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410802600210 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 26/2, 281–307, 2008.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 281
PART D: DOCUMENTATION
I BOOK REVIEWS
Daniel A. Bel l and Jean- Coicaud (eds.), Ethics in Action: e Ethical Challenges
of International Human Right s Nongovernmental Organizations, Ca mbridge
University Press/United Nations University, Cambridge etc., 2 007, xiv + 320 pp.,
ISBN: 978–0-521–86566–1
Michel Feher with Gaëlle Kri korian and Yates McKee (eds.), Nongovernmenta l
Politics, Zone Books, New York, 2007, 693 pp., ISBN-13: 978–1-890951–75–7
Anton Vedder (ed.), NGO Involvement in International Governance and Policy:
Sources of Legitimacy, Mart inus Nijho Publishers, Leiden/Boston, 2007, xi + 234
pp., ISBN: 978 90 04 15846 7*
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are currently very much e n vogue. e y
are found i n just about all elds of human activity, including a nd not in the le ast or
last place, human rights. ough dicult to dene – their name aer all only indicates
what they are not – developments in human r ights can hardly b e thought of without
their activities. Both in the eld of standard setting and monitoring organisations such
as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Internat ional Commission
of Jurists, have had and conti nue to have considerable impact. Governments may not
always li ke their act ivities – in particular when these govern ments are the object of
criticisms – but on the w hole are in need of the reliable information t hat is generated
by NG Os. Obviously, not all NGOs are al ike. Some, like the ones just ment ioned,
have built a great reputation for reliability, others less so. To the latter category belong
the so-ca lled ‘Gongos’, Government Organi sed NGOs, that, though having the
appearance of genuine NGOs, in fact act on beha lf of the governments that pay for
them. Independence and reliability are the key terms to include in any denition of
genuine NGOs, in part icular in the eld of human rights.
Anton Vedder, who is a sen ior lecturer of eth ics and law at t he Faculty of Law of
Tilburg University, has done the human rights communit y a great service by bringing
together a group of experts that have written on the subject of NGO s. A er a n
introductory c hapter by the editor follow a chapter on percept ions of legitimacy (by
Vivien Col lingwood and Louis Logister) on internet activ ities (by A nke van Gor p),
technologically enhanced interac tivity and legitimacy ( by Corien Prin s), regulator y
legitimacy in global governance (by Peter van den Bossche), what makes an NGO
* Peter R. Baehr is honor ary professor of human r ights, Utrecht Universit y, the Netherlands.
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