Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Founded	1978; 47 years ago (1978) (as Helsinki Watch)
Type	Non-profit, NGO
Focus	Human rights, activism
Headquarters	New York City, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Product	Nonprofit human rights advocacy
Executive Director	Federico Borello[1] (Interim)
Revenue	$85.6 million (2019)[2]
Website	www.hrw.org

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.^[3] Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including war crimes, crimes against humanity, child labor, torture, human trafficking, and women's and LGBTQ rights. It pressures governments, policymakers, companies, and individual abusers to respect human rights, and frequently works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants, and political prisoners.

The organization was founded in 1978 as Helsinki Watch, whose purpose was to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Its separate global divisions merged into Human Rights Watch in 1988. The group publishes annual reports on about 100 countries with the goal of providing an overview of the worldwide state of human rights. In 1997, HRW shared the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.^[4] It played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions.^[5]

HRW's annual expenses totaled $50.6 million in 2011,^[6] $69.2 million in 2014,^[7] and $75.5 million in 2017.^{[8][needs update]}