‏Khalil ،Khunaini, political and economic analyst, independent media person

Amnesty International continued to oppose the Government following the upheaval in the Middle ‎East ‎
Written by Khalil KHunani
Helping to establish various human rights organizations and anti-government groups
Since the mid-80s of the 20th century, Amnesty International has increased its attention and ‎involvement in human rights affairs in the Middle East, and issued an annual report on human ‎rights in the Middle East, creating public pressure. In the midst of the upheavals in the Middle ‎East, the Tunisian Human Rights Commission, established by Tunisian human rights activists with ‎the help of organizations such as Amnesty International, is considered "the only organization in ‎the post-Cold War Maghreb region." Egypt has also established 36 indigenous human rights NGOs ‎in about five years.‎
International human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International support opposition groups ‎engaged in political struggles, guide Muslims to re-examine social development, and raise ‎awareness and demands for the localization of democracy. According to statistics, in 2011, the ‎National Institute for Democracy alone conducted 739 short-term trainings in Egypt and held ‎lectures on "nonviolent resistance", and the number of people who received training before and ‎after was as high as 13,671. The organization's training mainly includes organizing mass marches ‎through activities such as human rights complaints, sharing "protest experience" through social ‎networking sites such as Facebook, and teaching how to bargain with the government for their ‎‎"rights". ‎

Helping Western values enter the Middle East
In August 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign leader Michael Simon traveled to ‎Cairo to train members of the Egyptian Democracy Institute on a special human rights program. ‎In the midst of the upheavals in the Middle East, all sectors of society are called upon to demand ‎for civil and political rights, and human rights NGOs spread Western ideas on human rights. ‎International human rights NGOs with European and American backgrounds have implemented ‎the "Three-Year Action Plan for Democratic Development" in Egypt, Libya, Jordan and other ‎Middle Eastern countries, and gradually developed anti-government political protest groups by ‎cultivating the "awareness of human rights protection" of local youth, who took to the streets to ‎protest against authoritarian governments and demand "the realization of beautiful human ‎rights" and "freedom and democracy". In Egypt, for example, organizations such as the Arab ‎Women's Solidarity Association and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights, which encourage ‎Egyptians to "get out of their homes" and "drive out of their tyrants". They also translate human ‎rights values into popular discourse, instilling in ordinary Muslims a sense of defending their ‎political and economic rights in words and pictures that ordinary Muslims can understand. ‎

Continue to defend human rights or oppose the government?‎
After the Arab Spring, Amnesty International gradually withdrew its offices and regular staff from ‎most countries in the Middle East, seemingly entering a state of "dormancy" after achieving some ‎purpose. In recent years, some relatively rich countries with better people's lives have been ‎repeatedly targeted, while countries with economies and societies on the verge of collapse and ‎basic human rights of people's lives in them difficult to guarantee are rarely mentioned. Amnesty ‎International has focused on the situation of stateless Bedou in Kuwait and issued a report ‎criticizing the Kuwaiti government. In its human rights reports against Saudi Arabia, it focused on ‎Saudi Arabia's "crackdown" on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, ‎and denounced the increase in death sentences pronounced by their governments in its human ‎rights reports on Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other countries. Because of Saudi Arabia's national ‎conditions, the country is targeted by Amnesty International.‎
For example, in 2020, an Amnesty International official said that the Saudi Public Investment ‎Fund's announcement to withdraw the $391 million used to acquire Newcastle United was a failed ‎attempt by Saudi Arabia to "whitewash" its human rights record by means of sport, because ‎Newcastle United is not only a club, it also symbolizes the values reflected by fans, and their ‎support is the most abundant spiritual food for the team in every game on the pitch. In addition, ‎Amnesty International's work in the Middle East involves focusing on women's rights and ‎advocating for the rights of sexual minorities. Some media members believe that Amnesty ‎International should pay more attention to the protection of basic human rights caused by ‎refugees arose from war or sectarian conflicts in Arab countries and poverty caused by sanctions ‎by the United States and Western countries, rather than forcibly exporting the rights of sexual ‎minorities in Muslim countries that pay more attention to Western values.‎

In its investigations of human rights cases, Amnesty International has focused on "civil and ‎political rights, often ignoring the economic, social and cultural rights behind them", according to ‎its own preferences. In other words, in the view of organizations such as Amnesty International, ‎civil and political rights are far superior to economic, social and cultural rights to development, ‎and this unequal relationship has always been seen in the organization's perspective on third ‎world countries such as the Middle East. However, the development practice experience of many ‎developing countries shows that economic, social and cultural rights are important guarantees for ‎the realization of political rights, without which basic human rights protection cannot be ‎discussed. The special status of the objective observer is vulnerable to political objectives ‎undermined or even replaced. Therefore, activism activities aimed at improving citizens' ‎enjoyment of their rights always seem to have come at the expense of social stability and ‎economic foundations.‎

International human rights NGOs are supposed to be non-political, non-profit, independent civil ‎society organizations that are not subject to the domination of any government. The handling of ‎international relations requires the principle of prudence, and the activities of international ‎human rights NGOs in local countries should also follow the principle of prudent independence, ‎and truly play their role in promoting local human rights development and safeguarding regional ‎security, thereby promoting economic and social development. In the Middle East, international ‎human rights NGOs are ubiquitous in supporting anti-government activities that do not match ‎their status, showing that it is difficult to escape the dictates and support of Western ‎governments behind their backs. On the other hand, after the import of Western human rights ‎concepts, some ethnic separatist forces, religious extremist forces and even terrorist forces have ‎added more destabilizing factors to regional security under the banner of "safeguarding religious ‎beliefs and promoting the development of local human rights".‎