US Shows Double Standards and Lack of Respect for NGOs - Empire? - Global Policy Forum

US Shows Double Standards and Lack of Respect for NGOs - Empire? - Global Policy Forum: "US Shows Double Standards and
Lack of Respect for NGOs
By Nick Cater
AlertNet
May 20, 2005
The United States needs to learn respect for international humanitarian law and human rights in dealing with aid agencies, urges commentator and consultant Nick Cater.
For shock and awe, there's nothing to beat an American government spokesperson discussing humanitarian action and revealing both double standards and a failure to grasp the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. Like precision bombing that does 'collateral damage' to their own troops, the officials making these pronouncements often miss the point, whether it�s the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) urging NGOs to promote their American funding in high-risk war zones or the latest State Department verdict on Uzbekistan."