Helsinki Watch

Helsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring implementation of the Helsinki Accords throughout the Soviet bloc. The Helsinki Final Act was signed in 1975, and the organisation was founded in 1978. It focused on the human rights and human contacts portions of the Helsinki Agreement.

The United States-based Helsinki Watch group was inspired by Eastern European efforts such as the Moscow Helsinki Group. In 1982, representatives of a number of the Helsinki Watch committees held an International Citizens Helsinki Watch Conference and formed the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

In 1988, Helsinki Watch evolved into Human Rights Watch.

This article about an organization in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Famous quotes containing the word watch:

    I don’t like comparisons with football. Baseball is an entirely different game. You can watch a tight, well-played football game, but it isn’t exciting if half the stadium is empty. The violence on the field must bounce off a lot of people. But you can go to a ball park on a quiet Tuesday afternoon with only a few thousand people in the place and thoroughly enjoy a one-sided game. Baseball has an aesthetic, intellectual appeal found in no other team sport.
    Bowie Kuhn (b. 1926)