Essay Sample on Human Rights Watch's Policy of Ensuring the ICC's Impartiality

Human Rights Watch (HRW) refers to an international nongovernmental institution that has its headquarters in New York, and it conducts advocacy and research regarding human rights. HRW was founded in 1978, and during that time it was called "Helsinki Watch" ("About Us," n.d). The organization mainly aims at saving lives and protecting rights ("strategic plan," n.d). It defends the rights of individuals globally in over 70 nations by spotlighting any abuses and even bringing the perpetrators to justice ("About Us," n.d).

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The policy of the organization will be ensuring that the International Criminal Court (ICC) acts impartially and effectively in investigating, prosecuting, and conducting trails regarding major crimes. Over the years, the ICC has been faced with several challenges including credibility, legitimacy, and high expectations that, in many cases, results in disappointment (Kaul, 2007). In some of the cases like Thomas Lubanga trial, the credibility of the ICC has been questioned as it spent several billion euros, and it only had the capability of producing the first verdict of the case. The ICC area was mainly chosen because HRW aims at becoming a voice of justice for every individual without discretion or discrimination and this can only be achieved if the ICC acts effectively in investigating, prosecuting, and conducting main crimes trails.

According to Steiss (2019), in every organization, strategic planning effort is essential because it gives institutions the chance of being proactive instead of reactive. The reason is that it enables an organization to foresee the future efficiently and adequately prepare by taking the required precautions in avoiding anticipated unfavorable scenarios. Also, strategic planning helps in setting up direction through defining the direction through which a firm should travel by outlining realistic goals and objectives in line with an institution's mission and vision (Wolf & Floyd, 2017). Strategic planning efforts increases the operational efficiency of an organization. It does this by giving the management of an organization the roadmap of aligning its functional activities in achieving the set goals (Alston & Bryson, 2013).

Kohzadi and Hafezi (2016) argue that strategic planning enables a firm to move from its current situation it has to a desirable state. The efforts placed on strategic planning affects companies in different ways, including improving performance. If an organization has good plans for its organization that are in line with its goals and objectives, then the performance will increase as it will be doing things that benefit the firms. Furthermore, it improves performance since the process mainly commences by assessing the current economic situation (Bryson, 2018). It can improve the financial area of an organization. Therefore, this is an indication that HRW can benefit from strategic planning while it ensures that it achieves its goal of saving lives and protecting rights.

Strategic planning is essential as it makes an organization to improve growth. It does this by ensuring that an organization achieves its set goals and objectives. There are different strategic planning models that can help an organization to improve growth, including Basic Strategic Planning model and Issue - Based Planning model. The things that might result in improved growth includes setting objectives, reviewing performance, good organizational structure, and allocating budget efficiently (Ansoff et al., 2018). Also, if the strategy of an organization is sustainable, then it will result in a sustainability culture that further leads to positive employee engagement (Galpin, Whitttington, & Bell, 2015).

According to Steiner (2010), for an organization to implement a strategic plan effectively, then it should first start by communicating its objectives that are driven by the vision and values of the organization. In the case of HRW, apart from communicating effectively, it should enhance accountability. The organization should know the way the activities it engages in affects the company's success. Furthermore, creating focus and being action-oriented will ensure that the main policy of Human Rights Watch is implemented.

Even if the policy is effectively implemented, some challenges may come up. One of the challenges is being unable to get evidence for most of the serious crimes that the ICC gets. Most of the times, the witnesses are usually afraid to testify against the people who commit crimes due to fear. The other challenge is that being a new policy, and it might be difficult for the organization to implement it as most of the employees' fear change (Cohen, Eimicke & Heikkila, 2013). The other challenge is that the departments in HRW may lack alignment that makes it difficult to implement the strategic plan policy. Furthermore, if the big picture is not defined clearly, then, it will be challenging to link the daily activities of the organization to the set goals.

In conclusion, the policy of ensuring that the International Criminal Court (ICC) acts impartially and effectively in investigating, prosecuting, and conducting trails regarding major crimes is essential for HRW as most of the leaders do commit crimes that affect the citizens. Some of the challenges that the ICC have faced over the past include legitimacy and credibility. Furthermore, strategic planning efforts are essential for every organization since it makes it to be proactive, set up the right direction, and enables it to move to a desirable state. In effectively implementing the policy through a strategic plan, HRW should effectively communicate its objectives, enhance accountability, and create a focus. In doing this, the organization may encounter some challenges including being unable to get evidence; employees might fear change and difficulties in linking daily activities to set goals when the big picture is not clearly defined.

References

About Us. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/about-us

Alston, F. K., & Bryson, J. M. (2013). Creating and implementing your strategic plan: A workbook for public and nonprofit organizations. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.

Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2018). Implanting strategic management. Springer.

Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.

Cohen, S., Eimicke, W., & Heikkila, T. (2013). The effective public manager: Achieving success in government organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Galpin, T., Whitttington, J. L., & Bell, G. (2015). Is your sustainability strategy sustainable? Creating a culture of sustainability. Corporate Governance, 15(1), 1-17.

Kaul, H. P. (2007). The International Criminal Court: current challenges and perspectives. Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev., 6, 575.

Kohzadi, M., & Hafezi, S. (2016). The effect of strategic planning on organizational performance in industrial estate companies of Gachsaran 2014-2015 years. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926, 1(1), 1098-1108. http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index

Steiss, A. W. (2019). Strategic management for public and nonprofit organizations. Routledge.

Steiner, G. A. (2010). Strategic planning. Simon and Schuster.

Wolf, C., & Floyd, S. W. (2017). Strategic planning research: Toward a theory-driven agenda. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1754-1788. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0149206313478185