saving whales (through international laws limiting whaling) and in forcing the
labeling of “green” (non- environmentally damaging) products in Eu rope and Can-
ada. They distribute critical assistance in disaster relief and to refugees, as Catholic
Relief Ser vices and Oxfam have done in Somalia, Rwanda, Sudan, Haiti, and Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo. And Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
has played a major role in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic and 2014 Ebola out-
break in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as helping to rebuild health infrastructure
in conflict areas. NGOs are the principal monitors of human rights norms and envi-
ronmental regulations, and they provide warnings of violations, as Human Rights
Watch has done in China, Latin Amer i ca, and elsewhere.
NGOs are also the primary actors at the grassroots level in mobilizing individuals
to act. For example, during the 1990 meeting to revise the 1987 Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, NGOs criticized the UN Environment
Program secretary- general, Mostafa Tolba, for not advocating more stringent regula-
tions on ozone- destroying chemicals. Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace
International, and the Natu ral Resources Defense Council held press conferences and
circulated brochures to the public, media, and officials complaining of the weak regu-
lations. The precise strategy of each group varied. Friends of the Earth approached the
By taking purposeful and public actions, NGOs can direct media attention to their cause,
which in turn can result in pressure on politicians to change policy. Here, Greenpeace activists
highlight the environmental degradation of palm oil production in Indonesia.
248 CHAPTER SEvEN ■ IGOs, InternatIOnal law, and nGOs