European NGOs extended crucial psychological and welfare assistance for witnesses. The following year, the UN created a similar tribunal for Rwanda, with its operating arm in Arusha, Tanzania. Although the U.S. government and the NGO community have had their share of disagreements over the years, both sides have attached great importance to the work of the two tribunals and the principles of human rights accountability. Indeed, the United States has supplied the lion's share of the funds to sustain them. As the 20th century ends, the involvement of nongovernmental organizations in every aspect of human rights has grown extraordinarily.
Today there are human rights activists and organizations in virtually every country of the world.
Some are risking their lives and livelihoods for the sake of free speech, democracy, and religious and racial tolerance. Others are speaking out against torture, arbitrary imprisonment and contemporary forms of slavery. Still others are working to influence international financial institutions, promote development, limit child labor, ban landmines and eliminate trafficking in women and girls. The world is still far from eliminating even the grossest human rights violations, and the principles detailed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are far from being realized in much of the world. But the strength and vigor of the international human rights movement yields at least the hope that the next century will result in greater progress.