Grisaille, it wasn't just one event though. That guy was being made spokesman as his full-time job. That was just the latest in a long string of very dodgy practices by that particular HRO (a famous international one) including:
1)Producing reports on situations in certain countries while missing out crucial information that gives all the relevant context and background, in order to better make it fit their agenda.
2)Encouraging volunteers to get involved in campaigns in certain countries based on 'information' they had no way of verifying.
3)Failing to have any procedures in place to warn volunteers - who were often young, inexperienced and naïve - about the dangers involved in the work they were being asked to do, or to inform them about the possible impact on their future if they ever have further dealings with the countries involved.
I also know of another, smaller HRO who offered to consider cases of asylum seekers in order to represent them and give expert evidence. Then when they were sent all of the sensitive case info and personal details of the person involved, they disappeared and became uncontactable. Maybe there was an innocent explanation, but it doesn't encourage much confidence.
But apart from the dodgy practices, I fundamentally disagree with the principle of raising money in countries where there is widespread support for certain policies, and using the funds to try and push a political agenda in a country where there is little to no support for those policies. It is a form of neo-imperialism, it can cause conflict and even put people's lives at risk.
In this thread reports from human rights groups are being used to discredit the experience of others as if they were neutral and purely fact-based. They're not, they are biased, they have a political agenda. Of course, we have no way of verifying the accounts of posters on here either but they cannot be automatically dismissed as lies on the grounds that they conflict with the version given by HROs.
Wrt the tourism industry in Dubai, I wasn't suggesting they should try to develop a different type of tourism, more wondering why they couldn't have developed a different industry altogether that could be more beneficial for humankind.
The only reason I mentioned the type of tourism is because it probably causes the biggest clash of expectations. In North Africa I would sometimes see tourists coming for that kind of cultural tourism, looking around the old buildings and walled city centres, seeing the traditional crafts etc. and it's generally better, although even in non-touristy areas the amount of complaints about restrictions during Ramadan surprised me.
But obviously that's not an option for UAE so why can't they go for something other than tourism?