When I started to read about watch dog organizations, I thought they were less than useless because they had no power to enforce what they were telling governments to do, even if the government agreed to abide by the guidelines.  The guidelines were noble, necessary, and in theory do-able, but if the government had 5 years to implement and report on their progress, who was going to get after them in those 5 years if they were doing nothing, or worse, and what was the punishment if they failed to comply?  After putting this depressing thought aside, I went on to think of positive responses to poverty and inequality.  Over time, the thought occurred to me that these groups are useful precisely because they are ankle biters.  They don’t go away even if they are too small, and have little, or no enforcement power.    They are the missing conscience of big government – even if they don’t quite get it right with policy.  I know you can’t legislate morality, but you can stand up and give witness to a group of people who are being denied basic human rights.  So bite on watch dogs.