Extreme economic inequality should be seen as 'a cause of shame on the part of the international human rights movement', Alston argued. Moreover, he charged that major human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, had been deeply reluctant to factor questions of distribution and resources into their advocacy, and consequently the deep structures that perpetuate such inequalities have been left untouched. While reprimanding the human rights NGOs for their failure to address social and economic rights, Alston also argued against conflating these 'lop-sided and counter-productive institutional choices' with the structure of human rights law. Economic and social rights are a key part of that structure, he contended, even if they are often treated as 'minor league discussions' by human rights NGOs, and the United States has spent several decades trying to undermine them.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 442