The New York-based human rights group, Human Rights Watch, has written to the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, declining his invitation for the organisation to compile a report on paramilitary-style "punishment" attacks.
"We do not normally send a delegation to investigate one single aspect of a complex human rights situation," said the letter of reply dated February 8th.
Mr Trimble also extended an invitation to Amnesty International last week to examine the issue of punishment attacks. Amnesty agreed to send a delegation within the next month for "general talks" with interested parties.
In a letter to Mr Trimble, the chief executive of Human Rights Watch, Mr Kenneth Roth, said the organisation regularly sent researchers to Northern Ireland to investigate the "full range" of alleged abuses and to meet British government officials and the North's political parties.
"We would be happy to discuss with you and others in the Assembly the full range of human rights problems we have researched in the past and to carry on a dialogue about how best to end all such violations," he added.
According to Human Rights Watch, the group has examined many human rights issues in Northern Ireland since 1990.