Paper/Proposal Title
Strategies for Effective Human Rights Campaigns
Location
River Campus, Room M2265
Start Date
10-4-2013 1:00 PM
Abstract
This paper will explore the practical strategies behind some of the most innovative human rights campaigns of recent years. Examples will include the campaign to bring former Liberian president Charles Taylor to justice, campaigns for new standards to end the use of child soldiers and protect domestic workers, national efforts to overcome homophobic violence in Nepal and Jamaica, US campaigns for juvenile justice reform, and the courageous struggle of Libyan families to stand up to the Qaddafi regime to demand justice for a prison massacre. The paper will draw on interviews with dozens of advocates at the center of these campaigns to explore what “works” in human rights advocacy. A focus will be on the role of strategic alliances, opportunistic advocacy, documentation, and utilizing multiple points of leverage.
Jo Becker is the advocacy director at Human Rights Watch and an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is also author of "Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice" (Stanford University Press, 2013).
Strategies for Effective Human Rights Campaigns
River Campus, Room M2265
This paper will explore the practical strategies behind some of the most innovative human rights campaigns of recent years. Examples will include the campaign to bring former Liberian president Charles Taylor to justice, campaigns for new standards to end the use of child soldiers and protect domestic workers, national efforts to overcome homophobic violence in Nepal and Jamaica, US campaigns for juvenile justice reform, and the courageous struggle of Libyan families to stand up to the Qaddafi regime to demand justice for a prison massacre. The paper will draw on interviews with dozens of advocates at the center of these campaigns to explore what “works” in human rights advocacy. A focus will be on the role of strategic alliances, opportunistic advocacy, documentation, and utilizing multiple points of leverage.
Jo Becker is the advocacy director at Human Rights Watch and an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is also author of "Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice" (Stanford University Press, 2013).
Comments
This biennial conference provides a unique space for scholars, practitioners and advocates to engage in collaboration, dialogue and critical analysis of human rights advocacy — locally and globally. Learn more about the Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton >>>.