Human Rights Activism

Human rights activism can often assist in the disruption of discriminatory behaviours and attitudes in local communities. One way this can occur is by encouraging community members to gradually recognise the emergence of alternative ways of understanding themselves and their fellow community members. This chapter presents a case study of a group of volunteers involved in the anti-prejudice movement, Human Library. The study examines how six volunteers, who act as Human Books, interpret their engagement in the Human Library method as a process that aims to rupture and discontinue the construction of distorted understandings of what it means to be human. In doing so, it discusses the construction and reconstruction of being human as a theoretical concept that emerges from the study and how it benefits from the philosophical considerations of Richard Rorty and Paulo Freire.

The present essay offers an interpretation of the character of Antigone in today's world, as a human rights activist. Through the analysis of her act of disobedience to State law, it is possible to understand the dynamics of counter-hegemonic mobilisations and the arguments used to support their claims. Nevertheless, the example of Antigone helps understanding the ambiguity of the human rights discourse, which arises from the presumption to struggle for universal and incontestable moral values.

With acknowledging that celebrity humanitarianism does indeed contribute partly in raising awareness of a global issue and human suffering (Littler, 2008), using a famous celebrity whose part of their livelihood is in establishing themselves and their brand as a form of commodity (Ford, 2001 p.30-34), should be seen more closely in another light. This essay will be assessing the role of celebrities within their respected industry and their impact on a particular chosen cause, in order to support the initial argument of how problematic celebrity humanitarianism is, especially for long- term beneficial results. This will be done through analysing and comparing the long-term profiting benefits for both the celebrity and the cause.
While indeed this focus on gaining benefits might be able to be used for helping the fundraising process of a global issue, there are a few elements that are in play, which resulted back in how the celebrities and their team benefits more than the cause itself (Littler, 2008). Besides that, there should be an attempt at analysing the process of addressing the issue, which often came from the decisions of not only the celebrity themselves but other contributing factors. Based on these two reasons, the significant focus on the financial benefits that celebrity humanitarianism contributed to
the cause should be analysed more, due to the possible problems that they are bringing, which could be seen as contamination (Kapoor, 2013). This means the notion should be re-evaluated.

Along with an in-depth discussion regarding the elements and the varying aspects mentioned above, this essay would use Korean boyband BTS (Bangtan Seonyeondan) and their Love Yourself UNICEF campaign as the primary example. This is an attempt in order to assess the issue of celebrity humanitarianism and the role of celebrity within their industry, with looking at BTS, their latest humanitarian campaign, and their existence in the corporate capitalism of the K-Pop music industry.

Maya the cat, those familiar with UK politics and human rights would be familiar with the case. Theresa May, the now Prime Minister of the UK, presented the case in her capacity as Home Secretary and cited a pet cat –Maya - as the reason an illegal immigrant was not deported. She was wrong; Maya was not to blame.
Her assertions demonstrate the rhetoric and misconceptions surrounding the role of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Conservative Government’s manifesto too promised a repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and they hoped to replace it with a “British Bill of Rights”. Their plans, however, seem to be on hold, at least until Brexit has been completed, an issue which has overshadowed almost every other policy area. This article seeks to examine the consequences of repealing the Human Rights Act 1998.

This article provides practitioners with a guide to the domestic case law relating to Article 11, in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998. It will be necessary to deal first with some general principles of interpretation, before turning to a descriptive analysis of the case law concerning assembly and association. From this, it will be possible to draw a number of conclusions as to how Art. 11 arguments may be most effectively raised and deployed in practice. In particular, arguments around proving proportionality will be explored as an escape route from the strong pro-state bias of Art. 11.

In the early 1980s, when Amnesty International began addressing new human rights violations in El Salvador, the organization naturally turned to the issue of US arms to the Salvadoran junta. Like other human rights NGOs, AI maintained that the Salvadoran junta and military were responsible for the lion’s share of human rights violations in the country, and that the United States should therefore withhold arms shipments to El Salvador until the government improved its human rights reputation. However, activists in Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) would find themselves in conflict not just with the Reagan administration, but also with their own organization, over the issue. This article examines the conflict within Amnesty International over the issue of US arms to the Salvadoran junta in the 1980s due to the NGO’s nonpartisan mandate.

ABSTRACT
Human Rights' are based on the principle of respect for the individual. Their fundamental assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with dignity. They are called 'human' rights because they are universal. Whereas nations or specialised groups enjoy specific rights that apply only to them, Human Rights are the rights and freedoms to which everyone is entitled, no matter who they are or where they live: simply because they are alive.
Human Rights have logic of their own. This stems from the fact that they have developed in domestic constitutional documents before becoming part of the corpus of the international legal philosophy, and they govern the relationships between the state and individuals under their jurisdiction, rather than simply relationships between states.
More than six decades ago, the Human Rights movement was born out of the disasters of the Second World War, Human Rights norms and institutions deeply inform the rhetoric, practice and theory of international law and politics, as well as the national constitutional structures of a large number of States.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of World War II. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those seen in that conflict to happen again. It would have been impossible to develop a framework for the study of Human Rights in many countries without including the international and political aspects of the field (laws, processes and institutions). Today, the Human Rights movement is seen as involving international law and institutions, as well as the spread of liberal constitutions among states. Developments in international Human Rights have been heavily influenced by international law and institutions, as well as by pressures from other states attempting to enforce international law.
Therefore, the study of international Human Rights norms without deliberation on the international organisations that implement, develop, apply and enforce them would be an ineffective enterprise. Furthermore, comparative approaches to Human Rights law and the genuinely international aspects of Human Rights are today recognised as complex and intertwined with the growth of Human Rights norms, the reasons and effects of their violations, the reactions and sanctions of intergovernmental bodies or other states, the transformations of internal orders, and so on.
From another point of view, it would be too difficult to comprehend the character of the Human Rights movement without a basic awareness of international law and its contributions to it. Therefore, the movement is necessarily rooted in that body of law, and distinctive organisations intended to assist in realising its aspirations are creations of international law.  In addition, universal organisations and regional or sub-regional intergovernmental organisations are useful for developing, protecting, monitoring and enforcing the rules and standards of the Human Rights movement. For instance, the UN Charter and UN organs have contributed considerably to the evolution of the universal Human Rights system.
The aims of this Book are to examine the positive effects of international Human Rights law and the regional and sub-regional intergovernmental organisation on the Human Rights protection. In addition, I will specifically examine and measure the practice of Human Rights in the African Great Lakes Region AGLR, as a case study.
The book  will be divided into eight chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the notion of Human Rights protection. Chapter 2 is concerned with the role of the United Nations in Human Rights Protection. Chapters 3 and 4 examine Human Rights protection under regional intergovernmental organisations, with the African Union and European Structures as models. Chapter 5 looks at the status of Human Rights in the African Great Lakes Region, and Chapter 6 evaluates the status of Human Rights in four of the five core countries of the GLR (DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda). Chapter 7 considers the Great Lakes Region and international strategy. Finally, and Chapter 8 provides the conclusions and recommendations.


The book will contribute significantly to the literature on human rights protection for academics and practitioners, policy makers, and professional human rights bodies, as it proposes that the governments of the members state of the ICGLR, AU, and UN reform their ineffective human rights systems in order to safeguard the human beings throughout the region. In addition, the book represents an important and timely survey of crucial aspects of human rights, the related rules of international human rights law, and the enforcement of international conventions relating to human rights in the African Great Lakes Region.
This book is valuable and beneficial for the following reasons:
I. It constitutes a major academic contribution to the debates on the legal prevention of human rights violations in the region.
II. It is a significant step towards analysing the role of the UN, AU, and ICGLR in effective implementation of human rights protection processes, and will contribute substantively to improving human rights systems in the Great Lakes Region.
III. Theoretically and practically, it elaborates the legal processes of harmonising the divergent national human rights laws and organisations, as well as the performance of international conventions throughout the member states of the ICGLR.
IV. It introduces a new policy perspective for civil society, government, international, regional, and sub-regional organisations engaged in the promotion of human rights protection.
V. It supports the implementation of the ICGLR programme on the Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and all Forms of Discrimination, which was approved by the Heads of State Summit in Lusaka on 15 December 2010.
VI. It addresses the common challenges facing the improvement of human rights protection in the region, and assists with the implementation of the human rights dimensions of the regional projects and protocols of the ICGLR; especially the Regional Centre of Democracy and Good Governance, Human Rights and Civic Education and the regional human rights observatory, the prevention of genocide, the fight against illegal use of resources, the rights of IDPs, and the fight against sexual violence.
VII. It provides important practical input into the process of harmonising the dominions of the international human rights law with national laws and the human rights systems of the nations of the African Great Lakes Region.
VIII. It provides recommendations for safeguarding human rights, gender equity, the role of legal philosophy, democracy, and sustainable growth.
IX. It contributes ultimately to the effectiveness of the international, regional, and sub-regional organisations, and the rules of international legal philosophy, particularly in the enforcement of international conventions concerning human rights. This will be valuable for the African Great Lakes Region and the international community.
X. The study results provide useful information for governments and institutions examining the effects of their current systems on the effectiveness of human rights protection, addressing many of the challenges facing them.

Susan Sontag'ın son kitabı olan "Başkalarının Acısına Bakmak"ta 1 insani trajedilerin fotoğraflarından hareketle bu fotoğrafların çekilmesi ve bu fotoğraflara bakmanın insanlarda yarattığı etki tartışmaya açılıyor. Bu yazıda kitaba sadık kalınarak başkalarının acısına bakmak başlığı, "başkaları", "acı", ve "bakmak" olarak üçlü bir ayrıma tabi tutularak incelenecek ve fotoğrafların hâlâ başkalarının acısını iletme konusunda izleyicilerin savaşa dair fikirlerini değiştirmesine yol açacak kadar etkili olup olmadığı 2 sorusu ile birlikte fotoğrafın ve bu üç kavramın insan hakları aktivizmiyle olan bağlantıları tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır.

Come sostiene il poeta ceco Vaclav Havel "il rispetto per i diritti umani è la condizione fondamentale e la sola, genuina garanzia della vera pace". Questo legame storicamente discontinuo verrà qui indagato a partire dal secondo dopoguerra soffermandosi sulla Dichiarazione universale dei diritti umani del 1948, soffermandosi poi su alcuni punti specifici: la ripresa dell'attivismo per i diritti umani nel contesto della guerra del Vietnam; la fondazione del tribunale Russell, e gli sviluppi degli anni Settanta riguardanti i dissidenti sovietici. A guisa di conclusione ci saranno considerazioni sugli effetti all'epoca non previsti degli accordi di Helsinki.

The Roma represent the largest trans-national minority group in Europe, and yet they are the most vulnerable ethnic group in the continent. Historically, the Roma have been one of the most persecuted ethnic groups, and today they still face considerable obstacles barring their way to the full enjoyment of basic human rights, remaining far behind others in terms of political representation and the protection of socio-economic entitlements.

This report aims to provide an analysis of the main issues surrounding the social and political exclusion of the Roma population, highlighting how European States fail to protect such groups by not granting them the same protection that is generally afforded to other minorities.

This report is organised into several sections, beginning with an outline of the definition of Roma which will then be followed by an historical overview of Roma persecution in Europe, having as a starting point the first Roma migration from the Indian subcontinent. Following this, Domenico Carolei investigates four core issues: political discrimination, lack of political representation, statelessness and urban marginalization. Finally, he makes a series of recommendations to render institutional actors more sensitive to the Roma rights.

There is an ongoing debate in anthropology on the kinds of subject positions activists ascribe to the marginalized actors they encounter and the political consequences this brings about. Drawing from ethnographic research on refugee activism in Germany and transitional justice activism in Uganda, we revisit the respective debates on humanitarian activism, human rights activism, and political activism and argue to reframe the analysis. Instead of looking for the "right" subject position activists should ascribe to the people they engage with, the anthropology of activism should embrace a research approach that looks at the material conditions, in which activists and their subjects find themselves in and the kind of agency they are able to develop within these conditions.

Resumen: La campaña por la abolición de la tortura lanzada por Amnistía Internacional en 1972 es un episodio clave para entender el desarrollo del activismo en defensa de los derechos humanos en los años setenta. No solo contribuyó a propulsar Amnistía Internacional como organización no gubernamental conocida e influyente, sino que fijó el modus operandi de este tipo de activismo: misio-nes sobre el terreno, informes, campañas de denuncia cargadas de emotividad y presión sobre gobiernos e instancias internacionales. Palabras claves: Tortura. Derechos humanos. Derecho internacional. Amnistía Internacional. Activismo. Résumé: La Campagne pour l'Abolition de la Torture lancée par Amnesty International en 1972 constitue un épisode clé pour comprendre l'essor d'un activisme spécialisé dans les droits de l'Homme dans les années 1970. Cette campagne non seulement contribua à promouvoir Amnesty International en tant qu'organisation non gouvernementale connue et influente, mais aussi elle permit de fixer le modus operandi de ce type d'activisme: des missions sur le terrain, des rapports, des campagnes avec une forte charge émo-tionnelle et de la pression sur les gouvernements et organisations internationales. Abstract: The Campaign for the Abolition of Torture launched by Amnesty International in 1972 represents a key moment to understand the rise of human rights activism in the 1970s. This campaign not only contributed to promote Amnesty International as a popular and influential non-governmental organisation, but also set the modus operandi of this sort of activism: on-field missions, reports, emotional campaigns and lobbying on governments and international organisations.

The clique of phrases announcing the touchy dispatches of the first three lines of Soyinka's sprawling, arresting and delightful memoir— as assortedly described by Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post —You Must Set Forth at Dawn, summarizes the gory experience of a man whose life was not only threatened to death but also as one who had his social existence denied, and his soul exiled by a wicked government from a land into which it was born. All for the sake of fighting a cause for and of humanity. Ditto, the sober description by then British prime minister John Major as 'judicial murder' of the inglorious execution and hanging of another credible human rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa (and eight others) again painted a picture of the degree of injustice and callousness of the government of Nigeria to the people for whom it was established to serve. All these are expressions not only of the wicked acts of a supposedly protective government but also and more importantly of the vibrancy and courageousness of true activism aimed at challenging economic profligacy, political oppression and social marginalization of the people by 'their own governments.' These activists, in defiance of their clear-cut disparate concrete strategies, have common theoretical frameworks and features that largely distinguished them, namely, objectivity of criticism, sincerity and clarity of purpose, credibility and consistency of ideas, and above all integrity, both personal and corporate. Either in or outside government, they constantly engaged governments, asked questions about its certain policies and comparatively tried these on the scale of history to test their plausibility and workability. To them, bringing about a just society was more expedient and fundamental than unnecessarily arousing the emotions of the populace and estranging the people from the government. They adopted the method of giving a periodic analysis of government policies, programmes, decisions and actions, assessing their impact on the people, and sensitizing the people whether to reject or embrace such government directives. At every point in time, the focal point of their struggle, which was the people, was never compromised. Hence, they tended to listen more to the people, dissect issues as they would benefit the people to which their agenda was inclined. Between the choices of seeking power and economic empowerment for personal gain and fighting the cause of the people, the human rights activists chose the latter, not because their life, welfare and political power did not matter but because they realized that history, defined in the way of George Herbert Walker Bush, 'is a book of many pages, each of which must be filled with acts of hopefulness and meaning' for humanity. The unsolicited military interventions that spanned a period not less than three decades, offered the humanity in Nigerians ample opportunities to stand vehemently for a cause in which it believed. The days of military, though replete with conflicts and unavoidable political unrests, were

There is an ongoing debate in anthropology on the kinds of subject positions activists ascribe to the marginalized actors they encounter and the political consequences this brings about. Drawing from ethnographic research on refugee activism in Germany and transitional justice activism in Uganda, we revisit the respective debates on humanitarian activism, human rights activism, and political activism and argue to reframe the analysis. Instead of looking for the “right” subject position activists should ascribe to the people they engage with, the anthropology of activism should embrace a research approach that looks at the material conditions, in which activists and their subjects find themselves in and the kind of agency they are able to develop within these conditions.

Activists are producers of strategic communication for social change and play a mediating role regarding (re)producing and challenging established cultural meanings. In a global context of high volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, contemporary activism needs to introduce significant innovations in current mass mobilizations. Otherwise, it falls into the risk of becoming irrelevant. Within this context, new forms of creative activism are arousing, which are linked to the contextual strategic approach to the repertoire of disruptive tactics and techniques. Strategic communication, or the intentional use of communication by organizations to promote their mission, is inevitably associated with the exercise of power in negotiations among different social actors. In this essay, we argue that the strategical communication approaches that have successfully established mass consumption as a way of life can be used to give public voice to sociopolitical contemporary activists a...

Activists are producers of strategic communication for social change and
play a mediating role regarding (re)producing and challenging established
cultural meanings. In a global context of high volatility, uncertainty, complexity,
and ambiguity, contemporary activism needs to introduce significant
innovations in current mass mobilizations. Otherwise, it falls into the
risk of becoming irrelevant. Within this context, new forms of creative activism
are arousing, which are linked to the contextual strategic approach to
the repertoire of disruptive tactics and techniques. Strategic communication,
or the intentional use of communication by organizations to promote their
mission, is inevitably associated with the exercise of power in negotiations
among different social actors. In this essay, we argue that the strategical
communication approaches that have successfully established mass consumption
as a way of life can be used to give public voice to sociopolitical
contemporary activists and to increase shared global views for social
change, such as the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. We do it so
through a literature review on this topic, followed by a description of practical
examples. Strategic communication plays a crucial role when it comes to
inducing social change. Its applicability in an organizational context is relevant
for activist movements as it facilitates the organization of collective
action, the call for civic participation and interaction with other social and
political institutions. The use of strategic approaches to communication in
an organizational context, such as the management of identity, image and
reputation, and the approach to political power through citizen lobby, can
be ways for contemporary activist groups to better mobilize, communicate
with their supporters, and seek to influence political decisions. Reflecting
and planning before acting or reacting can contribute to the achievement
of a voice and legitimacy to operate in the public sphere.