Sociology of Human Rights

The paper presents – from the perspective of research conducted in the Department of the Sociology of Law and Morality, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin – Polish sociology of law, in particular its relation to the legacy of Leon Petrażycki. Although Petrażycki’s concept of law was programmatically one-dimensional – psychological, it was for him, at his own request, that the first chair of sociology was established in Poland (1919), his direct and indirect students shaped the sociology of law to the greatest degree in Poland, and Petrażycki himself, partly due to his famous St. Petersburg pupils: George Gurvitch, Pitirim A. Sorokin and Nicholas S. Timasheff, gained the status of a classic of sociology of law. The paper revisits Petrażycki’s tradition of Polish sociology of law, paying particular attention to the contribution of Adam Podgórecki. The author claims that it is the postulate of sociological research into human rights problems, formulated in 1986 by his master, the former chair of philosophy of law Professor Hanna Waśkiewicz that links her work to Podgórecki, who first  in Polish sociology of law undertook such a research.

This research assesses the extent to which Canadian economic and political self-interest can be seen to have motivated the complicity of successive Canadian governments in the East Timor near-genocide perpetrated by the government of Indonesia. The research considers ways in which Canada facilitated and legitimized Indonesia’s occupation vis-à-vis diplomatic actions at the UN, pro-Indonesian foreign policy, direct investment in Indonesia, bilateral aid, and authorization of military export permits, thus in effect “aiding and abetting” the near-genocide. The research is intended to encourage debate concerning the relationship between the political and economic policies of Western nations and the state of human rights elsewhere in the world.

I aim to show how classical sociological theory contains important resources to elucidate the emergence of human rights and to reflect on the societal functions and causes of fundamental rights norms. My main thesis is that the (classical) sociological theory of differentiation provides a framework for fulfilling the task of analysing the societal role of human rights in modernity. By looking at some commonalities and differences among different versions of the theory of societal differentiation (Durkheim, Niklas Luhmann, Talcott Parsons and Gunther Teubner), it aims to show how the sociological tradition has, from an early stage onwards, conceptualised fundamental rights in a distinct sociological manner.

While the historical and ongoing symbolic and material inequalities and violence faced by African Americans can be understood as a human rights violation, the efficacy of the human rights framework for addressing racial injustice in the United States remains contested. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the emergence and dominance of the geopolitical doctrine of human rights and the struggle for racial justice in the United States. Through historical, legal, and sociological analysis of relevant issues and cases, I discern the benefits and limitations of the human rights framework for achieving racial justice and elucidate dynamics between relevant institutional, political, and social actors. I argue that the human rights framework opens international pathways for information, accountability, and symbolic politics conducive to combating racial injustice, particularly regarding overt manifestations of oppression and violence, but enduring issues such as the role of the state in racial politics and the dehumanization of people of color present hindrances.

In tema di diritti fondamentali, il concetto tradizionale di cittadinanza ha storicamente rappresentato un elemento in bilico tra l'inclusione e l'esclusione. A partire dalle critiche mosse da Hannah Arendt riguardo i diritti umani e, in particolare, l'identificazione della cittadinanza come 'diritto di avere diritti', la questione che ruota attorno al rapporto tra cittadinanza e diritti umani ha acquisito notevole importanza nel dibattito socio-politico.

This contribution addresses human rights in the city of Barcelona, analysing the treatment and outcome of migration-related complaints to the Office for Non-Discrimination (OND), a municipal service in Barcelona. The city provides both the level and the unit of analysis of the complaints to the OND. The OND has dealt with a variety of migration-related legal issues by using the human rights framework flexibly and providing different types of solutions in relation to two main constraints: the status of the migrants and the systemic and hidden nature of discrimination affecting them. The contribution suggests ways beyond those provided for by the law in which cities can support (migrant) human rights through an institution like the OND.

This report was commissioned by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) within the framework of the transnational project “Roma and Sinti Participation for Effective Policy in Employment and Education” implemented by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) in partnership with the ERRC and the European Roma Information Office (ERIO). The action is supported by the European Commission within the framework of the Anti-Discrimination Law Program.

Especially after WWII, international community has directed its efforts to prevent/stop human rights violations yet these efforts have been directed to
consequences rather than root causes.
Herein it should be stated that despite its success in certain aspects, human rights system which has been directed to the consequences is not effective enough.
Today, with the help of political science, sociology and social psychology; it is possible to list some factors which externally causes human rights violations
or encourage perpetrators. It has been evaluated that in order to enhance the effectiveness of the human
rights enforcement mechanisms, these external factors should be analysed carefully.
This study aims to present above-mentioned external causes of human rights violations under three subtitles
which are political, economic and social reasons.

Review essay.
- Producing and Negotiating Non-Citizenship: Precarious Legal Status in Canada. Edited by Luin Goldring, and Patricia Landolt. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. 400pp. ISBN 9781442645875.
- Impossible Citizens: Dubai's Indian Diaspora. By Neha Vora. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013. 264pp. ISBN 978-0-8223-5378-2.
- Contesting Citizenship: Irregular Migrants and New Frontiers of the Political. By Anne McNevin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. 240pp. ISBN: 978-0-231-15128-3.
- Citizenship, Migrant Activism and the Politics of Movement. Edited by Peter Nyers, and Kim Rygiel. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012. 188pp. ISBN 978-0-415-60577-9.

Citation: Barret, J. and Sigona, N. (2014) ‘The citizen and the other: New directions in research on the migration and citizenship nexus’, Migration Studies, 2(2): 286-294

... We discuss how in the post-war period TH Marshall's work generated analysis of citizenship rights, but only in the past two decades has the sociology of human rights been developed by figures such as Bryan Turner, Lydia Morris and Anthony Woodiwiss. ...

The construction of victims’ collective memory in post-conflict Colombia is crucial to understanding the violent past and its social consequences. This article argues that victims’ initiatives, such as the March of Light, are facilitating an active role of local communities in the configuration of their memory regimes after the war. Addressing a participative action research approach, this article’s significance rests in the idea that Colombian victims’ groups from Eastern Antioquia are establishing three particular types of collective memory developing the March of Light every week. It establishes that this effort is a powerful instrument to claim truth and reparation in Colombia, helping the ongoing process of transitional justice in the country. It demonstrates that the tension between official and non-official narratives of collective memory is an essential part of transitional justice scenarios in which the clash of values defines positions of power, visibility and recognition inside contexts of social transition.

New Directions in the Sociology of Human Rights is a contribution to both sociology and to human rights research, particularly where these are directed towards challenging power relations and inequalities in contemporary societies. It expands and develops the sociology of human rights as a sub-field of sociology and interdisciplinary human rights scholarship. The volume suggests new directions for the use of social and sociological theories in the analysis of issues such as torture and genocide and addresses a number of themes which have not previously been a sustained focus in the sociology of human rights literature. These range from climate change and the human rights of soldiers, to corporate social responsibility and children’s rights in relation to residential care. The collection is thus multi-dimensional, examining a range of specific empirical contexts, and also considering relationships between sociological analysis and human rights scholarship and activism. Hence in a variety of ways it points the way for future analyses, and also for human rights activism and practices. It is intended to widen our field of vision in the sociology of human rights, and to spark both new ideas and new forms of political engagement. This book was published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

What happens when children use their own understandings of their
human rights to question international standards in the very places
where these are adopted and monitored? In this article, we study
the encounters of Latin American working children’s movements
with members of the European Parliament in Brussels and with
ILO staff in Geneva, in an attempt to influence the assessment of
Bolivia’s Law 548. The law was drafted with the help of a working
children’s movement and diverges from international norms by
providing protection to working children of 10 years and older.
We invoke the concept of ‘translation’ to analyse how and why
the notions of ‘protagonismo infantil’, ‘work as a part of education’,
and ‘the right to work in dignity’ were used to challenge the
dominant anti-child labour discourse of the EU and the ILO. While
these efforts were not successful in a conventional way, we argue
that they were important for the political consciousness of Latin
American working children’s movements and strengthened their
belief that the real defenders of working children’s rights are not
the international organisations claiming to act on their behalf, but
working children themselves.

In this chapter, we first describe the settled practices of human rights fact-finding that open source investigations have disrupted. Although the authority to shape these practices is centralized largely with Western human rights institutions populated by professional experts, the more decentralized underpinnings of open source investigation – namely, the use of information produced by civilian witnesses and through diverse networks – have an equally long history. We go on to detail how the rise of new technologies in human rights fact-finding has allowed for the participation of new actors in the form of civilian witnesses and analysts and necessitated the participation of others in the form of technologists and machine processes. These new actors bring with them not only new data and new methods, but also new norms about what human rights knowledge should be. The clash of these new elements with established practices produces a knowledge controversy in which much is possible and much is at stake. In the subsequent chapter section, we take a closer look at what is at stake through examining the power relations within human rights fact-finding revealed and disturbed by this knowledge controversy. Namely, we look at the power to shape human rights methodology, because methodology rules in and rules out particular types of human rights information with respect to evidence. It thus rules in and rules out particular types of corresponding subjects and witnesses of violations with respect to access to human rights mechanisms that can help them, in turn, speak truth to power. Ultimately, we are concerned with the impact of these power relations on pluralism, or the variety and volume of voices that can speak and be heard, both in terms of shaping the practices of human rights fact-finding, and in terms of access to human rights mechanisms that help subjects and witnesses speak truth to power.

1. Sociology and Human Rights: Confrontations, Evasions and New Engagements 2. Cultural Genocide and Indigenous Peoples: A Sociological Approach 3. Who's Human? Developing Sociological Understandings of the Rights of Women Raped in Conflict 4. Sociology and Human Rights: What have they got to say about Care and Dignity? 5. Contestations over Rights: From establishment to implementation of the National Basic Livelihood Security System in South Korea 6. Human rights and cities: the Barcelona Office for Non-Discrimination and its work for migrants 7. From 'rights-based' to 'rights-framed' approaches: A social constructionist view of human rights practice 8. Reconstructing Rwanda: Balancing Human Rights and the Promotion of National Reconciliation 9. Global Points of 'Vulnerability': Understanding Processes of the Trafficking of Children and Young People into, within and out of the UK 10. Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and the Generation of Childhoods: Anal...

In the last fifty years, human rights law has grown dramatically in breadth, complexity and influence. Constitutional provisions, national laws, international treaties, European Union (EU) legislations dealing with human rights have proliferated. Their reach now extends to any field of the law and they are widely recognised as ultimate criteria to evaluate the soundness of the law. This is no doubt an impressive evolution. And yet, I will argue in this chapter that this apparent success is more fragile than it seems. The project of « legalization of human rights », which I understand as involving both the institution of a legal protection of human rights and their recognition as a fundamental norm of the legal order, despite important achievements, remains fraught with difficulties. In the comments that follow, I will focus on two sorts of concerns. First, experience shows that legalization of human rights presents certain flipsides. (I). Second, the attitude of European states and EU institutions in the context of certain recent developments suggests that the effectiveness of legalization has its limits. (II).

Human rights belong to the doxa of our time,'of that which is taken for granted'(Bourdieu, 1977: 165) and that defines 'the space of the conceivable and utterable'(Hoffman, 2011: 1). However, it was not until post-1989 that human rights developed from a contested tool in Cold War politics into the 'lingua franca of global moral thought'(Ignatieff, 2001: 53), one that provides 'a globally available repertoire of legitimate claim making'(Levy and Sznaider, 2006: 657).

Throughout history individual and collective narratives have been used in struggles for justice. We draw on Sen’s theory of justice to examine the potential of narratives in teaching and researching for social justice. Human rights are presented as powerful ethical claims which can be critically examined by learners to consider their rights and responsibilities to others, at scales from the local to the global. One life history is used as an illustrative example to examine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and its possible meanings for learners in China and globally. The paper discusses the strengths and limitations of narratives as research and pedagogical tools in understanding justice, human rights and inequalities; in stimulating solidarity and our common humanity; and in enabling learners to explore their multiple identities. We conclude by making the case for human rights as principles for learning and living together in overlapping communities of fate.


Keywords: Amartya Sen, human rights education, China, social justice, global solidarity, life history/narrative

... We discuss how in the post-war period TH Marshall's work generated analysis of citizenship rights, but only in the past two decades has the sociology of human rights been developed by figures such as Bryan Turner, Lydia Morris and Anthony Woodiwiss. ...

... We discuss how in the post-war period TH Marshall's work generated analysis of citizenship rights, but only in the past two decades has the sociology of human rights been developed by figures such as Bryan Turner, Lydia Morris and Anthony Woodiwiss. ...

Dopo aver esaminato nei capitoli precedenti quali sono le minacce alla sicurezza rappresentate dai vari tipi di criminalità (cap. 2) e quali sono le risposte istituzionali a tali minacce in termini soprattutto di forze di polizia (cap. 3), l’analisi comparativa (Italia, Francia, Spagna, Germania, Regno Unito, Polonia, 1992-2015) si sposta ora verso la seconda dimensione che guida l’intento di questo lavoro, vale a dire la libertà. Tale dimensione, come già illustrato nel capitolo 1, è qui approfondita soprattutto per quanto riguarda le sue sfaccettature che possono essere messe maggiormente in relazione con l’altra dimensione, quella della sicurezza, come si vedrà nel capitolo 5 dedicato per l’appunto ad analizzare come i vari paesi abbiano declinato il ruolo della rule of law
nell’equilibrio fra libertà e sicurezza.
Nell’ambito di questo capitolo, la questione della libertà sarà pertanto da intendere come collegata al tema della statuizione dei diritti oggettivi e soprattutto della tutela dei diritti soggettivi (individuali e collettivi). Questi ultimi sono da intendere, a loro volta, soprattutto nella loro componente maggiormente minacciata, in potenza, dallo sviluppo delle politiche di sicurezza, vale a dire, nei termini di Marshall, quella dei diritti civili. Ciò non significa che, nel corso dell’analisi, non verranno sviluppati i temi anche dei diritti sociali e politici maggiormente collegati alla questione della libertà. La trattazione dei prossimi paragrafi seguirà infatti un percorso logico e argomentativo che va «dal generale al particolare», dai diritti validi per tutti a quelli garantiti a categorie via via più ristrette, associando tuttavia la discesa in generalità a un allargamento dei diritti a essa associati, fino a ricomprendere anche quelli sociali e politici.
La comparazione inizia con i diritti considerati universali ed esigibili da chiunque per il fatto stesso di essere in vita e, per quel che più ci interessa qui, per il fatto stesso di essere anche momentaneamente presente sul territorio di un determinato stato, in linea generale riconducibili alla sottodimensione della «libertà da». In questo ambito,
il paragrafo 1 sarà dedicato ai diritti umani, e i vari paesi verranno considerati sia per le tutele da essi formalmente previste (presenza di istituzioni dedicate, presenza e valutazione della legislazione per la tutela dalla violenza di stato), sia per la reale applicazione delle regole esistenti e per le violazioni riscontrate alle norme internazionali. Un
breve accenno sarà riservato anche ai «nuovi» campi di applicazione, in particolare in tema di tutela del diritto alla privacy. Il paragrafo 2 sarà riservato ai diritti nell’ambito della giustizia penale, e anche in questo caso i paesi saranno comparati sulla base sia delle prescrizioni formalmente previste dai propri ordinamenti (qualità delle misure detentive per i condannati, cancellazione della pena di morte, tutela
penale degli accusati e limiti della carcerazione preventiva, limiti della responsabilità penale per i minori), sia delle violazioni riscontrate alle norme esistenti. Passando alla «libertà di», il paragrafo 3 sarà dedicato a quelli che verranno definiti come diritti d’espressione, ricomprendenti la libertà d’informazione, sia attiva (libertà di informare) che passiva
(libertà di essere informati), e la libertà di culto.
Sempre nell’ambito della «libertà di», ma scendendo in generalità dai diritti associati alla generalità degli individui presenti sul territorio a quelli rivendicabili da determinati gruppi presenti sul territorio, il paragrafo 4 si occuperà del diritto a quella che verrà definita come autodeterminazione
ascrittiva, che prende in considerazione i diritti delle minoranze etnico-linguistiche, la tutela dell’uguaglianza fra uomo e donna, e i diritti legati all’orientamento sessuale e all’identità di genere con riferimento alle persone Lgbt. Scendendo ulteriormente in generalità verso libertà associate a determinate attività svolte sul territorio, il paragrafo
5 prenderà in considerazione la libertà economica, declinata sia come libertà d’impresa che come particolari diritti sociali legati alla sfera del lavoro, a cavallo quindi fra diritti di libertà e diritti di prestazione. Infine, il paragrafo 6 sarà dedicato ai diritti riservati (principalmente, come si
vedrà, la distinzione non è in realtà così netta) solo a coloro che sono in possesso del requisito legale di cittadino di un determinato stato, introducendo, necessariamente, il tema dei diritti politici a esso associati. Anche in questo caso, la comparazione sarà svolta prendendo in considerazione tanto le prescrizioni formali (requisiti d’accesso alla cittadinanza, orientamento allo ius soli piuttosto che allo ius sanguinis), quanto l’effettiva apertura dei singoli paesi (numero di cittadinanze concesse, effettivo modello d’integrazione adottato).

1. Diritti umani
1.1. Cosa si intende per diritti umani
1.2. Le istituzioni nazionali in difesa dei diritti umani
1.3. La tutela dalla violenza di stato
1.4. L’applicazione delle regole
1.5. Il diritto alla privacy
2. Diritti e giustizia penale
2.1. Libertà e detenzione
2.2. Libertà e pena di morte
2.3. Libertà e tutela penale
2.4. Libertà e responsabilità penale
2.5. Libertà e procedura penale
3. Diritti di espressione
3.1. Libertà di informare
3.2. Libertà di essere informati
3.3. Libertà di culto
4. Diritti all’autodeterminazione ascrittiva
4.1. Diritti delle minoranze etnico-linguistiche
4.2. Diritti di genere
5. La libertà economica
6. Diritti di cittadinanza
6.1. Cittadinanza e diritti
6.2. Le legislazioni basate sullo «ius sanguinis»: Italia, Polonia, Spagna
6.3. Convergenza verso lo «ius soli»? Germania, Francia, Regno Unito
6.4. Una convergenza anche nel numero di nuove cittadinanze
6.5. I modelli nazionali d’integrazione soggiacenti alle legislazioni sulla cittadinanza
7. Conclusioni

This article argues that the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann prepares the ground for a genuinely sociological theory of human rights. Through a presentation of Luhmann's work on human rights, it describes the historical and sociological processes that make visible why human rights emerge as a central feature of modern society. It is argued that the emergence of fundamental freedoms and human rights can be related to the dominant structure of modern society, that is, functional differentiation. Human rights are considered as a social institution, whereby modern society protects its own structure against self-destructive tendencies. By giving inalienable and equal rights to all human beings, society ensures that the differentiation between different functional subsystems is maintained and at the same time institutionalizes specific mechanisms to increase stability and protection of the individual. The article first examines some features of the systems-theoretical framework that are used to describe and analyse the issue of human rights. Next, it presents a brief overview of the semantic evolution of human rights. This reconstruction focuses on the question how the modern semantics of human rights can be linked to a specific structural societal transformation. The second part of the essay is devoted to the social function of human rights. After focusing on the general function, it makes a distinction between 'fundamental freedoms' on the one hand, and the 'rights of equality' on the other.

The treatment of irregular migrants in Malta is problematic from a human rights perspective, for it contravenes the principle of universalism that is intrinsic to human rights philosophy. This study investigates this treatment. Crucially, it identifies four elements of political practice in the absence of which it is contended a human rights culture cannot flourish, as well as underlying patterns in Maltese political culture which contravene these four elements. Its ultimate aim is to propose meaningful, effective and long-lasting human-rights-compliant solutions to the treatment of irregular immigrants in Malta.
Based on a reading of foundational documents of the modern human rights movement, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thesis posits that human rights should be ‘located’ between the political and the cultural. The four basic principles of human rights identified as framing the optimal political conditions for the nurturing of a human rights culture are related to dignity, a cosmopolitan orientation, democratic practice and a commitment to equality.
This concept of a human rights culture is innovatively used as an analytical tool for examining Maltese responses to irregular migration. This is done in a two-way manner, with the examination of practice enriching the identified theoretical framework, and the theoretical framework then guiding the search for possible new human-rights-consistent policy directions which Malta could take.
Drawing on a range of ethnographic methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation, this study brings to light the difficulties of putting into practice human rights principles within an already established local culture grappling with its own ghosts like occupations and colonial experiences. Although resistance to change is often difficult to identify since it is shrouded in ‘modern’ language, hidden under security arguments or bureaucratic explanations. Interviews and a range of documents illustrate the multi-layered misconceptions, stereotypes and fear that play out among the Maltese.

O trabalho procura comparar as potencialidades de compreensão dos direitos humanos a partir da teoria dos sistemas sociais autopoiéticos de Niklas Luhmann e da teoria social construtiva de Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Em Luhmann, os direitos fundamentais foram observados como instituições emergentes da própria diferenciação funcional, ou melhor, como garantias dessa própria diferenciação – especialmente, como limitações do poder político contra uma desdiferenciação politizante dos demais âmbitos comunicacionais da sociedade. É o caso típico dos direitos civis e liberdades públicas. Todavia, a obra de Luhmann sobre o tema, datada de 1965, pouco revela os desdobramentos posteriores do pensamento luhmanniano nas três décadas seguintes. Daí a potencialidade de releituras dessa análise. É o caso dos trabalhos de Gunther Teubner e Marcelo Neves, que buscam estender teoricamente a instituição “direitos humanos” para além do âmbito político, das constituições nacionais e das ordens jurídicas estatais. De outro lado, a teoria social de Mangabeira Unger propõe: como método, a compreensão de alternativas sociais; como tarefa do pensamento jurídico, a imaginação institucional; como ferramenta da mudança, as reformas revolucionárias. Nesse contexto, Unger teoriza uma reformulação dos direitos humanos e um novo sistema de direitos (direitos de desestabilização, de solidariedade, de mercado e de imunidade), apto a provocar o experimentalismo democrático.