Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Double Jeopardy: The Rights Of Refugees In Marginalized Communities In The Middle East (Abstract), Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The plight of Syrian, Iraqi, and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon was been well documented in recent years. Less attention has been paid to the impact these large refugee populations have had on the already marginalized regions in the northern (Akkar), eastern (Bakaa), and southern (Tyre & Nabatiye) parts of the country. Basic human rights such as education, health care, childhood development, family, employment, and equal protection before the law are being undermined through the ‘double burden’ of a largely unregulated and under-serviced refugee population, which is now threatening to exceed 2 million by the end of 2015.

This paper will …

Realizing The Right To Sport To Address The Socialization And Trauma Healing Of Children In Refugee Camps (Abstract), Konstantinos Koutsioumpas

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The forced displacement of human beings around the globe as a result of natural and humane disasters has placed great social, political and economic pressure on the international system like never before. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)(2012), there are approximately 35.8 million people of concern to UNHCR, including refugees, internally displaced people, people affected by major natural disasters, stateless or asylum seekers, and people displaced in urban areas. Almost half of this forcibly displaced population is children (UNHCR, 2014).

Children, in particular, who are exposed to these catastrophic situations, experience adverse consequences on their physiological, …

Teaching Human Rights Inside And Outside The Classroom: Education Without Borders (Abstract), Shayna Plaut, Lisa Brock, Carol J. Gray, William Simmons, Alice Kim

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

University courses addressing various human rights issues have grown exponentially at the undergraduate and graduate levels over the past 20 years. Most of these courses focus on specific issues and many programs require fieldwork and/or internships. In addition, the use of the international human rights language is increasingly integrated into professional training programs that are often labeled “social” issues; for example, labor, immigration or domestic violence. What is lacking, despite the resonance and inclusion of human rights issues in these and other areas, is the development of comprehensive human rights methods and ethics courses.

This roundtable seeks to bring together …

Indignation, Or, Reconsidering The Place Of Dignity In Human Rights Theory And Practice (Abstract), Michael Goodhart

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights scholars have recently seized on the concept of human dignity as a possible ground or justification for human rights. For various reasons, this is a mistake: it gets the role of dignity in human rights theory wrong, and it distorts our understanding of human rights politics. In this paper I develop the concept of indignation, arguing that it accounts for the place of dignity in human rights theory more accurately than do foundational approaches and that it provides useful insight into the actual dynamics of human rights movements. Specifically, I argue that human dignity is likely to …

To Err Is Human Rights: Toward A Pragmatist Activism (Abstract), Geoff Dancy

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights activists have often been criticized by political scientists for being “principled” rather than “pragmatic” actors. Rarely, though, is this criticism accompanied by a discussion of what pragmatism means, or what pragmatic action looks like. In this article, I conceptually trace and define three aspects of pragmatism: philosophical, methodological, and political. I then consider how these aspects of pragmatist thought can be applied in the world of human rights activism.

Among other things, I argue that pragmatic activism should remain flexible about the foundations of human rights ideals, that it should accept and even encourage local bad-mouthing of global …

A 'Revolution Of Values' In Immigrant Rights Advocacy (Abstract), Jamie Longazel

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

We have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights,” Martin Luther King Jr. told Southern Christian Leadership Conference members in 1967 as they prepared to launch the Poor People’s Campaign, “an era where we are called upon to raise certain questions about the whole society.” King called for a “revolution of values” and a recognition of the interconnectedness “of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.” The goal of the campaign was economic security for all so that poor people can maintain dignity and “control their own destiny.”

This paper lays out advocacy strategies applicable …

Linking History To Practice: Mapping The History Of Nigeria As A Tool To Combat Human Trafficking Today (Abstract), Robin P. Chapdelaine

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The international community that concerned itself with the welfare of children, protecting childhood and eventually with the wellbeing of the African child found itself with an overwhelming project in during the colonial era. The League of Nations Advisory Committees on the Traffic of Women and Children and the Protection and Welfare of Children and Young People recognized Nigerian children to be a protected group as a local expression of an international movement that targeted women and children during the 1920s and 1930s. As a result of the increased international attention and pressure, colonial officials began to investigate specific practices involving …

On Solid Ground: Evaluating The Effects Of Foundational Arguments On Human Rights Attitudes (Abstract), Stephen Arves, Joe Braun

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

What makes some human rights campaigns denouncing prisoner abuse and torture more effective than others? Specifically, what convinces individuals to support, accept, and take action on behalf of calls to stop prisoner abuse and torture? Some normative theoretical literature has argued that justifications for human rights matter, with multiple traditions offering their own versions of rights foundationalism Other theoretical literature, however, has argued that foundations used to legitimate human rights are unimportant. Despite these theoretical arguments, there is a dearth of empirical investigation into the actual appeal of different foundational arguments. This is surprising, because foundational arguments by their nature …

Anti-Sex Trafficking Hysteria, False Narratives And The Rights Of Sex Workers (Abstract), Lonya M. Humphrey

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In 2014, a Newsweek exposé of Somaly Mam, one of Cambodia’s most highly prominent anti-sex trafficking activists, detailed how Mam fabricated her own background and experiences as a sex-trafficked Cambodian prostitute forced into sexual slavery. The Somaly Mam affair not only exposed the problematic and often hysterical victim narratives presented by the anti-trafficking communities; it also calls into question the influence those narratives have on increasingly harsh U.S. government legal initiatives directed at combatting global sex trafficking. Growing research suggest the implementation of more punitive anti-trafficking laws that focus on the rehabilitation of sex workers and the abolition of commercial …

Lights, Camera, Policy? Examining Celebrity-Driven Anti-Sex Trafficking Campaigns (Abstract), Samantha Majic

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Celebrities—persons who attract large audiences and are well known in the realm of popular culture (sports, entertainment, and fashion)—are increasingly vocal about sex trafficking. Although they often lack knowledge about or experience with the issue, they commonly testify before Congress, serve as Goodwill Ambassadors for the UN, and act in public service announcements (PSA), to name just some examples. As a result, celebrities arguably play a role in shaping related policy developments, namely by fostering particular discourses about the issue.

To explore celebrities’ engagement with sex trafficking, my paper considers a very prominent case: Demi Moore’s and Ashton Kutcher’s “Real …

Silencing Women’S Agency And Forgetting Sexual Violence: Challenges In Realizing Women Survivors’ Human Rights (Abstract), Katarina Lucas

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Almost twenty years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the physical violence of the Bosnian War, there remains minimal success in effectively realizing the social and economic human rights of women survivors of wartime sexual violence. Women survivors across ethnic groups continue to have limited or no access to health, social and economic services they are entitled to under international law, essential for their empowerment and agency as rights-holders. Employing a gender lens and findings based on interviews and an in-depth review of secondary resources, this research uses the stalled draft Programme for Victims of Wartime …

Roundtable: Does All Human-Rights Funding Use A Human Rights-Based Approach?, Matthew Hart, Jason Franklin, Diana Samarasan, Mona Chun, Katy Love

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In this session, presenters and attendees will discuss different dimensions of the question, "Does All Human-Rights Funding Use a Human Rights-based Approach?"

In the U.S., grant strategies and decisions have historically been made by individuals and funders behind closed doors, with little transparency and accountability. Grant seekers, not to mention the public at large, have rarely had insight into how those decisions are made or any influence on the process. What criteria are they using? To whom are they accountable? And how do they make their decisions about what and who they are going to fund?

Replacing traditional hierarchical models …

Oral History As A Methodology For Teaching Human Rights (Abstract), Carol J. Gray

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper explains how non-state actors, including churches and non-profit organizations, work informally to protect the economic and social rights of undocumented Mexican immigrants. Under international law, economic and social rights should apply equally to non-citizens unless distinctions in their protection are necessary and proportionate to a legitimate State objective.

There is no legitimate State objective to deny food, shelter or health care to non-citizens. Despite this, Federal and State governments in the United States take no express responsibility to respect, protect or fulfill the economic and social rights of undocumented migrants. The authors designate this lacuna in state protection …

Human Rights: East Vs. West (Abstract), John H. Davis

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Current events make it clear that human rights continue to be a pressing issue in most parts of the world. This is both a sign of work that remains to be done as various actors strive to realize the values espoused in international human rights documents and an indicator of the degree to which human rights has become an increasingly universalized discourse as more and more people in the world organize, mobilize, and engage their societies and governments seeking greater protection of their human rights. In this paper I utilize ethnographic research on the human rights of minorities in Japan …

Disciplining Human Rights (Abstract), Sarita Cargas

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Hundreds of thousands of people work in human rights. They work for one of the international or local non-governmental organizations, international organizations, government ministries of human rights, and even corporate divisions of human rights.

Despite this, it is not being taught as an academic discipline in the US. It is treated like an interdisciplinary subject in the few universities with degree programs. While about a dozen universities offer a BA in the US, there is not a single course common to them all. It is not clear that a student graduating from an interdisciplinary human rights program is leaving with …

Mapping The Current State Of Human Rights Education In Journalism Education (Abstract), Shayna Plaut

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Utilizing a mixed methods approach, we map and analyze the current state of human rights education within journalism education. We aim to answer the question: If the role of a journalist is to both “educate and inform” a citizenry in order hold those in power accountable, what kind of training does a journalist need to cover a story about human rights and how can that best be provided?

Through compiling and categorizing 627 journalism programs in eight countries, surveying 88 professional journalists and conducting in-depth interviews with 25 journalists, journalism educators, human rights practitioners and funding organizations we found an …

An Experimental Examination Of The Efficacy Of Human Rights Campaigns: Gender Differences And Stereotypes (Abstract), Michele Leiby, Angie Bos, Matthew Krain

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

International Human Rights Organizations [IHROs] attempt to shape individuals’ values and mobilize them to act. Based on previous research, we know that IHROs may strategically manipulate gender images and stereotypes in order to increase consensus and action on human rights issues. The discourse of “women and children” as protected categories rests on the assumption that women do not participate in the public sphere, and as a result are apolitical and innocent, whereas men, especially draft-age men, are seen as political agents and potential combatants, and therefore automatically do not qualify for protection as civilians. While many scholars have rightly criticized …

From Acceptable Loss To Unacceptable Harm: How Norm Entrepreneurs Co-Opted The Human Rights Discourse (Abstract), Danielle K. Scherer, Taylor Benjamin-Britton

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Contemporary human rights campaigns have created a shift in the discourse by reframing and co-opting the language surrounding high politics issues such as arms control and human security. The atrocities of the twentieth century led to increased interest in minimizing the costs of war, converging in an international norm privileging the protection of human life. While the dominant discourse in IHL has been geared towards rights of the human, a new approach framing human rights as duties of the state has gained traction resulting in victories for various human rights campaigns. This shift has placed the onus on states to …

Contemporary Rhetoric, Ethics, And Human Rights Advocacy (Abstract), Richard K. Ghere, Kathleen Brittamart Watters

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper will discuss how rhetorical analysis might interpret current ethics conversation related to governance and re-position some of its touchstone rationales. Specifically, efforts in this paper will apply the ideas of preeminent rhetorician Gerald Hauser (the current editor of Philosophy and Rhetoric) about human rights discourses and of a reticulate (variegated) public sphere to intersection of governance and human rights advocacy.

Specifically, our paper will examine the rhetoric of various “exemplars” who advocate for causes and actions pertaining to human rights in particular contexts. In particular, we will incorporate case studies reviewing the public actions of the Russian …

Literature And Human Rights Violations In U.S. Borderlands (Abstract), Tereza M. Szeghi

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper offers a comparative assessment of how Ana Castillo (in The Guardians) and Louise Erdrich (in The Round House) craft overtly didactic novels as a means of raising awareness about contemporary human rights violations in the U.S-Mexico and Ojibwe borderlands, respectively. I argue that placing their novels in conversation with one another calls attention to the ways that excess policing of borders and ambiguities regarding jurisdiction in border zones both (albeit differentially) contribute to human rights violations. It is not part of the general U.S. consciousness to think about our internal borderlands (i.e., those surrounding tribal lands), but …

The Migrant Rights Gap: How Non-State Actors Meet The Unrecognized Economic And Social Rights Of Undocumented Immigrants (Abstract), Barbara Frey, Melissa Pardo

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper explains how non-state actors, including churches and non-profit organizations, work informally to protect the economic and social rights of undocumented Mexican immigrants. Under international law, economic and social rights should apply equally to non-citizens unless distinctions in their protection are necessary and proportionate to a legitimate State objective. There is no legitimate State objective to deny food, shelter or health care to non-citizens. Despite this, Federal and State governments in the United States take no express responsibility to respect, protect or fulfill the economic and social rights of undocumented migrants. The authors designate this lacuna in state protection …

Promoting Immigrant And Human Rights At The Local Level: A Case Study Of The Welcome Dayton Initiative (Abstract), Theo J. Majka, Jamie Longazel

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Hazelton, Pennsylvania and Dayton, Ohio represent contrasting examples of community reactions to increases in immigrants. Both cities have experienced de-manufacturing in recent decades. In reaction to an influx of Latinos, Hazelton enacted the 2006 Illegal Immigration Relief Act (IIRA) which placed severe restrictions on the rights of undocumenteds. In contrast, the Dayton City Commission passed the Welcome Dayton: Immigrant-Friendly City initiative in 2011 with the goal of facilitating the integration of immigrant residents.

Hazelton’s developers used tax incentives to establish warehouses, distribution centers, and a meatpacking plant, resulting in a significant demographic change.

However, in adopting a neoliberal approach, the …

Imagining International Justice In Post-Genocide Cambodia (Abstract), Haley Duschinsky, Katie Conlon, Elizabeth Cychosz, Samantha Rommel

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Through an innovative student-faculty collaborative research externship program supported by the Ohio University Center for Law, Justice & Culture, several undergraduate students spent the summer of 2014 in Cambodia conducting independent ethnographic research on issues of law, memory, and justice in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

Utilizing the students’ research in Cambodia, this proposed panel session presents three case studies for a conversation regarding how ethnographic methods can inform transitional justice mechanisms by emphasizing local experiences. Much of the research is in light of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid tribunal that began …

Human Rights In Russian-Occupied Crimea (Abstract), Jaroslaw Bilocerkowycz

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Russia’s use of hybrid warfare to occupy and annex Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 drew intense international coverage. This effort to change borders in Europe by force was broadly condemned by the international community as an illegal violation of international law and Ukrainian law. In response, various economic sanctions were leveled against Russia and Crimean leaders and companies. Since Crimea has been occupied by Russia and de facto annexed into the Russian Federation, there has been only modest international coverage of internal developments within Crimea.

What is the human rights situation for the Crimean population since Russian occupation of the …

Democratizing Human Rights From Below: Blacklisted Workers At The European Court Of Human Rights (Abstract), Filiz Kahraman

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Labor activists around the world are increasingly attempting to use human rights frameworks to draw attention to serious labor rights violations. While some scholars are enthusiastic about the prospects that this new alliance between human rights advocates and labor activists will renew a focus on labor issues, others are skeptical about turning away from the traditional vehicles—such as social citizenship, the welfare state, trade unions, and collective bargaining, which are in decline in many parts of the world— toward individual rights-claiming before the courts. Yet, we lack a comparative study that carefully examines the effects of these rulings on the …

Gunsmoke And Mirrors: Transitional Justice Implementation During Armed Conflict In Uganda (Abstract), Cyanne E. Loyle

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Transitional justice (e.g. trials, truth commissions, reparations, amnesties, etc.) has been vociferously championed as a tool to improve human rights and prevent the resumption of violence in the post-conflict period, yet little work has been undertaken to understand the prevalence of these practices while conflict is ongoing.

The assumption within the literature is that transitional justice (TJ) is put in place once conflict has ended or a political transition occurs, but this need not be the case. Through an empirical analysis of the ongoing conflict in Uganda between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, this paper traces the implementation …

Enforced Disappearances In México: A Good Practice On Human Rights Governance Through Systematization Of Experiences In Search Of Justice And Truth (Abstract), Luis Eduardo Zavala De Alba

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The right to the truth and the right to justice are intimately related, and they should complement each other, but without confusing to act of searching for the missing persons with the investigation to determine criminal responsibility. Criminal investigation can and generally does contribute to the clarification of the disappearance cases. An effective criminal investigation can allow the provision of incentives so that those who hold information that may be relevant render it to the authorities doing the search for missing persons (article 4.2 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance); and contemplates establishing mitigating …

Practicing Human Rights: How Human Rights Practitioners Shape The Field (Abstract), Robin Redhead

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This working paper summarises my initial findings of a study into the politics of human rights practice looking specifically at how practitioners shape the human rights field. Through a series of interviews with lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and activists I have mapped the ‘work’ that takes place within the field of human rights and analysed how this ‘work’ shapes what Nash (2009) refers to as the cultural politics of human rights. Within the national and international arenas, human rights practices are cultural capital that practitioners trade for political gains. In order to assure the future of the human rights movement we …

Promoting Human Rights Through The Professions (Abstract), Debra Delaet, Emily Sadecki, Holly Atkinson

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper examines the ways in which professionals in a range of fields—the health professions, education, journalism, and law to name just a few—have the capacity to engage in critical work in the promotion of human rights. Whereas the scholarly study of human rights focuses largely on formal law and governance processes, this paper explores how strategies for promoting human rights might be integrated into the everyday work lives of professionals. Our focus on this everyday lever for human rights promotion seeks to broaden the vision of what constitutes human rights and justice work by exploring the capacities of actors …

From Activism To Invested Scholarship: When Outsiders Are Insiders (Abstract), Kristi Heather Kenyon, Tal Nitsán

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Social science methodologies frequently assume that the researcher is ahistorical, bringing no background or investment to the topic they study. Yet, as activists and scholars of human rights activism we are drawn to the movements we study precisely because of our engagement with these groups, places and topics. How does our research and teaching change if we are viewed as participants rather than outside observers in the movements we study? How do we navigate interviews with people who know us as activists rather than scholars? How do we interpret materials in which our own words and images appear?

Coming to …