Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2021
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198868064.003.0024
Abstract
Human rights scholars and organizations often call on governments to adopt ‘human rights-based approaches’ (HRBAs) to many policy areas, from climate change to health policy. HRBAs identify rights and obligations, and advance the principles of participation, accountability, equality, and non-discrimination. This chapter argues that HRBAs have been exported to many fields without ever being sufficiently integrated within human rights advocacy. We find that NGOs often fail to adhere to foundational human rights principles in their own work, reproducing unjust power hierarchies, objectifying victims, and disempowering rights-holders. Were HRBAs adopted by more human rights organizations, the face of human rights advocacy would change — often dramatically. We conclude with questions that could guide human rights practitioners and scholars to advance reform.
Disciplines
Business Organizations Law | Commercial Law | International Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Sarah Knuckey & Margaret Satterthwaite,
Should Human Rights Practice Be Rights-Based?,
The Struggle for Human Rights: Essays in Honour of Philip Alston, Nehal Bhuta, Florian Hoffmann, Sarah Knuckey, Frédéric Mégret & Margaret Satterthwaite (Eds.), Oxford University Press
(2021).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4320