Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice (Stanford Studies in Human Rights) 1st Edition
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Advocates within the human rights movement have had remarkable success establishing new international laws, securing concrete changes in human rights policies and practices, and transforming the terms of public debate. Yet too often, the strategies these advocates have employed are not broadly shared or known. Campaigning for Justice addresses this gap to explain the "how" of the human rights movement.
Written from a practitioner's perspective, this book explores the strategies behind some of the most innovative human rights campaigns of recent years. Drawing on interviews with dozens of experienced human rights advocates, the book delves into local, regional, and international efforts to discover how advocates were able to address seemingly intractable abuses and secure concrete advances in human rights. These accounts provide a window into the way that human rights advocates conduct their work, their real-life struggles and challenges, the rich diversity of tools and strategies they employ, and ultimately, their courage and persistence in advancing human rights.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"While there are books about social movements and books about human rights ideas and issues, this book is situated in the critical gap between those two bodies of work, designed to address the question of how human rights organizations actually do their work. The book has a currency which is needed right now." -- Barbara Frey ― University of Minnesota
"It is a singular contribution to the literature on activism and will be indispensable for those interested in advocacy in general and human rights in particular." -- Elazar Barkan ― Columbia University
"Documenting the lives of practitioners on the frontline of advocacy for human rights, Jo Becker shows us why the world no longer remains silent when terrible crimes occur. Campaigning for Justice is a vivid testament to the lives of human rights activists, including Becker's own, as advocates and courageous fighters for the rights of others." -- Radhika Coomaraswamy, Former Special Representative to the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict ― United Nations
"Jo Becker, with her enormous experience and formidable commitment to the realization of human rights, has assembled a series of outstanding analyses in a book that will be an obligatory reference for everyone who wants to understand the state of the struggle for human rights in the twenty-first century." -- Paulo S. Pinheiro, former Commissioner and Rapporteur on Children, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ― OAS
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Product details
- Publisher : Stanford University Press; 1st edition (December 19, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 080477451X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0804774512
- Item Weight : 15.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.83 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,119 in Political Advocacy Books
- #1,430 in International Relations (Books)
- #1,721 in Human Rights Law (Books)
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Under Jo's leadership, Human Rights Watch and other NGOs founded the International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (now Child Soldiers International) in May 1998. Exactly two years later, the coalition's efforts paid off when governments adopted a protocol to prohibit the use of child combatants in the UN General Assembly on 8 May 2000. The story of this remarkable achievement is told in Chapter One of her new book Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice.
The child soldiers campaign followed hot on the heels of successful civil society-driven initiatives to ban landmines in 1997 and to establish the International Criminal Court in 1998. Jo notes wryly how fear of a "third strike" by the different style of diplomacy behind these treaties prompted the Clinton Administration to change the US position during the negotiations to support a ban on the use of child soldiers.
In Campaigning for Justice, Jo describes how collaboration by NGOs with like-minded states, UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross combined with solid national campaigning helped pave the way for the protocol. As she does in other chapters, Jo tells the personal account of those most directly affected, in this case a child soldier. The chapter includes some nice comments from activists involved in the campaign, such as Rachel Brett ("we shifted the debate") and the child soldiers coalition's first coordinator Stuart Maslen, a long-time advocate for the landmine ban.
It is noteworthy that Jo does not end the chapter with adoption of the protocol, but describes the significant follow-up that NGOs and others have engaged in since 2000 to ensure the protocol's full universalisation and implementation by all.
The standard-setting achievement in 2011 of the Domestic Workers Convention is told in Chapter Two. Human Rights Watch and Jo also played a crucial role in securing this new international law guaranteeing domestic workers the same protections available to other workers, including specific protections for domestic workers under the age of 18.
The nine other chapters in Campaigning for Justice provide a range of compelling studies of successful campaigning for human rights. Jo looks at work to influence the human rights bodies, particularly the perennially-challenged Human Rights Council. Despite its polarizing membership of abusive nations, some good things have emerged due to the diligent efforts of NGOs and progressive governments, such as the UN special rapporteurs assigned to monitor and report on human rights violations.
The work of human rights NGOs and particularly my Human Rights Watch colleagues shines throughout this book. The section of chapters on "accountability" records the years-long effort to bring Liberia's Charles Taylor to justice, the Abu Salim prison massacre in Libya that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime, and the ongoing refusal of the Sri Lankan government to acknowledge and address its war crimes. The section on new media and new alliances presents some the final case studies on campaigning by Tibetan rights activists around the Beijing Olympics, organizing LGBTI rights in Jamaica and Nepal, and efforts to stop the abysmal US practice of sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without parole.
The Children's Rights Division continues to grow and expand, as does the scope of Jo's work. When so much needs to be done to protect children's rights it's reassuring to know this advocacy is in her capable hands. That she has managed to find time to write this book is a feat in itself.
Over the years we--and especially my boss Steve Goose--have swapped strategies and compared notes with Jo on the arms division's work in support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition, and related humanitarian disarmament initiatives. It is nice to see those discussions reflected in her findings.
Advocacy is about getting results and ultimately working yourself out of a job. The lessons that Jo identifies from the case studies apply across any and all campaigns working to ensure the protection of human rights: use multiple points of leverage, involve the victims, be opportunistic and use strategic timing, work via broad-based alliances, and provide credible research and documentation.
Her finding that "some of the best campaigns are essentially opportunistic in nature" rings in my ears as we embark together with roboticists and scientists on a campaign to stop killer robots--weapons that don't yet exist--via a preemptive ban treaty.
In the past couple of weeks, I've been disappointed to hear advocacy described as "shouting" or "speaking very loudly" because, as Campaigning for Justice demonstrates, it's about so much more. Anyone wanting to better understand our work should read this book.





