Abstract

The range of global human rights institutions which have been created over the past half century is a remarkable achievement. Yet, their establishment and proliferation has paradoxes in store. Why do states create such institutions? What do they want to achieve through such institutions, and is it different from what the institutions themselves seek to accomplish? Are global human rights institutions effective remedies for violations of human dignity or temples for the performance of stale bureaucratic rituals? What happens to human rights when they are being framed in global institutions? The book is an introduction to global human rights institutions and to the challenges and paradoxes of ‘institutionalizing’ human rights. Drawing on international legal scholarship and international relations literature, it examines UN institutions with a human rights mandate, the process of ‘mainstreaming’ human rights, international courts which adjudicate human rights, and non-governmental human rights organizations. In mapping the ever more complex network of global human rights institutions it asks what these institutions are and what they are for. It critically assesses and appraises the ways in which global institutions ‘bureaucratize’ human rights, and reflects on how this process is changing our perception of human rights.

Contents

Preface by Conor Gearty; Introduction; Institutionalizing human rights: expectations, paradoxes, and consequences; The rise of global human rights institutions; United Nations human rights institutions; Mainstreaming human rights; World courts and human rights; Non-governmental organisations; Conclusion, References, Index

Quotes

"Oberleitner offers a lucid history, topography and enlightening assessments of the work of the major and some of the minor institutions that define the human rights movement today. The volume will be an excellent resource and guide for activists, civil servants, diplomats, researchers, students and their teachers."

- J. Paul Martin, Columbia University

"At last we have a comprehensive account of human rights institutions that brings together international relations and international law perspectives. This panorama of a book will prove as valuable to international officials, diplomats and NGOs as it will to academics and their students"

- Kevin Boyle, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex

Purchasing Information

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