Making human rights the talk of the town: civil society and human rights cities, a case study of the Netherlands

2016 ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Esther Van Den Berg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
The Town

WINGO Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Olcott
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
International Council ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
Ideological Tensions ◽  
Rules Of The Game

This chapter examines the organizational and geopolitical rivalries that gave rise to IWY. It considers how long-simmering ideological tensions between the International Council of Women (ICW) and the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF)—dubbed WINGOs (women’s international non-governmental organizations)—fostered competing visions for IWY. While the WIDF and its allies saw IWY as linking women’s issues with human rights, their Cold War rivals linked IWY humanitarian concerns and development strategies. Australia provides a case study of the growing rift in civil society between WINGOs and feminists and the tensions between those working within the rules of the game to those who wanted to change the game entirely. The chapter examines the Australian case to demonstrate the ways that IWY highlighted generational differences, particularly between younger women’s liberationists and older, more establishmentarian activists.

11. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Human Rights

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine (Cricket) Keating ◽  
Cynthia Burack
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Important Development ◽  
Queer People ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Rights Issues

This chapter examines the issue of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer people (LGBTI). In recent years, LGBTI groups have used the language and frameworks of human rights to organize against state, civil society, religious, and interpersonal violence and discrimination. The broadening of the human rights framework to address issues of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) has been an important development in both the human rights and the LGBTI movements. The chapter begins with a discussion of SOGI rights as human rights, focusing on questions such as the central human rights issues for LGBTI people; how these groups have organized to address these challenges through a human rights framework; and the challenges faced by LGBTI human rights advocates and what successes they have had. It also considers critiques of SOGI human rights activism and concludes with a case study of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Social Media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOS)

2015 ◽  
pp. 237-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Steen-Johnsen ◽  
Bernard Enjolras
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Lateral Communication ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Social Media Strategy

This qualitative case study describes and analyzes the use of social media by Amnesty International Norway (AIN), a medium-sized human rights organization. Specifically, the case looks at how and to what extent AIN fulfilled its aims of enhancing information, public debate, and mobilization for campaigns through the use of Facebook and the organization's own website blog. While AIN saw great potentials in using social media, a core question was whether opening up for more lateral communication would lead to a loss of trustworthiness and organizational identity. Although AIN experienced an initial lack of success in using social media to generate response and mobilization in 2011, it was able to develop a powerful social media strategy resulting in high degrees of activity and exchange in 2014. Findings indicated that this change seemed to rely both on the ability of AIN to reflect upon its own governance structures and on the organization's ability to learn from experience.

Disappearances in the Post-Transition Era in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Latin American Countries

The book identifies a new human rights phenomenon. While disappearances have tended to be associated with authoritarian state and armed conflict periods, the study looks at these acts carried out in procedural democracies where democratic institutions prevail. Specifically, the book manuscript analyses disappearances in four Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and El Salvador) which provide insights into the dimensions of this contemporary social problem. The theoretical framing for the volume links contemporary disappearances with certain logics that emerged in the authoritarian and armed conflict periods and continue today. It also covers the evolution of legal instruments addressing past disappearances and the current phenomenon. Each case study is introduced by a personal story of disappearance, followed by analyses. The following ‘Tools’ section sets out ‘best practices’ used by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations to address the rights of victims for truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition.

WPS and Civil Society

2018 ◽  
pp. 427-438
Author(s):  
Annika Björkdahl ◽  
Johanna Mannergren Selimovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Local Ownership ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Just Peace

Civil society is often understood as a normative vehicle for the promotion of human rights and democracy, as it plays a central role in ensuring gender equality and advocating for local ownership in the decision-making processes of states. Civil society agents and organizations have been instrumental in promoting and advancing the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. In this chapter, we examine the experiences of Bosnian Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and their activities to advance a gender-just peace. Drawing on examples from the Bosnian case study, we argue that women civil society organizations are key actors, as they not only set the agenda when it comes to WPS, they also play a key role in ensuring that the WPS principles are institutionalized and operationalized in policy. Moreover, we observe that women CSOs are particularly successful in advocating for the needs of victims of conflict-related sexual-based violence.

Civic engagement measured in square metres. Church and civil society in a Dutch suburb

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-569
Author(s):  
Marten van der Meulen
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
The Way

In a case study on suburban churches the author describes how religious ideas, material resources and relationships of trust together form capital that enables and limits the civic engagement of the churches. The case study is based on ethnographic research in the newly built suburb of Leidsche Rijn in the Netherlands. The author concludes that a focus on the combination of different forms of capital available in congregational networks helps to obtain a better understanding of the often noted positive relationship between religion and civic engagement. The study shows that capital has an ambiguous influence: it enables and limits civic engagement. Researchers should therefore not be overly positive about the effects of social capital. They should also be aware of the ‘essential contestedness’ of civic engagement. The way civic engagement actually works on an empirical level calls into question any easy definition that researchers may devise.

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