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Can People Power Movements Strengthen International Human Rights Law?

January 18, 2018 by Daniel Dixon

This Academic Webinar took place Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018, at 12 p.m. EST

This webinar was presented by Dr. Elizabeth Wilson

Watch the webinar below:

Webinar content

1. Introduction of the Speaker: 00:00 – 1:38
2. Presentation: 1:38 – 36:10
3. Questions and Answers: 36:10 – 54:28

Webinar Summary

International human rights law did not come into existence top-down, out of the benevolent intentions of states, even though states eventually began to recognize that large-scale human rights abuses could pose a threat to the international order. Rather, it came into existence from the bottom-up efforts of ordinary people in civil society to ally with each other in solidarity and demand their rights, often through organized nonviolent campaigns and movements that pressured elites and powerholders to recognize individual rights (freedom for slaves, women’s rights, labor rights, and children’s rights, to name a few). Unlike international law generally, the real source of international human rights law has been the coordinated, organized and nonviolently forceful efforts of individuals—in other words, what one can refer to as people power. This webinar will discuss the relationship between people power movements and international human rights and how civil resistance campaigns can further strengthen human rights law.

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Presenter

Dr. Elizabeth A. Wilson is visiting faculty at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. She recently served as a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, India. Her areas of specialization include public international law and international human rights law. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Relevant Reading

Elizabeth A Wilson’s ICNC Monograph People Power Movements and International Human Rights: Creating a Legal Framework

Elizabeth A Wilson, “People Power and the Problem of Sovereignty in International Law.” Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law Vol. 26, No. 3 (Spring 2016): 551-592. This article is available via ICNC’s Academic Online Curriculum. 

Filed Under: Webinar 2018, Webinars

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