A great diversity of strategies are deployed in order to create awareness of and expose current human rights violations. Social media and digital technologies are used as a modern and quick method for ‘naming & shaming’. Undoubtedly this is a positive development when it leads to ‘Walls of Silence’ being broken down and the exposure of abusers. The other side of the coin is, however, that the use of such technologies has paved the way for spreading rumours about serious misconduct – regardless whether they are related to sexual misbehaviour or any other human rights violation – which are swiftly disseminated on the Internet and via social media, without being backed-up by a thorough investigation. Another strategy to expose human rights violations concerns strategic litigation. Here the goal is not only to win a case for a certain client but to bring about social, political and legal changes, particularly as regards situations of gross injustice or environmental degradation. Language may also be used as a strategy to serve a certain human rights goal. Modern society is inundated with information. However, the language used in information flows on human rights issues is coloured by certain interests. States, NGOs or other interest groups use language as a tool and a battleground for political struggle. The question arises how academics should deal with these information or symbolic politics.
The theme of the 2021 AHRI Conference opens up the possibility to study and discuss all kinds of strategies that are being used by a plethora of actors who wish to further the cause of human rights. This topic is not only interesting from a human rights perspective (both from the point of view of victims and alleged perpetrators), but it is also a thought-provoking issue for criminologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists.
We invite anyone interested in these issues to submit an abstract, and/or to propose a topic for a breakout session for consideration under the following tracks:
- Track 1: Naming and Shaming
- Track 2: Strategic Litigation
- Track 3: Information Politics
The conference will take place on-site at the Crowne Plaza, Ruiterij 1 Maastricht (on 27th August 2021) and at the Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 3 Maastricht (on 28th August 2021). However, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current uncertainty as to how the situation will evolve, we will make provisions so that online attendance will be possible as well. In any case, the doctoral workshop will be completely on-line (on 26th August 2021).
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