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Human Rights Organizations: A New Force for Social Change

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Abstract

Although the language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not been altered in the half century since its adoption, its operational significance has changed dramatically.1 The role of governments, the scope of beneficiaries, and the strength of rights defenders today have been expanded considerably from what they were half a century ago. Indeed, they have grown significantly in the past decade alone.

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Notes

  1. The Helsinki Accord, in part a security pact among the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact countries, also included a range of human rights guarantees. For a history of the Accord and the “Helsinki” movement it spawned in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, see William Korey, Human Rights and the Helsinki Accord: Focus on U.S. Policy (New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1983)

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  3. Helsinki Watch, From Below: Independent Peace and Environmental Movements in Eastern Europe and the USSR (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1987).

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  4. For a summary of conditions in these countries, see Human Rights Watch World Report 2000 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999); Amnesty International, Annual Report 1999 (London: Amnesty International 2000); U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 2000). For accounts of the Bosnian genocide, see Chuck Sudetic, Blood and Vengeance: One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia (New York: Norton, 1998)

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  5. David Rohde, Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997)

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  6. David Rieff, Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995)

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  7. Laura Silber and Allan Little, Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation (New York: Penguin Books, 1995)

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  8. Jan Willem Honig and Norbert Both, Srebrenica: Record of a War Crime (New York: Penguin USA, 1997)

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  10. Human Rights Watch, Bosnia-Hercegovina: The Fall of Srebrenica and the Failure of U.N. Peacekeeping (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995)

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  11. Helsinki Watch, War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Vols. 1 and 2 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992, 1993)

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  12. Alain Destexhe, Rwanda and Genocide in the Twentieth Century (New York: New York University Press, 1995)

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  13. Gerard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995)

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  14. Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998).

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  15. See, for example, Americas Watch and Women’s Rights Project, Criminal Injustice: Violence Against Women in Brazil (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1991)

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  16. See, for example, Adhoc, Licadho, and Human Rights Watch, Impunity in Cambodia: How Human Rights Offenders Escape Justice (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999).

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  17. For an account of the problem, see Human Rights Watch, The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Child labor in India (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1996).

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  18. For a description of the attack, see Human Rights Watch, Democratic Republic of the Congo: What Kabila Is Hiding (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1997).

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  19. For a comprehensive overview of the problem, see Human Rights Watch Arms Project and Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1993).

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  20. See, for example, Africa Watch, Landmines in Angola (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1993)

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  21. Americas Watch, Landmines in El Salvador and Nicaragua: The Civilian Victims (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1986).

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Authors

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Samantha Power Graham Allison

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© 2000 Samantha Power and Graham Allison

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Roth, K. (2000). Human Rights Organizations: A New Force for Social Change. In: Power, S., Allison, G. (eds) Realizing Human Rights. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03608-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03608-7_10

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-7311-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-03608-7

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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