Human Rights Under Democratic Pressure

Repression of, or restrictions on, human rights organizations has been mostly documented in authoritarian/semi-authoritarian regimes. Drawing on interviews with eighteen human rights organizations in the State of Israel, our work documents the forms of pressure organizations are facing in an established democracy. The talk will include discussion of the distinctive way in which democratic justifications are being used to delegitimize human rights advocacy in a liberal democracy, analysis of the different ways in which human rights advocates are negotiating the shifting context, and concludes with a framework for recapturing legitimacy in democratic contexts.

The talk draws on findings of research conducted with Professor Daniele Celermajer from the University of Sydney.