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A paper by HRSMA alumna Sabrina Kozikis and Professor Winkler titled "The Paradox of Framing Water as a Human Right in the United States: An Analysis of Power and Resistance" was published in the Journal of Human Rights.
Communities across the U.S. struggle to access clean and affordable water, but the U.S. government does not see the right to water as relevant in the domestic sphere. The paper explores why grassroots organizers and national-level activists use the human rights framework to advocate for access to water in a country that is so hostile toward socio-economic rights. Through the lens of different conceptions of power: power within, power with, and power to the paper finds that engaging with human rights conveys a sense of universality, connectedness, collective strength and validation, which provides communities with the power to act and hold governments accountable.
Click here to read it.