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Methods of Research and Advocacy

The moral and legal authority of the international human rights movement derives from its steadfast commitment to international human rights law and norms.  The credibility and the effectiveness of human rights advocacy depends on the ability to obtain, verify and disseminate reliable information about human rights violations.  International human rights organizations and their domestic counterparts gain legitimacy and expand their influence as a result of…

  • the rigorous quality of their research and
  • their effectiveness at deploying information to produce human rights change.

This section of the website introduces the human rights fact-finding, reporting and advocacy practices that have been central to the international human rights movement.  The pages linked below trace the emergence of standard practices of collecting and documenting evidence of human rights violations and illustrate how research methodology has innovated with the emergence of new technologies and in new contexts like intra-state war.

Standard methodology does not imply static methodology.  Only recently, the availability of satellites and the spread of social media have made new sources of evidence available.  Human rights researchers have learned to incorporate new technologies into their work, of course, but they have also been challenged to re-think some of their approaches–on gender, for example, and on victimization.  Human rights monitors are now regularly trained to minimize the possibility of re-traumatizing those who have experienced human rights violations, and a strong preference to refer to survivors rather than victims. In recent years human rights organizations have begun to show greater sensitivity to obtaining consent of individuals whose stories are featured in their reporting, and to the inclusion of rights holders in framing questions and conducting research.

In some cases, reflections and critiques about research methodology have pointed to the need for new or improved policy.  For example, experience with forensic science investigations has led to concern about the need for policies that encompass training, chain of custody requirements, and evidentiary standards.

A BASIC APPROACH TO HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH

FORENSIC EVIDENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING

HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH IN CONFLICT ZONES AND MILITARY FORENSICS

All Topics

  • RECOGNIZING PROBLEMS
    • Recognizing Human Rights Problems
    • Torture
    • Enforced Disappearances
    • Invoking Standards of International Humanitarian Law
    • Interdependence and Indivisibility of Economic and Political Rights
  • ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ABUSE
    • Establishing Accountability for Human Rights Abuse
    • Government Obligations
    • Armed Insurgent Groups and Other Non-State Actors
    • Individual Criminal Accountability
    • Corporate Accountability
    • Women’s Rights: Due Diligence, Private Actors, and Domestic Violence
  • RESEARCH FOR ADVOCACY
    • Methods of Research and Advocacy
    • A Basic Approach to Human Rights Research
    • Forensic Evidence and Human Rights Reporting
    • Research in Conflict Zones and Military Forensics
  • MAKING POLICY DECISIONS
    • Making international Human Rights Policy Decisions
    • The UN and Human Rights Policy
    • The Human Rights Movement – Advocacy for Policy Change
  • THE FUTURE
    • The Future: Frontiers in Human Rights Policy

Human Rights Glossary

Amnesty International (AI)

Founded in 1961, AI is one of the oldest and most prominent transnational human rights organizations, with international headquarters in London. The organization relies on 3 million members and supporters in 150 countries to carry out its work, and policies are vetted through complex processes and structures that involve membership in the decisions.

See more human rights glossary terms…

Human Rights Policy Resources

  • Core Human Rights Treaties and Monitoring Bodies
  • UN Special Procedures
  • UN Treaty Collection
  • Universal Human Rights Instruments

Human Rights: From Practice to Policy

Download the 2010 Conference Proceedings

Human Rights: From Practice to Policy Cover


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