DRG Human Rights Literature Reviews

Two literature reviews and related infographics explore:

(1) Effective Human Rights Campaigns: A new DRG literature review addresses questions about human rights awareness campaigns, including: What makes human rights awareness campaigns successful? Why do many campaigns fail? What are the unintended negative consequences of both successful and failed campaigns?  Findings highlight the benefits of strategic implementation and collaboration with media, pre-tested message design, and careful consideration of unintended consequences.

(2) Civic Action in Successful Human Rights Programming: A new literature review addresses questions about human rights struggles and pressure "from below." What do we know about the role of citizens, social movements, and other domestic civic actors in advocating for human rights outcomes? What can we learn from their successes and failures? Can research findings on this topic in North America and Europe translate to other countries? Are certain rights easier to fight for than others? Findings show that domestic activism is critical both in mitigating the immediate impact of human rights violations and in providing redress and deterring future rights violations. Domestic civic actors should maintain dense and diverse networks, and frame their efforts in context appropriate ways.