I Book Review: New Rights Advocacy
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410902700212 |
| Published date | 01 June 2009 |
| Date | 01 June 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 27/2, 309–321, 2009.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 309
PART D: DOCUMENTATION
I BOOK REVIEWS
Paul J. Nelson and Ellen Dorsey, New Rights Advocacy, Georgetown University
Press, Washington DC, 20 08, x + 222 pp., ISBN: 978–1-58901–205–9*
International NGOs dealing with the environment, economic development and
human rights nowadays more and more tend to st ress a certain commonalit y in their
objectives. eir common aims nd expression in terms such as striving for ‘hope’,
‘equality’, ‘just ice’ and ‘human dig nity’. On a certain level of abstra ction, organisations
such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and Amnesty International would seem to have a great
deal in common. For example, as recently as September 2008, Oxfam International
published a report on climate change and human rights, entitled Climate Wrongs
and Human Rights. Typically, Mary Robinson, the former United Nations High
Commissioner of Human Rights, is honorary president of Oxfam Internationa l. e
directors of some of these internat ional NGOs meet tw ice a year to discuss common
problems, for example in regard to management and their relations to governments.
ere may even com e a time when it w ill b e di cult to distingu ish such organisations
from each other.
Paul Nelson, associate professor and director of the division of international
development in the Graduate School of Public and International A airs at the
University of Pittsburgh, and Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace
Global Fund and former chair of the board of the United States section of Amnesty
International, are interested in t he phenomenon that human rights organisations tend
to pay more attention to development issues and that development organisations stre ss
human rights aspects in their work: ‘ e dynamic interaction that ensued between
human rights and development is the story of this book’ (p. 14). ey ca ll new rights
advocacy ‘advocacy on social, economic or development policy at local, national or
international levels, which makes explicit reference to internationally recognized
human rights stand ards’ (p. 19).
A er an introductory chapter, the book is divided into ve chapters: (1) New
Rights Advocacy; (2) Transforming the Human Rights Movement: Human Rights
NGOs Embrace ESC Rights; (3) NGOs and the development Industry: Toward a
Rights-Based Approach?; (4) Alliances and Hybrids; and (5) Human Rights and
Develo pment: Wh at is New? W ill It L ast? e book deals primarily with internat ional
* Peter R. Baehr is emer itus professor of huma n rights at Utrecht and Leiden University, the
Netherlands.
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