Thinking globally, acting locally? The women’s sector, international human rights mechanisms and politics in Northern Ireland

AuthorJennifer Thomson
DOI10.1177/0263395716629973
Published date01 February 2017
Date01 February 2017
Subject MatterResearch Articles
Politics
2017, Vol. 37(1) 82 –96
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395716629973
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Thinking globally, acting
locally? The women’s sector,
international human rights
mechanisms and politics
in Northern Ireland
Jennifer Thomson
School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Abstract
Literature considering international human rights mechanisms stresses that they have the best
chance of success when they are closest to ideas which already exist within national contexts.
Research which addresses women’s human rights bodies, such as the Convention Against All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), argues that they function best when reinterpreted to fit the local
context. Yet, situations where this domestic norm translation is occurring, but policy change is not
achieved, have received little consideration. Why do some contexts, even where norm translation
occurs, resist policy change? This article examines Northern Ireland, where these women’s rights
bodies are used extensively in the women’s sector, but where change has not occurred. It argues
that norm translation is not the only important factor, and that a greater consideration of local
political structures is needed in order to more fully explain policy resistance.
Keywords
CEDAW, gender, human rights, norm translation, Northern Ireland, UNSCR 1325
Received: 29th June 2015; Revised version received: 7th October 2015; Accepted: 9 October 2015
Feminist considerations of international women’s rights mechanisms stress the extent to
which the ideas they encompass must resonate and work at the local level if they are to
have success (Lopreite, 2012; Reilly, 2009). Indeed, the majority of literature considering
international women’s rights mechanisms has stressed the positive contribution that they
have made (Levitt et al., 2013; Rajaram and Zararia, 2009; Reilly, 2007). There has been
Corresponding author:
Jennifer Thomson, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End
Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
Email: jennifercthomson@gmail.com
629973POL0010.1177/0263395716629973PoliticsThomson
research-article2016
Research Article

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