Confronting a Repressive Regime: Individual Petitions in the Human Rights Committee

"Confronting a Repressive Regime: Individual Petitions in the Human Rights Committee"

by Rachel J. Schoner (University of California, San Diego)

Abstract:

"Why do individuals file human rights petitions in international law against repressive regimes? Victims of human rights abuse face high personal costs of participation, including retaliation from the government against whom they are filing a complaint. Despite these costs, nearly one thousand petitions have been filed against repressive governments in the Human Rights Committee. If mistreated, political individuals and organizations file petitions as a part of their broader mobilization efforts to improve human rights. I find empirical support for this theory at both the country-year and petition levels of analysis. Employing a multi-methods approach including the collection of original data, interviews with Human Rights Committee members and civil society organizations, and cross-national quantitative analysis, I find that where civil society organizations are repressed, they are less likely to file petitions; rather, opposition politicians and civil society activists overcome the high personal costs and are more likely to file in these restrictive environments. I construct an original dataset on 984 petitions which codes the identities and motivations of individuals, the role of third-party representation, and the specific rights under contestation. This study of individual behavior has important implications for broader processes of mobilization, both domestic and international."

Discussants:

K. Chad Clay (University of Georgia)

Jillienne Haglund (University of Kentucky)

Geoffrey P.R. Wallace (University of Washington)

OSPC Coordinator:

Cassy Dorff (Vanderbilt University)