Synopses & Reviews
When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted 50 years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt, its principal architect, predicted that a "curious grapevine" would carry its message behind barbed wire and stone walls. This book tells the extraordinary story of how NGOs became the "grapevine" she anticipated--sharpening our awareness about the violations of human rights, "shaming" its most notorious abusers and creating the international mechanisms to bring about implementation of the Declaration. Korey traces how NGO's laid groundwork for the destruction of the Soviet empire, as well as of the apartheid system in South Africa, and established the principle of accountability for crimes against humanity. The notion of human rights has progressed from being a marginal part of international relations a half century ago to stand today as a critical element in diplomatic discourse and this book shows that it is the NGOs that have placed human rights at the center of humankinds present and future agenda.
Review
“William Korey's valuable study highlights the important role played by a new generation of nongovernmental organizations....” —
New York Review of Books“It is well worth reading.” —American Foreign Policy Interests
Synopsis
This book proves that it is NGOs that have placed human rights at the heart of humankinds present and future agenda.
About the Author
William Korey is a prolific writer of articles for popular and scholarly journals, and for the op-ed pages of such newspapers as
The New York Times and
The Washington Post.
Table of Contents
Introduction * Genesis: NGOs and the UN Charter * The "Curious Grapevine": NGO Rights and Limitations * Silencing the NGOs at the UN * "Honored Guests": NGOs in the Struggle Against Apartheid * The NGO Prototype: The Anti-Slavery Society * An NGO Shifts Its Focus: The Pioneer International League for Human Rights * To Light a Candle: Amnesty International and the Prisoners of Conscience * A Call for US Leadership: Congress, the Struggle for Human Rights, and the NGO Factor * Overcoming "Lingering Brickeritis": The Struggle for Genocide Treaty Ratification * Heroic Reformers: NGOs and the Helsinki Process * The Fuel and the Lubricant: NGOs and the Revolution in UN Human Rights Implementation Machinery * A Rare, Defining Moment: Vienna, 1993 * Genocide and Accountability: The Role of Human Rights Watch * Overcoming the Crisis of Growth: Human Rights Watch Spans the Globe * The "Diplomatic" Approach vs. the "Human Rights" Approach: The High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Blaustein Institute * Uncharted Terrain: Minority Rights, Ethnic Tension, and Conflict Prevention * Ethnicity and Public Consciousness: Can Ethnic Violence Be Controlled or Prevented? * The "Unexplored Continent" of Physician Involvement in Human Rights * Mrs. Roosevelts NGO Takes on New Dimensions: Freedom Houses Changing Priorities * "Asian Values": The Challenge to the Universal Declaration * The Rule of Law and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights * Accountability Revisited