1st Edition

Transnational Advocacy Networks and Human Rights Law Emergence and Framing of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

By Giulia Dondoli Copyright 2019
    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    232 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book asks the fundamental question of how new human rights issues emerge in the human rights debate. To answer this, the book focuses on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and on the case study of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) rights.





    The work argues that the way in which NGOs decide their advocacy, conceptualise human rights violations and strategically present legal analysis to advance LGBTI human rights shapes the human rights debate. To demonstrate this, the book analyses three data sets: NGO written statements submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, NGO oral statements delivered during the Universal Periodic Review and 36 semi-structured interviews with NGO staff. Data are analysed with a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to discover what issues are most important for LGBTI networks (issue emergence) and how these issues are framed (issue framing). Along with NGO efficiency in lobbying for the emergence of new human rights standards, the book inevitably discusses important questions related to NGOs’ accountability and democratic legitimacy. The book thus asks whether the right to marry is important for LGBTI advocates working transnationally, because this right is particularly controversial among activists and LGBTI communities, especially in non-Western contexts.

    1. Introduction;  2. Between Friends and Foes: Transnational Advocacy Networks, Issue Emergence and Issue Framing;  3. LGBTI Transnational Advocacy Networks: Internetwork Relations and Horizontal Networking;  4. The Broader Political Context: How States and Other NGOs Influence LGBTI NGOs’ Issue Framing;  5. "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility": The Advocacy Agenda of LGBTI Transnational Advocacy Networks;  6. Conclusion;  7. Appendices;  8. Index

    Biography

    Giulia Dondoli obtained her PhD in Human Rights Law from Te Piringa, Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, New Zealand.