Introduction to Human Rights Strategies

In this chapter, first attention is paid to human rights strategies in general. Strategies come in many different forms, can have different goals, and are used by many different actors. Immediately after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after World War II, human rights strategies were developed to raise awareness, to inform, and to educate the public. Monitoring strategies became important after States committed themselves to human rights treaties. Digital developments have created new dimensions to human rights strategies that may affect the balance between accuracy and speed. In this volume, the focus is on three specific human rights strategies, Naming and Shaming, Strategic Litigation, and Information Politics. While it is clear that most strategies are developed to further human rights in the public interest, they all also have their disadvantages, sometimes even at the expense of certain rights or certain individuals.