Invoking Human Rights and Transnational Activism in Racial Justice Struggles at Home: US Antiracist Activists and the UN Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination

Abstract

In February 2008, over 120 members of US civil society representing a range of domestic non-governmental organizations attended a United Nations hearing regarding the US government's compliance with the International Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In this article, I analyze a distinct form of transnational activism that requires US racial justice activists to identify human rights standards and principles upon which to build their assertions of racial injustice, necessitating a fl uency in the language of human rights and the ability to negotiate and lobby with members of a UN committee.

‘A New Language that Speaks of Change Just As It Steps Toward It’: Transnationalism, Erotic Justice and Queer Human Rights Praxis

“…Expanding upon the queer transnational scholarship, which has not explicitly grappled with human rights frameworks, we argue that the concept of ‘rights’ is a necessary one because it remains a widespread and popular reminder of the fundamental freedom and dignity of all humanity; it requires legal institutions and civil society to view gendered, sexual and racialized Others as, in fact, human and therefore as deserving of rights (Schulman 2004). Moreover, we assert that grassroots activists continue to use human rights as a strategic tool for grappling with daily abuses and organizing at the community level (Falcón 2009). Hence the designation, for instance, of the murder of transgendered persons, as a human rights violation, gives international credence to the cause and calls upon the state and civil society to protect the ‘right to life’ and ‘freedom from violence’ principles of the Yogyakarta Principles 10…”

“A Problem of Humanity”: The Human Rights Framework and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“…More specifically, actors within movements and organizations working within internationally salient networks and frameworks such as human rights may be uniquely positioned to engage in practices that enable them to influence organizations, states, and institutions. Essentially, the HRF enables domestic racial justice activists to engage in transnational activism (Falcón 2009). While struggles for racial justice have long been infused with transnational solidarity and related to global social movements (cf.…”

“…In terms of institutions, the HRF is both a source of legitimation and codifiable principles that can be translated into laws, doctrines, and texts that shape claims-making and institutional practices. In other words, it is generative of what Charles R. Epp (2009:2) calls “legalized accountability.” There is thus the potential, however limited, within the HRF for actors to work within this activist-institutional assemblage to make claims and influence policies and social structures (Falcón 2009). It is therefore prescient to examine historical and contemporary attempts in a number of contexts to align the HRF and the cause of racial justice in the United States.…”

New Directions in Feminism and Human Rights

“…Instead, the language and discourse of human rights proves more useful to women and marginalized communities as an organizing tool, in lieu of entrusting the state to abide by the human rights standards adopted by the international community. Activists who remain wedded to a state -UN dualism can also find human rights engagement extremely limiting (Falcó n 2009). Yet at the same time, the state should not be absolved of its repressive treatment of people.…”