Seeking Allies Worldwide to Carry the Human Rights Banner

When private persuasion fails to convince a government to stop abusive conduct—and it rarely is enough on its own—the international human rights movement is known to ‘name and shame’. Human rights groups send researchers to meticulously document human rights violations, then publish the findings to subject those responsible to opprobrium. But there has long been another side to international rights work: the effort to enlist powerful actors to press an abusive government to end rights violations. Traditionally, these external advocacy efforts focused on the major western powers, but as global power shifts, so must the focus of this advocacy.