Human Rights Voices

by William Simmons (Editor), Semere Kesete (Editor)

Overview

Human Rights Voices is an anthology made up of original contributions from those most affected by human rights issues, including victims, activists, attorneys, government officials, perpetrators, and volunteers. For the first time, students will hear directly from these key stakeholders who live daily with human rights challenges and violations. The anecdotal approach makes this book different from the more macro, abstract, policy-oriented texts, and will ground human rights in lived experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138212602
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/01/2026
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sheila Keetharuth, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Eritrea, former Executive Director, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa. She has worked on human rights issues in The Gambia, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Mauritius, etc.

Rhona Smith, Northumbria University, Author of International Human Rights, 5th edition, (Oxford UP, 2011), Core Statutes on Public Law and Civil Liberties, 7th Edition (with Richard Glancey and Eimear Spain, Palgrave MacMillan, 2011), Text and Materials on International Human Rights Law, 2nd ed (Routledge 2009). Smith has extensive experience training human rights scholars and activists in China and Southeast Asia.

Asya El-Meehy, Officer of Governance and Public Administration United Nations-ESCWA, Lebanon. Her research interests include the Arab Spring, women’s rights, and civil society and she has conducted extensive fieldwork on women’s rights and NGOs in Egypt.

Devorah Wainer, Honorary Associate, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney. Wainer’s research interests include refugee rights, voices of the marginalized, and transitional justice.

Semere Kesete, Human rights activist and former political prisoner from Eritrea. Research interests include: civil and political rights, refugees, human trafficking, the Horn of Africa.

Mary Kaitlin McNally Murphy, Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona, specializes in Latin American human rights especially oral histories, documentary films, and transitional justice.

Table of Contents

Part I Defining Human Rights and Human Rights Institutions

1. What Do Human Rights Mean to Me? 2. Developing Human Rights Declarations, Conventions, and Tribunals: On-the Ground Perspectives 3. Civil and Political Rights 4. Economics and Human Rights

Part II: Human Rights of Marginalized Groups

5. Women’s Rights I: Violence Against Women 6. Women’s Rights II: Agency and its Restraints 7. LGBTQ Rights 8. Disability Rights 9. Rights of Prisoners and Capital Punishment 10. Ethnic and Religious Minorities 11. Immigrants’ Rights in Europe, the U.S. and Australia 12. Indigenous Rights

Part III: Human Rights in Practice

13. Using Human Rights Law: An On-the Ground Perspective 14. Transitional Justice: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and the Courts 15. Peace and Human Rights 16. Creating Successful Transnational Rights Movements 17. Human Rights Defenders and Heroes

Part IV: New Frontiers in Human Rights

18. The Wars on Terror, Intervention, and Human Rights 19. Health and Human Rights 20. Right to Food and Housing 21. Climate Change, Deforestation, and Human Rights

Part V: Human Rights Futures

22. Bringing Human Rights Home to the College Campus: Students are the Future 23. Human Rights Victories 24. The Future of Human Rights and Human Rights Voices