Human rights organizations and civil society

Abstract

This chapter highlights the place of human rights organizations as a particular part of civil society. They are almost always policy-oriented organizations rather than service providers and their work thus by its very nature can be more visible, and unwelcome for state authorities, who are often the main targets of human rights critique. In addition, many of them are not just part and parcel of civil society, but that they also often work to defend the civic space of civil society as a whole. Due to the impact of these activities, human rights organizations are more vulnerable to targeted state measures to reduce civic space than other sectors of civil society. This chapter identifies the different types of human rights organizations as well as a number of key challenges and dilemmas they face. It also goes into the connection between human rights organizations and international and domestic human rights law.