Enforcing International Standards of Justice: Amnesty International's Constructive Conflict Expansion

In: Peace & change: a journal of peace research, Band 16, Heft 4, S. 379-399

Abstract

Within a conflictual international milieu, Amnesty International (AI) works to enforce international human rights norms when the organization would seem to have little or no legal, economic, or physical force to wield against sovereign states. Three aspects of AI's activity that have contributed to its effectiveness are delineated: (1) by incorporating an international, "public" audience into ostensibly "private" conflicts between individuals & their governments, AI makes it more likely that international norms governing fair treatment of prisoners will be invoked. (2) AI uses particularly powerful symbols to moblize individuals, & (3) AI has focused on pragmatic demands for action by target countries. Adapted from the source document.