The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding
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Description
Fact-finding is at the heart of human rights advocacy, and is often at the center of international disputes about alleged government abuses. Recently, there has been a huge increase in the number and variety of fact-finding mechanisms established, including by governments, intergovernmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations, and private actors. Human rights fact-finding is often controversial. In addition to objections lodged by some of the governments concerned, more objective observers have offered increasingly in-depth critiques of the composition, methodologies, interpretive techniques, and rigor of some of the investigations. Yet very little comparative or critical research has been undertaken in response, and human rights fact-finding remains strikingly under-examined and under-theorized. This book eschews the narrow focus of much of the older writing on this issue, adopting instead an interdisciplinary approach that combines perspectives from many fields, including international law, political science, forensics, informatics, and critical theory. The chapters combine discussion of methodology, institutional arrangements, theory, and case studies, and adopt critical approaches that challenge the received wisdom in the field. This book attests to the fact that human rights fact-finding practice and scholarship are currently in a period of significant transformation on numerous fronts. A rich scholarship is emerging, and practitioners are pushing forward a broader range of investigative techniques.
Publication Date
2015
Recommended Citation
Alston, Philip G. and Knuckey, Sarah, "The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding" (2015). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 749.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/749
