Creating human rights : how noncitizens made sex persecution matter to the world / Lisa S. Alfredson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alfredson, Lisa S.

Series:

Pennsylvania studies in human rights.

Pennsylvania studies in human rights

Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sexual abuse victims--Services for--Canada.

Sexual abuse victims.

Women refugees--Services for--Canada.

Women refugees.

Women immigrants--Services for--Canada.

Women immigrants.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Creating Human Rights offers the first systematic study of a pioneering women's refugee movement and its challenge, as an international trigger case, to more conventional paths toward human rights policy development. Lisa S. Alfredson argues that such cases, which unfold in the context of a specific country and have profound impacts on international human rights efforts, have been neglected in research and pose a challenge to recent theorizing on human rights change. In the early 1990's, Canada witnessed the emergence of the world's first comprehensive refugee policy for women who were seeking protection from female-specific forms of violence-rape, domestic abuse, public stoning of adulterers, genital mutilation-while challenging a gender-biased system. Close examination of this novel movement, Alfredson contends, provides crucial insights into why and how states may articulate new human rights that set international precedents. Analyzing original empirical data and sociopolitical historical trends, the book documents the decisive global impacts of the movement while shedding light on the paradox of noncitizen politics and asylum seekers' little recognized political strength. Contrary to expectation, findings suggest transnational networks and pressures are not required for some forms of change. Rather, international trigger cases illuminate a range of other key actors and advocacy strategies leading, subsequently, to a more comprehensive understanding of human rights acceptance.In the case of the women's refugee movement, the convergence of human rights and noncitizen politics points toward a new dimension for human rights scholarship that, in the current age of globalization, is becoming critically important.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Figures and Tables

Abbreviations

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Human Rights, Social Movement, and Asylum Seeking

Chapter 3: Global Challenges and Opportunities for Sex-Based Asylum Seeking

Chapter 4: Moving In: Asylum Seekers' National Rights, Resources, and Opportunities

Chapter 5: "Use My Name": Noncitizen Identity, Decisions, and Mobilization

Chapter 6: Universalizing National Rights: Political Confrontation and Cultural Framing

Chapter 7: Making Sex Persecution Matter

Appendix: Comprehensive and Novel Aspects of Gender-Related Claims

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-309) and index.

ISBN:

9780812201062

081220106X

OCLC:

859160828