Watson Events

James Ron -- Rights-Based Organizations in the Global South: Are they Sustainable and Locally Legitimate?

"Rights-Based Organizations in the Global South: Are they Sustainable and Locally Legitimate?," with James Ron, Norman Paterson School for International Affairs, Carleton University. 

Rights-based NGOs in the global South are increasingly popular among development donors, agencies and experts. The number and scope of such groups is proliferating, as is the development community’s financial and intellectual investment in their success. As a result, rights-based groups are increasingly involved in promoting the rights and well-being of marginalized populations of all kinds, including sex workers, illegal migrants, refugees, domestic workers, urban squatters, and HIV-affected populations. This shift represents a significant expansion of organized human rights activities, moving rights groups beyond their traditional interests in victims of government repression. What impact is Northern funding having on the sustainability and local legitimacy of Southern rights-based groups? Is the expanded investment strengthening or undermining the rights-based sector?

To address these questions, James Ron conducted a four-year survey of 130 human rights workers from 60 countries. In this presentation, he presents preliminary quantitative and qualitative evidence from this study. Prof. Ron is Associate Professor of International Studies at the Norman Paterson School for International Affairs, Canada’s leading graduate program for international policy. For more information, please see www.carleton.ca/~jron. 

Location: McKinney Conference Room, Watson Institute, 111 Thayer Street.