Managed death: IO legitimacy and evolving human rights

Abstract

As the norms that underpin longstanding human rights change, international organizations (IOs) based on rules that enshrine older norms face a challenge: The abrogation of older rules can restrict their remit, but the maintenance of outdated norms can hamper their legitimacy. I explore the role of IOs in terminating existing rules through 42 interviews with current and former International Labor Organization (ILO) staff and delegates centered on a new standards abrogation process. The standards that were considered for abrogation govern worker’s and women’s rights, especially those regulating penal labor in former colonies and those that prohibited women from certain types of employment under the grounds of special protection. I find that this abrogation process was driven by concerns about organizational legitimacy in the face of evolving interpretations of human rights rather than budget pressure and the ILO exercised agenda-setting autonomy in determining which standards were outdated and should be up for an abrogation vote. Other IOs have also rejected some of their own past rules or decisions to enhance their legitimacy.