The human rights repertoire: its strategic logic, expectations and tactics

Abstract

The article explores the strategic use of ‘human rights’ in challenger activism. Drawing upon a wide variety of observations from academics, politicians, and journalists, it formalises the concept of ‘the human rights repertoire’. Political actors employ this set of strategies by making claims of human rights abuse in order to further their interests. The article delineates the logic and expectations of the repertoire, as well as its intermediate goals and the claim components and behaviour it uses to achieve them. The human rights repertoire is an information-based, non-violent strategy, which relies on the power of norm invocations and displays of abuse to secure support from the target audience. To demonstrate the specifics of the repertoire, the article draws upon the case study of the transnational Uyghur campaign, which uses the human rights repertoire as its primary means to secure Western support in their challenge to the Chinese authorities.