The local relevance of human rights: a methodological approach

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology for examining the use and relevance of human rights in local communities as they quest to change their reality of poverty, social exclusion or marginalisation. The methodology draws on an innovative conceptual approach denominated ‘localising human rights,’ a process which takes the human rights needs and claims formulated by local people as a basis for further interpreting and elaborating human rights in the context of economic globalisation. This paper, through a literature review of interdisciplinary methodological approaches and participatory case studies, offers an introduction on how local communities’ use of human rights can be researched in the context of field studies.