Petitioning for Progress: Victims, Civil Society, and Human Rights Petitions in the United Nations

“Petitioning for Progress” examines how victims of human rights abuse and civil society organizations use individual petition mechanisms to seek justice and pressure governments. This quasi-judicial mechanism is distinctive among international institutions, combining elements of both political bodies and international courts. This book explores two key questions: (1) Why do victims of human rights abuse file petitions against repressive governments? and (2) What effect do individual petitions in the United Nations have? To answer these questions, I develop the book's theoretical framework through two distinct yet related stages. First, victims of human rights abuse face two key barriers: they lack information and fear of retaliation by their repressive government. Individuals can overcome these barriers with either personal prior political experience or involvement of civil society organizations. Second, although governments frequently ignore these treaty body decisions as they are not legally binding, these violation decisions themselves are a favorable outcome for victims, providing symbolic justice and validation. Additionally, I argue that these violation decisions can, under certain conditions, be an effective form of naming and shaming, pressuring governments to improve their human rights practices. The book provides empirical support for this theoretical framework through a mixed- methods research design that combines original cross-national data and detailed case studies of human rights petitions.

Bio
Rachel J. Schoner is an Assistant Professor at Tulane University in the Department of Political Science. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2022. Before joining the faculty at Tulane University, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. Her research focuses on the global governance of human rights, particularly on non-state actor access. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Human Rights, and The Review of International Organizations.