A reflection on international human rights non-governmental organizations' approach to promoting socio-economic rights : lessons from a South African experience

This item was digitized as part of a project to share McGill's intellectual legacy with the public. If you are the copyright holder or a relative of the copyright holder who is deceased, you may request withdrawal by emailing escholarship.library@mcgill.ca. The full policy for eScholarship may be accessed here: mcgill.ca This thesis, by reviewing a human rights project implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), a South African based non-governmental organization (NGO), seeks to address the ongoing discussion regarding the role of international human rights NGOs in promoting socio-economic rights, adding a local perspective to this debate. It argues that international human rights NGOs working on socio-economic rights issues need to evaluate their approaches to promoting socio-economic rights, including their methodologies and strategies, and to engage more substantively with local NGOs concentrating on these issues. Namely, this thesis reviews a recent article written by Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), expressing HRW's views on promoting socio-economic rights. In order to support its main arguments, this thesis, using AWARD's human rights project, introduces a clear conceptual framework for economic and social rights that focuses on the right to water, and considers various methodological approaches for promoting socio-economic rights.