Intergovernmental Organizations and Public Perceptions of Human Rights

• In Event: International Criticism, Public Opinion, and Human Rights

Abstract

When, and under what conditions, do Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) try to influence public perceptions of human rights issues? Some IGOs (e.g., the United Nations, the Council of Europe, or the Organization of American States) have a clear mandate to promote human rights, whereas many others (e.g., the World Bank, the IMF or OECD) do not have a mandate to do so, but nonetheless choose to speak out on certain human rights topics. What explains why some IGOs engage in these activities, and why do they appear to be more eager to influence public opinion on some issues than others? This paper is part of a larger project that studies IGOs’ efforts to engage the public across a range of different issue areas. It starts from the premise that IGOs are primarily the servants of the states that created them and, as a result, are generally unwilling to be perceived as interfering in the domestic politics of their member states. Nonetheless, IGOs often choose to engage directly with the public on a number of different issues. By examining the public outreach activities of several prominent IGOs, this paper tests three possible explanations for why IGOs are willing to engage in public communications on human rights issues: (1) individual member states put pressure on the leaders of the IGOs to promote a particular human rights issue, or to criticize the human rights practices of another member state; (2) the IGO leadership might want to build public awareness of a particular issue in order to shape the behavior of their member states; and (3) the IGO staff steer their organizations towards engaging with the public on issues that are personally important to them.

Author

• Brian D. Greenhill, SUNY, University at Albany