Nina Reiners, professor at the Faculty of Law at the UiO and PROBONO project leader, will present her contribution at the launch event, “Global Governance in Hard Times: Innovation or Decline?” on Monday, September 15th, at 18:00-19:30 (CET) via Zoom.
Dark-side advocacy
In her paper, “Hard(er) Times for Human Rights Advocacy in Global Governance: Ideological Capture and Illiberal Interests,” Reiners examines how the current dynamics of global governance institutions impact human rights advocacy. Historically, informal transnational lawmaking coalitions (TLCs) of human rights professionals have been driving progressive development in the field of human rights, including the right to water.
Now, these mechanisms are being used by far-right and conservative actors in so-called dark-side TLCs with illiberal interests to contest basic principles like nondiscrimination and reverse the advancements in the protection of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) rights.
Regulation of non-state actors in GGIs
Reiners also draws attention to the increasing reliance of global governance institutions (GGIs) on private actors, such as law firms, due to budgetary constraints on the public sector. As private actors, law firms can navigate shrinking civic space in ways that NGOs cannot, making them a strategic choice of partner for GGIs. At the same time, private actors’ corporate-oriented business models spark concern over potential conflicts of interest, power asymmetries in partnerships with NGO and international organizations, and the opening of avenues for hidden private influence.
Increased regulation and guidelines on access to and participation in GGIs are necessary to prevent these fora from being captured by actors pursuing agendas that undermine the principles of human rights and the standards of the institutions that aim to protect them.
About the launch event
This special issue of Ethics & International Affairs was edited by John Karlsrud (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, NUPI) and Benjamin Faude (University of Glasgow).
All contributors will present their work at the launch event and comments will be offered by Hannah Birkenkoetter (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) and Thomas Sommerer (University of Potsdam). There will be time at the end for Q&A.
To register for the event, contact benjamin.faude@glasgow.ac.uk with your institutional email address.
Read more about the event and the contributors on the event flyer.