Misappropriation of Human Rights

Human rights are increasingly invoked to justify policies that restrict freedom, exclude minorities, or evade accountability, in ways that undermine the human rights project as such. How does this happen and how can we tell misuse from legitimate contestation? This edited volume tackles these questions head-on. Building on and critically testing the concept of human rights misappropriation, it brings together leading scholars from law and the social sciences to examine the strategies, actors, and fora through which rights language is distorted from within. Through rich case studies spanning diverse contexts, the book reveals how human rights become a battleground of power, ideology, and resistance and why understanding this phenomenon is essential to the future of human rights protection.