Perpetrating Good: The Unintended Consequences of International Human Rights Advocacy

In her article "Perpetrating Good," Barbora Bukovskà focuses on the impact of reporting, advocacy and strategic litigation on human rights victims to analyze whether these methods are working — and if they are, for whom. Her assessment is critical: she argues that the means used by human rights advocates in their work might be damaging and counterproductive. Rather than eliminate power relations and domination over those they aim to help, human rights advocates often sustain power imbalances. She submits that their methods often falsify the true experience of victims of human rights violations and end up suppressing their independence, competence and solidarity.

About the author 

Barbora Bukovskà is a human rights advocate and has been working on various human rights issues in Central and Eastern Europe over the past decade.
Through her work, she became connected with many international NGOs in Europe and the United States. In 1998 – 2000, she was a PILI Public Interest Law Fellow at Columbia University. She is currently Legal Director at the Mental Disability Advocacy Center in Budapest.

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