Abstract
The history of human rights organisations, both in Britain and internationally, has been a surprisingly neglected field. Indeed, Stephen Hopgood has recently written that a ‘void’ exists where ‘work on the culture of human rights ought to be found’.1 As for much of the voluntary sector, this has typically been the preserve of the ‘official’ history, often written by those with a close personal involvement, and even the occasional work of hagiography. This is not to dismiss the value of this kind of source. However, while insiders have the advantage of personal knowledge and insight, they often tend to shy away from — or indeed draw a veil over — painful internal issues. They are also more likely to be affected by an institutional teleology. Therefore, with the greater availability of good archival sources it is now possible for historians not only to go beyond the ambiguities of ‘official’ history, but also to understand these organisations fully as historical entities, within a proper social and political context.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Stephen Hopgood, Keepers of the Flame; Understanding Amnesty International (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 2006), p. vii.
Cited in Ann Marie Clark, Diplomacy of Conscience: Amnesty International and Changing Human Rights Norms (Princeton & London: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 12.
Lucian G. Weeramantry, The International Commission of Jurists: The Pioneering Years (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000), p. 10;
Howard B. Tolley, The International Commission of Jurists: Global Advocate for Human Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press , 1994), p. xvii.
William Korey, NGOs and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Acurious Grapevine’ (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 1998), Chapter 5.
There is a helpful entry on Ronald Kidd by Mark Pottle in the New Dictionary of National Biography. K.D. Ewing and C.A. Gearty, The Struggle for Civil Liberties: Political Freedom and the Rule of Law in Britain, 1914–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) is written from a legal perspective and contains surprisingly little analysis of the role of the NCCL.
Mark Lilly, The National Council for Civil Liberties: The First Fifty Years (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1984), p. 4.
The literature on human rights is vast. For a brief historical summary see Tom Buchanan, ‘Human Rights’, in The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History (forthcoming 2008, Palgrave Macmillan). For a fuller recent account see
Micheline R. Ishay, The History of Human Rights: from Ancient Times to the Globalisation Era (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). See also
Jan Herman Burgers, ‘The Road to San Francisco: The revival of the Human Rights Idea in the Twentieth Century’, Human Rights Quarterly, 14 (4) Nov. 1992, pp. 447–77.
This is discussed at considerable length, but with little reference to the role of NGOs, in Brian Simpson, Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
The FDC is now best remembered for the high-profile role taken by George Orwell, who served as vice-chairman: see George Woodcock, The Crystal Spirit (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970), pp. 19–23.
Russell to Sidney Hook, 8 June 1956, cited in Hugh Wilford, The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War: Calling the Tune? (London: Frank Cass, 2003), p. 216.
See Tom Buchanan, ‘Holding the Line: The Political Strategy of the International Brigade Association’, Labour History Review, 66(3) 2001, pp. 163–84, and ‘Receding Triumph: The British Opposition to the Franco Regime, 1945–59’, Twentieth Century British History, 12 (2) 2001, pp. 163–84.
On the formation of JUSTICE see Helen Roberts, ‘Witness: The Origins of Justice’, Paragon Review [Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull], 6, Nov. 1997, pp. 20–4.
Maurice Cranston, Human Rights To-day (London: Ampersand, 1962), pp. 96–100.
The Africa Bureau had been founded in 1952 by the Rev. Michael Scott, an anti-apartheid and peace activist and a close associate of Astor’s. (See Scott’s obituary in The Times, 16 Sept. 1983 and Anne Yates and Lewis Chester. The Troublemaker: Michael Scott and his Lonely Struggle against Injustice (London: Aurum Press, 2006)).
For a detailed and archive-based account of these events see Tom Buchanan, ‘“The Truth will Set You Free …”: The Making of Amnesty International’, Journal of Contemporary History, 37(4) 2002, pp. 575–97. See also
Jonathan Power’s Amnesty International; The Human Rights Story (London: Fontana, 1981) and Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International (London: Allen Lane, 2001);
Egon Larsen, A Flame in Barbed Wire; The Story of Amnesty International (New York: W.W. Norton, 1979).
For a detailed account see Tom Buchanan, ‘Amnesty International in Crisis, 1966–7’, Twentieth Century British History, 15 (3) 2004, pp. 267–89.
See the profile of Helen Bamber in The Guardian, 11 March 2000, and Neil Belton, The Good Listener (London: Phoenix, 1999).
This section draws in part on Mikael Rask Madsen, ‘France, the UK, and the “Boomerang” of the Internationalisation of Human Rights (1945–2000)’ in Simon Halliday and Patrick Schmidt, eds, Human Rights Brought Home (Oxford & Portland, Oregon: Hart, 2004), pp. 78–83.
Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1998), pp. 39–40.
For Dunant, see Caroline Moorehead, Dunant’s Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (Bury St. Edmunds: HarperCollins, 1998); for Dolci see
Michael Bess, Realism, Utopia and the Mushroom Cloud: Four Activist Intellectuals and their Struggles for Peace, 1945–1989 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993); for Kenrick see the obituary by Michael White in The Guardian, 19 Jan. 2007. Ronald Kidd was similarly eclipsed within the NCCL, although this was partly due to his ill-health following a road accident.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Tom Buchanan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Buchanan, T. (2009). Human Rights Campaigns in Modern Britain. In: Crowson, N., Hilton, M., McKay, J. (eds) NGOs in Contemporary Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230234079_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230234079_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30662-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-23407-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)