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The central objective of this chapter is to develop a theoretical reading of the international and contemporary discourse of reproductive rights. My hope is that the perspective and analytical proposal set forth represent a contribution to the expansion and consolidation of the field of study, and renders useful for the analysis and evaluation of the situation of reproductive rights within national contexts.

This article examines the evolution and the nature of indigenous women’s rights activism in post-conflict Guatemala. I analyze the work of the Organización de Mujeres Mayas de Kaqla, which has developed a type of women’s rights activism that is firmly rooted in Mayan cosmovisión and in women’s direct experiences. Building on their experience in the revolutionary movements of the war period the women of Kaqla seek to localize the allegedly universal discourse of women’s rights and to use it as a resource for change. I apply the perspectives of social movement spillover and of localizing human rights respectively to structure the findings, and argue that both perspectives can be insightful in understanding certain dimensions of this multi-faceted kind of activism, but that there are certain dynamics which these perspectives fail to grasp. I ask how the case of Kaqla can enrich both our understanding of how social movements can adapt to changing environments, and of how transnational discourses can become localized. The analysis also highlights the North-South power dynamic and suggests that processes of discursive adaptation are not fundamentally open.

At global fora which discuss the regulation of international migration the Philippine government is typically hailed a “good practice example” for its institutional as well as legal framework and proactive interest in the welfare of its citizens. The Philippine history of migration policy making is indeed shaped by a shift from “exporting workers” to an increasingly comprehensive rights-sensitive approach that addresses most aspects of migration: the regulation of recruitment agencies, pre-migration training, insurance systems, overseas voting rights, consular services, social rights of the left behind, and re-integration of returned migrants. This state of affairs, however, has not always been like that and is largely the result of activism by the vibrant migrant rights movement in the Philippines which reaches across the world. The case of the Philippine also shows mixed approaches to government-social movement relations, characterized by both pressure politics and critical engagement.

Considerable gaps and loopholes remain in this web of rights-based policy aspects. Structural weaknesses are major problems that need to be addressed if labor migration is to evolve into a truly choice-driven economic decision. Still, comparatively and historically speaking, the Philippines have come a long way. The combined effects of leadership from below and leadership from above had led to some concrete results – even if far from perfect – in the betterment of many migrants’ lives.

The purpose of this paper is to do a systematic assessment and testing of identified human rights norms alongside social determinant approaches in relation to identified health issues of concern in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) to show how social determinants and human rights frameworks improve population health.

To do so, in the first part the authors analyze the inequalities both between and within each of the selected countries in terms of health status and health determinants of the population. Then, in the second section, the authors analyze the level of recognition, institutionalisation and accountability of the right to health in each country.

From the data used in this paper it is possible to conclude that the four analysed countries have improved their results in terms of health status, health care and health behaviours. This improvement coincides with the recognition, institutionalisation and creation of accountability mechanisms of human rights principles and standards in terms of health and that a human rights approach to health and its relation with other social determinants have extended universal health coverage and health systems in the four analysed countries.

Despite of the importance of the relation between human rights and social determinants of health, there are few human right scholars working on the issues of social determinants of health and human rights. Most of the literature of health and human rights has been focussed specific relations between specific rights and the right to health, but less human right scholar working on social determinants of health. On the other hand, just a few epidemiologists and people working on social medicine have actually started to use a universal human rights frame and discourse. In fact, according to Vnkatapuram, Bell and Marmot: “while health and human rights advocates have from the start taken a global perspective, social medicine and social epidemiology have been slower to catch up”.

This paper aims to review the case for improved (supra‐national) regional social and labour policies in principle, assess the extent to which existing regional associations of governments and regional organizations are actually developing effective regional labour policies in different sub‐regions of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, and finally explore the driving forces behind their development and suggest how they might be further enhanced.

The paper compares the emergence of regional policies concerning labour rights and migrant workers' rights across regions. A sample of more than 15 regional arrangements are then ranked on the basis of their commitment in these areas. Finally, correlations between these rankings and different indicators of (real) regional interdependence are looked at.

The paper shows that regional socio‐economic policies are gaining importance in different world regions, although speeds are varied and generally low. It is difficult, however, to find strong correlations with indicators of regional interdependence such as trade or migration.

The paper presents one of the first systematic accounts of the development of regional socio‐economic policies in different world regions. It shows at the same time that huge opportunities for new policy initiatives exist in this area.

This chapter explores the relationship between disability identity, civil rights, and the law. Twenty-five years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the question remains why disability rights legislation does not go far enough toward addressing access, stigma, and discrimination issues. People with disabilities have found empowerment from disability rights laws, but these laws are also restrictive because they define people in relation to medical aspects of their disabilities and narrowly define society’s obligation for inclusion. The successes and failures of disability rights laws are an important contribution to the study of conceptions of difference.

The insights of T. H. Marshall and Pierre Bourdieu are drawn upon, integrated and extended to show how social spending policies have been key sites for historical struggles over the boundaries and rights of American citizenship. In the 19th century, paupers forfeited their civil and political rights in exchange for relief. Rather than break definitively with this legacy, major policy innovations in the United States that expanded state involvement in social provision generated struggles over whether to model the new policies on or distinguish them from traditional poor relief. At stake in these struggles were the citizenship status and rights of the policies’ clients. Both the emergence of such citizenship struggles and their outcomes are explained. These struggles emerged when policy innovations created new groups of clients, the new policy treated clients in contradictory ways and policy elites formed ties to social movements with stakes in the status and rights of the policy's clients. The outcomes of the struggles have been shaped by the institutional structure of the policy and the manner and extent to which the policy became entangled in racial politics. Historical evidence for these claims is provided by a case study of the Works Progress Administration, an important but understudied component of the New Deal welfare state.

In India, recently on December 11, 2013, the Supreme Court re-established a ban on gay sex following a four-year period of decriminalization that had helped bring homosexuality out of the closet in this communally conservative country. In the light of such prosecution and denial of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) human rights in India, this chapter presents a library manifesto of action for progressive change in support of this marginalized and “invisible” population.

Content analysis of online news articles published during November 14, 2013–January 14, 2014 in The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india), one of India’s most popular English newspaper, identifies proactive economic, educational, legal, political, and social actions libraries can adopt as agents of human rights protection to integrate a social justice agenda on behalf of this subjugated population.

This chapter presents an action-based manifesto consisting of realities experienced by sexual minorities in India and future economic, educational, legal, political, and social actions libraries can take on their behalf.

This research showcases the meaningful role of the library and information science professions in potentially shaping community-wide progressive changes to address the information needs and expectations of underserved populations who are marginalized owing to conservative laws, policies, practices, and politics. It also adopted an innovative strategy in library circles and human rights research of examining online news articles to explore the relevance of the information found in the news covered related to the adoption of an archaic law denying equal rights for sexual minorities in India.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two competing hypotheses about the relationship between a country’s human rights violation and social entrepreneurship entry.

Using multilevel logistic regression with random effect, this paper tested the hypotheses on a sample of 110,460 individuals in 49 countries using data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s Adult Population Survey and the Survey of Social Entrepreneurship for the year 2009. This paper takes advantage of the Cingranelli-Richards Human Rights Data Project to measure a country’s level of human rights protection.

Human rights are positively related to social entrepreneurship entry. The findings also indicate that public sector expenditure strengthens the relationship between human rights, measured by the judiciary independence and social entrepreneurship entry.

This study contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature by conducting a novel empirical investigation of the direct relationship between a country’s human rights and social entrepreneurship entry.

From labor conditions to public health and environmental justice, globalization has created an increasingly complex web of issues surrounding human rights. Research in social studies education points to adolescents’ intrinsic curiosity when engaged in these multiple issues, as well as their idealistic thirst for involving themselves in social progress campaigns. Many students desire involvement and believe in the importance of human rights education within the formal educational setting, especially within social studies curriculum. We report the findings from a qualitative study conducted during a two-week intensive summer institute on human rights and genocide studies in western New York in the summer of 2011. In our study, we found while student participants felt empowered by the institute and their desire to take action was heightened during the experience, they questioned the disconnect between the genocide and human rights education in the Institute and the human rights education they experienced in their social studies classrooms. In comparing the two, they wished there were more authentic learning experiences and a higher level of academic rigor in their social studies classes. Although the New York State curricula, at the time of the study, included human rights education related topics, the interviewed student participants did not recognize its presence and felt human rights education is not a prevalent part of the enacted public school curriculum.