Human Rights and Global Practice

from a matter of international concern to domestic empowerment of citizens

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/83619

The article analyzes the meaning of human rights based on the institutional framework
developed by the international community after the Second World War. This global
practice, although fragile and of limited effectiveness, is structured around international
commitments signed between states, in which human rights function as legal limits to
state sovereignty and allow for accountability in cases of violation. However, by focusing
on interstate agreements, this approach tends to overlook or fail to give due importance
to mobilizations and rights claims that take place in various parts of the world. In light of
this, the article is guided by the following question: what are the limits of the statecentered institutional approach to human rights, and how can it be expanded through the
political mobilization of citizens at the domestic level? It is argued that state centrality
should not be denied but complemented: it is precisely internal social mobilization that
strengthens the capacity of states themselves to fulfill the commitments they have
undertaken. The conclusion is that the effectiveness of human rights depends on the
articulation between international accountability and domestic empowerment.