ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the promises and pitfalls of mass-appeal human rights advocacy. In the world of human rights, the principal focus of nongovernmental organization (NGO) activity is the state itself. Most human rights NGOs conduct fact finding about human rights violations, assist victims of violations, and try to change state policies and practices. Amnesty International is one of the most important actors in the global human rights regime—and in many ways the emblematic transnational human rights NGO. Human Rights Watch is more than a decade younger than Amnesty International and is not a mass-membership organization. The simple answer is, international human rights law. Transnational human rights advocacy can be an effective tool for normalizing, protecting, and enforcing human rights. The ubiquity of social media provides an easily accessible and wide-reaching platform for transnational human rights actors, organizations, and celebrities to share and publicize the causes and advocacy.
