Faith in Rights

Amélie Barras is Associate Professor in the Law and Society Program at York University.

• Introduction1. Catholic NGOS at the Human Rights Council: Everyday Human Rights Practice in a "Secular" Environment2. Practicing Solidarity: The Social Doctrine of the Church and the Advocacy of Catholic-Inspired NGOS3. Perseverance and Patience in Crafting International Human Rights Norms: The Work of Quaker Representatives at the Human Rights Council4. Building the Capacity of Local Networks: Post-Secular Moments through the Practice of EducationConclusion

"Are international human rights religious or secular? Developments at the Human Rights Council, Amélie Barras suggests, attest to the limits of this question. Barras alternates skillfully between explaining the pragmatic ways in which a commitment to this binary persists in shaping possibilities at the Human Rights Council with a perceptive account of the limits of such interpretations and the political possibilities that emerge in the wake of their displacement. Her expert account of the Quakers' role in advocating for conscientious objection as an international human right powerfully illustrates this argument."—Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Northwestern University "This book offers an elegantly-written challenge: to disrupt the ways that we 'look' for religion and to question what it means to be a 'secular' space. In challenging these binaries, Barras renders visible how religion functions in complex and surprising ways through advocacy practices at the Human Rights Council. This is essential reading for all human rights scholars and practitioners."—Andrea Paras, University of Guelph