Defining Rights and Wrongs; Buraucracy, Human Rights, and Public Accountability

"Defining Rights and Wrongs" investigates the day-to-day practices of the officials who manage human rights complaints. Rosanna Langer documents agencies' struggle to reconcile a huge body of claims within expansive standards and restrictive rules. She also examines how independent human rights advocates and organizations challenge the agency to respond to calls for change. Langer concludes that tensions remain between rights, enforcement ideals, and operational imperatives; between the public interest and particular individual complainants; and between perpetuation and change.In its defence of the public interest and offering a strong anti-discrimination framework at a time when public complaint administration is under attack, "Defining Rights and Wrongs" opposes the formalization and privatization of discrimination complaints. It will interest practitioners, students, and academics interested in human rights, politics, public policy, and law and society.