Human rights are conventionally conceptualised as normative safeguards that enable individuals to hold States accountable. However, an emerging line of inquiry examines a more complex dynamic: the invocation of human rights by States themselves as justificatory tools for their own actions.
In this chapter, Maria Grahn-Farley develops the concept of human rights justifications, referring to the process through which human rights are mobilised not as constraints on State power, but as instruments within its exercise. This shift signals a potential reorientation of human rights from their protective function toward a justificatory logic embedded in governance practices.
The chapter applies this analytical framework to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, examining how human rights discourse can be strategically reframed in order to legitimise State conduct. In doing so, it highlights the tensions that arise when human rights are deployed in ways that risk undermining their foundational purpose.
By interrogating this phenomenon, the chapter contributes to ongoing scholarly debates on the normative integrity of human rights and their role within contemporary geopolitical contexts. It raises a critical question: what are the implications for human rights when they are invoked to justify, rather than constrain, the exercise of State power?