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International Adoption and Migration: Complex Intersectionality in the Name of Love and Crime
There is a gap or perhaps more of a blind spot in legal theory regarding how to explain the relationship between socially constructed identities and non-socially constructed biological vulnerabilities in the meeting with the law. This has always been the methodological challenge of child rights. The Complex Intersectionality of the child as both a social…
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HRJust’s Pathway Towards Impact
The following report shows how a legislative proposal can be examined, challenged, and brought into broader public and legal debate. From identifying problematic human rights justifications, to collaborating with civil society, producing scientific research, and engaging both decision-makers and academia, this is what impact can look like in practice.
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Inclusive Democracy, Reflecting Gender and Intersectionality, The Rings-on-Water methodology and the Complex Intersectional Critique as a single, mutually anchored
Deliverable 7.5 responds to the Horizon Europe Grant Agreement’s request for a report on Inclusive Democracy, reflecting gender and intersectionality. The deliverable is composed of two mutually anchored component studies. D 7.5-A develops the Rings-on-Water (RoW) methodology through which HRJust conducted civil-society engagement across Sweden and Taiwan, and articulates the epistemological warrant that grounds that methodology…
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A Report on How Human Rights Organisations Respond to the Use of Human Rights Justifications in Swedish Legislative Preparatory Works, Maria Nääv & Haidar Al-amirtaha
Summary This report examines how Civil Society in the form of human rights organisations responds to Human Rights Justifications (HRJs) through the consultation process for two recently presented legislative inquiry reports: Ds 2024:30 and SOU 2024:93. HRJs are when the State uses human rights to justify its own decisions and actions. The purpose of human…
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Maria Grahn-Farley, ‘The Silent Sound of Drowning: Human Rights Justifications and Complex Intersectionality’ (2025) 51 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 1
Abstract This Article presents a new concept, “Human Rights Justifications,” which captures instances in which states invoke human rights to defend and legitimize their own actions. Human Rights Justifications stand in contrast to cases in which human rights are activated by an individual holding the state accountable for its actions. The difference between when a…
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Laura Carlson. ‘The Changing Paradigm of Human Rights Justifications: Challenges for Civil Society’. Zbornik znanstvenih razprav (Ljubljana Law Review) 85 (2025): 135–164
ABSTRACT This article scrutinises the evolving paradigm of human rights justifications (HRJs) and the growing complexities encountered by civil society when states invoke human rights to legitimise restrictive migration policies. Originally conceived as a shield to protect individuals from state power, human rights have increasingly been appropriated by states as instruments of governance, particularly in…
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A Literary Review on the Effects of Labeling, Elma Fransson & Karla Haglund
Abstract Criminality has become a major part of the political debate in recent years. Naturally, this comes with several different solutions from several different people. Our purpose is to examine the theory of labeling, which has been a part of the debate since the 1960´s. There have been many different views of the theory and…
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Highlights from the Nordic Rule of Law Forum 2025
Last week, the HRJust project had the privilege of co-hosting the Nordic Rule of Law Forum 2025 together with Civil Rights Defenders. The forum brought together researchers, legal experts, civil society actors, and policymakers to engage in critical discussions on the rule of law and the evolving role of human rights in state practice. Researchers…
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HRJust Workshop at Stockholm University: Exploring Human Rights Justifications in Practice
Last week, the HRJust project hosted a full-day workshop at Stockholm University, bringing together researchers, civil society actors, and international partners to explore the implications of states invoking human rights as justification for policy and governance. Participants included collaborators from Academia Sinica and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), alongside representatives from civil society organisations and…
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Engaging the Next Generation of Human Rights Advocates: A Panel with John Stauffer and Yen-Tu Su
On November 10, 2025, the WP4 & 5 Taiwan team was honored to invite John Stauffer, Legal Director and Deputy Executive Director of Civil Rights Defenders. He gave us a talk on “The State of Human Rights Protection in Sweden — and How it Relates to a Global Trend of Democratic Backsliding” at National Taiwan University College…