Inside the Human Rights Ministry of Burkina Faso: How professionalised civil servants shape governmental human rights focal points

IF 1.7 2区社会学 Q1 LAW

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights Pub Date : 2021-05-18 DOI:10.1177/09240519211018149

Sébastien Lorion

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The human rights professionalisation of civil servants has emerged as a core dimension of governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs), notably in the 2016 OHCHR’s guide on ‘national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up’. The article investigates this dimension and warns that the role of civil servants is indeed pivotal to human rights compliance strategies but plays out in complex ways. Reflecting on an ethnographic journey within the Human Rights Ministry of Burkina Faso, the article shows how professionalised civil servants fall short of triggering the intended change. It debunks key mechanisms through which agents translate acquired skills and shape GHRFPs’ performance as sites of human rights localisation and coordination. Such ‘deviations’ should not be construed only as local pathologies: they are unintentionally nurtured by international guidance, support and oversight systems. The article calls for a renewed approach to human rights professionalisation, that would recognise – possibly resolve – the unaccounted yet crucial tension between agents’ values and neutral ideal-types for efficient bureaucracies.

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布基纳法索人权部内部:职业化公务员如何塑造政府人权协调中心

公务员的人权专业化已成为政府人权协调中心(ghrfp)的一个核心方面，特别是在2016年人权高专办关于“国家报告和后续机制”的指南中。本文对这一维度进行了调查，并警告说，公务员的作用确实对人权合规战略至关重要，但发挥作用的方式复杂。这篇文章反映了布基纳法索人权部的民族志之旅，显示了职业化的公务员如何无法引发预期的改变。它揭露了代理人将获得的技能转化为人权本地化和协调场所的关键机制，并通过这些机制塑造了ghrfp的表现。这种“偏差”不应仅仅被解释为当地的病态:它们是国际指导、支持和监督系统无意中培育出来的。这篇文章呼吁对人权专业化采取一种新的方法，这种方法将认识到——可能解决——代理人的价值观与高效官僚机构的中立理想类型之间未被解释但至关重要的紧张关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights LAW-

CiteScore

2.40

自引率

6.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： Human rights are universal and indivisible. Their fundamental importance makes it essential for anyone with an interest in the field to keep abreast of the latest developments. The Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (NQHR) is an academic peer-reviewed journal that publishes the latest evolutions in the promotion and protection of human rights from around the world. The NQHR includes multidisciplinary articles addressing human rights issues from an international perspective. In addition, the Quarterly also publishes recent speeches and lectures delivered on the topic of human rights, as well as a section on new books and articles in the field of human rights. The Quarterly employs a double-blind peer review process, and the international editorial board of leading human rights scholars guarantees the maintenance of the highest standard of articles published.