Date of Award

1-1-2012

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of History

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 327 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Lawrence Wittner

Committee Members

Susan Gauss, Carl BonTempo

Keywords

activism, human rights, INGO, international relations, NGO, social movements, Human rights workers, Human rights advocacy, Human rights, Non-governmental organizations

Subject Categories

History | Latin American History

Abstract

This dissertation examines the efforts of three US NGOs to defend human rights in Central America in the 1980s. It analyzes the campaigns of Amnesty International USA, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, and compares their goals, methods, and effectiveness in protecting Central American human rights. By analyzing the ways in which the NGOs ameliorated the effects of human rights violations in Central America, primarily through their refugee assistance programs, it demonstrates that the movement had a more positive influence on human rights than is generally reflected in the existing literature.

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