Ideas & Action Building a Human Rights Agenda

Craig Calhoun, President of the Social Science Research Council, has written the conference organizers explaining why he thinks human rights work is so important. His remarks have found practical value in the work of the Council: its website reports that, "Under Calhoun's leadership, the SSRC has been reinvigorated as a leader of public social science, research on critical social issues, and support for leading young researchers. He has launched new work on knowledge institutions and innovation, on information technology, on HIV/AIDS and social transformation, and on media, democracy and the public sphere."

In his communication with the organizers, Calhoun writes, "Human rights are a basic human concern - and also a central sociological concern. From the challenge of giving voice to victims to the problems of transitional justice, from struggles of activists to the provision of reparations, from the reform of states to the growth of international civil society, human rights issues are vital to the sociological agenda."