HUMAN RIGHTS ARE WHAT PEOPLE MAKE OF THEM: SOFT LAW APPROACHES TO ADVANCING GENDER-BASED HUMAN RIGHTS.

The central argument of this paper is that soft law approaches are critical to making progress towards the realization of gender-based human rights. Soft law approaches are particularly critical in efforts to advance the realization of gender-based human rights due to the reality that gender-based violence and gendered sociocultural inequities, propelled by structural patriarchy, remain deeply embedded in societies across the globe. Absent authoritative enforcement, the law will not transform culture. Instead, localized politics rather than statist legal initiatives typically drive productive change in regard to gender-based human rights. This paper draws on constructivist theory as a lens for understanding why a focus on socio-cultural transformation and norm diffusion are as critical as legal enforcement in making progress on human rights. It examines the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to provide historical context for the argument. The final section of the paper applies the core arguments to a brief analysis of several issues at the intersection of human rights and gender: gender-based violence, female genital cutting, and LGBTQ rights as human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]