"From Barriers to Abuse: International Border Hardening and Human Rights"- Annual Lecture on International Justice with Beth Simmons

International human rights law, advocacy, and awareness have all had a positive dramatic impact on rights practices around the world over the decades. This has not been the case for the growing number of people who want or are forced to move across international borders. Sovereigntist attitudes and border anxiety are on the rise in many parts of the world. As a result, borders are hardening and border control is crossing over into the violation of fundamental human rights. This talk will review global bordering trends, how and why they impact human rights, and some possible ways forward.

Speaker Biography: 

Beth Simmons is Andrea Mitchell Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor of Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. She is best known for her research on international political economy during the interwar years, global policy diffusion, and the influence that international law has had on human rights outcomes. Her book, Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (2009) won the American Political Science Association’s Woodrow Wilson Award for the best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs, and was also recognized by the American Society for International Law, the International Social Science Council and the International Studies Association as the best book of the year. Simmons is currently researching the paradox of hardening international borders between states and their impact on international human rights. She is a past president of the International Studies Association and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Society of Social and Political Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

This event is co-sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center.