'If you want a short, readable guide to a field you feel you need to know a bit about, and an argument to react to as well, then this is the book for you.'
Conor Gearty, Times Higher Education 'Set up in 1945 as an organisation of, by, and for states, the United Nations has never made good on ... Read morethe human rights ideals its charter first proclaimed. As Rosa Freedman shows in this excellent book, organised hypocrisy persists, in spite of the creation of a new Human Rights Council in 2006 to overcome a checkered past. Freedman's sobering account demonstrates why more creative thinking about new approaches is a critical task for our time.'
Samuel Moyn, Harvard University, author of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History 'This book is a great introduction to the international protection of human rights and a realistic assessment of the strengths and limitations of the present UN human rights system. Rosa Freedman offers an imaginative exploration of the solutions available for overcoming such limitations, and a heartfelt call for more citizen involvement in reforming a system, which is, after all, ours.'
Francois Crepeau, FRSC, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Professor in Public International Law, McGill University 'This is a refreshingly direct take on what is wrong with the international human rights regime. Rosa Freedman's writing is low on jargon and high on perceptive critique and practical suggestions. This is a book for the interested public in whose name the UN acts and fails to act.'
Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, University of Oxford and author of Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War 'The various cases of mass human rights violations cited in this book show the breadth and depth of the author's knowledge...The book has certainly fulfilled its aim of starting "a conversation amongst the wider public" (p. xi) by allowing the layperson to question many aspects of the international human rights machinery.'
Shazelina Zainul Abidin, E-International Relations 'Making use of a wealth of observations, insights, and examples, Freedman guides her reader through the UN human rights machinery. Failing to Protect is accessible and a good starting point for a non-specialist audience hoping to learn more about human rights protection.'
Ruth Houghton, Leiden Journal of International Law Show Less