Human rights and communication are deeply connected: human rights need communication to expose violations and to offer platforms for dialogue, while communication needs human rights to provide standards for free speech and confidentiality. Together, they confront the reality of today’s social and international order in which justice and understanding often seem unattainable.

In this book, Cees J. Hamelink guides the reader through the historical evolution of communication and human rights. In this original framework, he discusses topics such as the right to communicate and freedom of expression, as well as major challenges posed by the environmental crisis and digital technologies. With authority, he passionately argues that ‘communicative justice’ is the ultimate goal of applying the international human rights regime to different forms of communication. This goal can only be achieved if we manage to move from the prevailing ‘thin’ liberal conception of human rights to a ‘thick’ cosmopolitan conception of them.

Written by one of the world’s leading scholars in this area, this wide-ranging book will be of interest to students of media and communication, human rights scholars, as well as practitioners, activists and anyone interested in applying the notion of justice to the basis of human existence: communication.Preface



1 Human Rights before Human Rights

2 Human Rights and Communication

3 Communication Rights

4 Challenges and Communication Rights

5 The Trouble with Human Rights

6 Communicative Justice

7 The practice of Communicative Justice



Notes

References

Index

"An accessibly written, rich and compelling argumentation for communicative justice. Global and inclusive in perspective, with a refined reconciliation of legal and ethical approaches, the book's search for new communicational practices aligned with human rights simply requires global attention."
Nico Carpentier, Charles University, Prague

"This is essential reading for understanding the power of compassionate, dialogical conversation to enable people to realise dignity, equality, freedom and security, guided in their liberation by a human right to communication and an ethics of human togetherness embracing all humans and nature."
Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science

Cees J. Hamelink is Athena Professor of Human Rights and Global Health at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, and Emeritus Professor of Global Communication at the University of Amsterdam.GB