The Role of Non-State Actors in (anti)Women's Rights Legal Mobilization
The project aims to examine legal mobilization in the area of women’s rights in the time of populism. In recent years, women’s rights have been intensely challenged before the regional Constitutional Courts, especially in Central and Eastern European countries. Such development results from the years of legal mobilization conducted by non-state actors – right-wing NGOs or churches. In reaction to these actions, the engagement of women’s rights defenders has also increased. That is why the main project focus is the role of non-state actors in shaping women’s rights in Central and Eastern Europe. On the one hand, right-wing organizations are effective on domestic grounds, as they led to the actual limitation of women’s rights, such as abortion and freedom from violence. On the other, liberal human rights advocates use the international judiciary and conduct cases before the European Court of Human Rights. Their actions require empirical examination, especially legal mobilization conditions and patterns. That is why the project explores non-state actors’ engagement in cases on women’s rights - their legal strategies, arguments, network, type of cases, connections with the populists, attitudes toward human rights, and legal influence.
