Communication And Human Rights – Towards Communicative Justice

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.