Chair: Dr Amanda Chisholm

Speaker: Alvina Hoffman

How does someone become mandated to speak as an expert on behalf of ‘the universal’? This paper examines the position of the UN special rapporteur, described as “the eyes and ears” of the international human rights architecture. I will analyse the relationship between this independent expert, the Secretary-General and states in order to locate special rapporteurs in a broader field of struggle to speak ‘independently’. Through this international political sociology of UN special rapporteurs, I contribute to debates on international authority and expertise by offering a relational account of how experts become authorised to speak on ‘the universal’, such as human rights issues. Specifically, I explore the UN special rapporteurs as a new type of international civil servant, unlike diplomats or official representatives of international organisations in permanent positions, who are entrusted with similar privileges and immunities in their temporary positions. This paper uses 15 in-depth biographical interviews with current and former special rapporteurs and a biographical analysis of over 150 current and former mandate holders since the inception of the system in 1978.  

 

Bio

Alvina is a PhD candidate in International Relations at King’s College London. Her PhD thesis examines spokespersons of a new kind of universal, following the trajectories and alliances of UN special rapporteurs, local spokespersons of the Sámi people and Crimean Tatars. She is also a co-convenor of the LISS-DTP funded IPS PhD seminar series and a research assistant for the ERC-funded project Security Flows. Her most recent publication with Hager Ben Jaffel, Sebastian Larsson and Oliver Kearns is entitled ‘Collective Discussion: Toward Critical Approaches to Intelligence as a Social Phenomenon’ and published in International Political Sociology.  

 

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