Soohoo, C.. (2016). Human Rights Cities: Challenges and Possibilities. Global Urban Justice: the Rise of Human Rights Cities (Oomen, Davis & Grigolo).
Traditional legal accounts of human rights focus on the international level, describing how nations ratify human rights treaties to create international legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. However, enforcing international law is a tricky proposition, and the direct and immediate impact that treaty ratification has on bringing about change in countries that have ratified treaties is debatable. Human rights cities invert the traditional analysis. Instead of focusing on the national government as the main instigator of change, human rights cities reflect a bottom up approach where local communities articulate a commitment to human rights and decide how to implement and give expression to their commitment.