Person

I am a PhD candidate in Human Rights Studies since autumn 2018. I am interested in the intersections between international law, local practices and local conceptions of children's rights in India. My dissertation project is concerned with the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as de facto ‘duty bearers’ of human rights, specifically children’s protection rights in central and northern India. Through an ethnographic study of ChildLine, a 24-hour helpline for children, I explore how children’s rights are affected in practice when significant aspects of child protection are left dependent on local NGOs; how the concepts of child rights and duty bearers are vernacularised throughout a large NGO working at many levels; as well as the notion of 'universal human rights' in a context where the state retreats as the de facto duty bearer.