From Irish Famine to Congo Reform: Nineteenth-Century Roots of International Human Rights Law and Activism

Abstract

This article traces the emergence of modern human rights law and activism to the 19th century colonial context, focusing on the impact of the Irish Famine of 1845–1851 and colonial oppression in the Congo Free State. It shows the way in which the British government’s response to the Irish Famine discredited the ideology of inaction in the face of catastrophe and set the stage for international relief and protest movements. Informed by the Irish tragedy, individuals such as George Washington Williams, Roger Casement and Edmund Morel succeeded in attracting global attention on a colonial humanitarian disaster and on the major international culprits, and in setting institutional precedents for targeted human rights campaigns in an era of emerging international humanitarian law. In that respect they were precursors of the jurist Raphael Lemkin and paved the way for the international proscription of genocide.