Abstract: The essay analyses the role of human rights for the population control movement from the 1940s to the 1970s. It is based on records from the Population Council, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations. It shows that rights-based language was introduced by advocates of population control and not by its critics and argues that portraying overpopulation as a problem for the realization of human rights became a successful political strategy in building alliances with states and the UN’s leadership. Both were key factors for the financial support and widespread implementation of population control programmes from the 1960s onwards.
This content is restricted to site members. If you are an existing user, please login. New users may click here to subscribe.
Our Summer 2022 issue is out! It features an essay on the Mande "Hunters' Oath"—including the first full translation of the text from Mandenkan into English—as well as articles on a humanizing monetary ontology that advances the work of Frantz Fanon and Paulo Freire; the shifting focus from land-based idioms of humanitarianism to maritime aid; a conceptual history of China's advocacy for a "human community of fate"; the strategic quantification of civilian casualties in Afghanistan; state and humanitarian coordination in Lebanon and its unintended impact on Syrian refugees; and populist appropriations of human rights discourse.