December 4, 2007
Mertus: golden gem in the field of human rights
A colorful framed poster hangs on the wall of Julie Mertus’s second-story Clark Hall office. Its simple but poignant message is widely known throughout the world, yet the spirit of its words are all too often ignored.
“Do unto others as you want them to do unto you,” says Mertus, reciting the phrase that in many ways has shaped her life as a human rights advocate, activist, writer, scholar, and teacher. “There was a study done by the University of Michigan where people went all over the world trying to find what human rights tenet everyone believes in. It was the Golden Rule. All religions, all political systems, there’s something about treating your neighbor and treating strangers as you want to be treated.”
From the early days of her childhood in Michigan to her trips to war-torn Eastern Europe, Mertus always has tried to keep that sentiment in the forefront of her mind—and in her heart.
“It’s just amazing, the spirit of people to survive and to survive with dignity,” she says. “When bad things happen you can get bitter and angry and go on the offensive and strike back, and some people do—or you can get better.”
Today Mertus is a preeminent human rights scholar. Her book, Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, was named “human rights book of the year” by the American Political Science Association, and a textbook she wrote on the subject, Local Action/Global Change, has been translated into 13 languages.
Yet Mertus didn’t set out to immerse herself in the field of human rights. It was during a trip to the former Czechoslovakia in the 1980s while she was studying industrial labor relations at Cornell University that she became interested in the field.
“I was struck by how brave and determined people were,” she says of her travels through the then-Soviet bloc nation. “I believe people are basically good and kind, and that we learn the behaviors that are more destructive.”
After graduating from Yale Law School, Mertus was working as an attorney for New York City when she took a leave of absence to travel with the first USAID mission to Croatia. In the early days of the Balkans war, the delegation was investigating the reactions of women’s groups in the region to systematic rape.
“It’s not something you choose,” Mertus says of a career in human rights. “I got sucked into the vortex of the war. I realized that I had something to offer.”
Mertus began working for Human Rights Watch, interviewing victims and documenting human rights violations in the area.
“I found that the generosity and the kindness of people that suffered the worst was just incredible,” she says. “I don’t eat meat, and I was traveling around with Eve Ensler, [writer of] the Vagina Monologues, [who] doesn’t eat meat either. They would serve us the best thing they had, which would be meat. She would say, ‘Julie, it’s gratitude, not meat.’”
Hoping to impart her knowledge to others, Mertus entered the academy. She came to AU in 2000.
“Teaching human rights for me is the best job in the world because I love mentoring students, I’m proud of their successes,” she says. “I learn an awful lot from them. I see human rights as a subject area filled with content and also a toolbox with all sorts of analytical tools and skills that can be used no matter what students do. They can become an accountant or a nurse, and the analytical skills you get when studying human rights are really helpful. I like American University students because for the most part if you put in time and effort they’ll put in time and effort, but they’re not princesses and princes. They’re hard working; they’re motivated.”
As is Mertus. She spent last year in Denmark as a Senior Fulbright Scholar, working with the Danish Institute of Human Rights. Her latest book will be a comparative look at national human rights institutions in the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Denmark, and Northern Ireland.
But the study of human rights, Mertus stresses, cannot simply be abstract.
“We’re talking about real people,” she says. “Human rights starts with small things close to home. Now I have two kids, and we do things like clean up the trash in the senior citizens center. No one asked us, and no one gives us an award; it just takes us 20 minutes, but we can do it.”
To that end, Mertus is now in the process of organizing a human rights film festival in her hometown of Baltimore.
“If you’re authentic and you remember who you are and you’re in touch with what makes you passionate, then there’s bound to be consistency and interconnections in your work, because it’s not just your work, it’s how you live,” she says. “What I do here with ethics and human rights, it doesn’t stop here.”
