Why do activists employ international human rights law in domestic policy disputes and to what effect? Can international human rights law play an important role in cases where its direct application and justiciability by domestic courts is questionable? This study considers these questions in the area of socioeconomic rights by analyzing the mobilization of human rights law in the German social movement against tuition fees. Whereas legal mobilization theory is broadly concerned with the invocation of law on behalf of political demands, this article emphasizes discursive opportunity structures and vernacularization to make sense of which rights are adopted, why, and with what impact. I draw on content analysis of movement and political party documents, court decisions, and news reports as well as semi-structured interviews and participant observation. I find that activists in Germany were not naive about human rights. Instead, activists invoked human rights to resist political elites’ framing of education as a private good and students as consumers and to broaden the issue to include social inclusion and justice throughout the German education system. The mobilization of human rights law also was an effective means by which activists generated media attention and pressured politicians.

中文翻译：

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不平等和免学费高等教育的人权：在德国反对学费运动中动员人权法

维权人士为何在国内政策争议中使用国际人权法，效果如何？国际人权法能否在国内法院直接适用和可审理性有问题的案件中发挥重要作用？本研究通过分析德国社会运动中人权法对学费的动员，考虑了社会经济权利领域的这些问题。法律动员理论广泛关注代表政治要求援引法律，而本文则强调话语机会结构和本土化，以理解采用哪些权利、为什么采用以及产生何种影响。我利用运动和政党文件、法院判决的内容分析，和新闻报道以及半结构化采访和参与观察。我发现德国的活动家对人权并不天真。相反，活动人士援引人权来抵制政治精英将教育视为私人物品和将学生视为消费者的做法，并将这一问题扩大到整个德国教育体系中的社会包容和正义。人权法的动员也是活动人士引起媒体关注和向政客施压的有效手段。