Integrating Muslim Women Within European Societies: Muslim Human Rights Discourse and the Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Rights in Europe

Discussions about cultural relativism and the cross-cultural legitimacy of human rights have been central to contemporary human rights discourse. Much of this discussion has focussed on non-Western societies where scholars have advanced, from a variety of standpoints, arguments for and against the cultural relativism of human rights. Arguments for ‘Asian Values’ and lately, ‘African values’ in the construction of human rights have defined this debate. This paper reviews some of the major arguments and trends in the Africanist discourse on the cultural relativism of human rights. It argues the need to go beyond the polarities that have characterised the debate. It argues that while an Afrocentric conception of human rights is a valid worldview, it need not become the basis for the abrogation of the emerging Universal human rights regime. Rather, it should provide the philosophical foundation for the legitimisation of Universal human rights in the African context and inform the cross-fertilisation of ideas between Africa and the rest of the world.

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Human Rights: A Cross-Cultural Conception

Flux: International Relations Review ◽

10.26443/firr.v9i2.20 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Lily Jemima Redpath

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

John Rawls ◽

Cultural Pluralism ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

The Political ◽

Political Theories ◽

Rights Discourse ◽

Human Rights Discourse ◽

Theoretical Foundations

On examining the political theories of John Rawls and Charles Beitz, this paper is a product of the perceived disparities between the idealism of human rights theory and the socio-political failures of the real-time human rights corpus. With both theorists serving as the moral and theoretical foundations of the discourse, the loci of their arguments will be presented and dissected in light of contemporary political attitudes. This paper aims to scrutinise the human rights discourse through the lens I believe to be its most damaging: cultural pluralism and a simultaneous tendency toward (neo)-imperialist attitudes. Moreover, with the current literature failing to provide adequately constructive answers, I have endeavoured to present a compelling commentary on where I believe the necessitating changes lie culturally, attitudinally, and politically. In preserving and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a productive and morally beneficial basis on which to ground this commentary, this paper assumes ‘human rights’ to refer to the articles enshrined in this United Nations’ document. This conception and the attitudes and actions surrounding it have nonetheless incurred significant and warranted criticism, consideration of which prompted the proposed conception that human rights be defined politically as rights to choose.

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Housing as a Basic Human Right: A Reflection on South Africa

SOUTHERN AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ◽

10.25159/2415-5829/4177 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mziwandile Sobantu ◽

Nqobile Zulu ◽

Ntandoyenkosi Maphosa

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Social Development ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Active Role ◽

Human Right ◽

Economic Rights ◽

Development Agenda ◽

Rights Discourse ◽

Human Rights Discourse

This paper reflects on human rights in the post-apartheid South Africa housing context from a social development lens. The Constitution guarantees access to adequate housing as a basic human right, a prerequisite for the optimum development of individuals, families and communities. Without the other related socio-economic rights, the provision of access to housing is limited in its service delivery. We argue that housing rights are inseparable from the broader human rights discourse and social development endeavours underway in the country. While government has made much progress through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the reality of informal settlements and backyard shacks continues to undermine the human rights prospects of the urban poor. Forced evictions undermine some poor citizens’ human rights leading courts to play an active role in enforcing housing and human rights through establishing a jurisprudence that invariably advances a social development agenda. The authors argue that the post-1994 government needs to galvanise the citizenship of the urban poor through development-oriented housing delivery.

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The Internationalization Of Human Rights And The Importance Of Normative Dialogues Between International And National Courts

Revista Jurídica ◽

10.29248/2236-5788.2017v17i2.p137-149 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 137

Author(s):

Mariane Morato Stival ◽

Marcos André Ribeiro ◽

Daniel Gonçalves Mendes da Costa

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

The Other ◽

Human Rights Protection ◽

Rights Protection ◽

National Courts ◽

European Court ◽

Differences Of Opinion ◽

Rights Discourse ◽

Different Characteristics ◽

Human Rights Discourse

This article intends to analyze in the context of the complexity of the process of internationalization of human rights, the definitions and tensions between cultural universalism and relativism, the essence of human rights discourse, its basic norms and an analysis of the normative dialogues in case decisions involving violations of human rights in international tribunals such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and national courts. The well-established dialogue between courts can bring convergences closer together and remove differences of opinion on human rights protection. A new dynamic can occur through a complementarity of one court with respect to the other, even with the different characteristics between the legal orders.

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