The social construction of international human rights

Right To Development ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

The Right

The Sen conception of `development as freedom' represents a departure from previous approaches to development that focused merely on growth rates or technological progress. Sen however fails to adequately address the social constraints that inhibit the realization of the goal of `development as freedom.' There is an interesting parallel here with developments in contemporary international law. While contemporary international law incorporates the idea of `development as freedom' in international human rights instruments, in particular the Declaration on the Right to Development, mainstream international law scholarship has like Sen failed to indicate the constraints in the international system that prevent its attainment. Since Sen is today among the foremost thinkers on the idea of development reviewing the parallels between his conception of development and mainstream international law scholarship is helpful as it offers insights into the limits of both.

A Study on the Possibility of Realizing the Social Rights through International Human Rights Norms

Ewha Law Journal ◽

10.32632/elj.2018.22.4.155 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 155-187

Author(s):

Seon-Mi JANG ◽

Ki-Yong SUNG

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Rights ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

Human Rights Norms

Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Political Regimes

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/1960539 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 80 (3) ◽

pp. 801-817 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

Rhoda E. Howard ◽

Jack Donnelly

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Dignity ◽

Social Structures ◽

Political Regimes ◽

Cultural Traditions ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

Definition Of ◽

Human Rights Standards

It is often argued that internationally recognized human rights are common to all cultural traditions and adaptable to a great variety of social structures and political regimes. Such arguments confuse human rights with human dignity. All societies possess conceptions of human dignity, but the conception of human dignity underlying international human rights standards requires a particular type of “liberal” regime. This conclusion is reached through a comparison of the social structures of ideal type liberal, minimal, traditional, communist, corporatist and developmental regimes and their impact on autonomy, equality, privacy, social conflict, and the definition of societal membership.

Universal Rights versus Sharia? Reflections on the Moral and Legal Dimensions of Human Rights Law and Sharia

Religion and Human Rights ◽

10.1163/18710328-12341248 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 139-161

Author(s):

Elena Namli

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

The Political ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Positive Law ◽

The Social ◽

Liberal Ideology ◽

International Human ◽

Effective Development

Abstract This article develops a critique of the monopoly of liberal ideology in the field of human rights by considering how law, morality and politics are related to each other. The author argues that the constructive potential of international human rights law does not lie in its being understood and practiced as a positive law. On the contrary, to focus on human rights law as positive law is to conceal the political nature of human rights and to prevent effective development of its moral and political potential. Further, the author considers the case of Sharia law and argues that Sharia, for it to be implemented concretely in the social, political, and legal spheres, must be understood as a moral and religious ‘way’. These interpretations of human rights law and Sharia are used as the basis for a critique of the idea that human rights law and Sharia contradict each other.

Visual Legalities of Race and Reparations

Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit et Société ◽

10.1017/cls.2014.6 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 29 (02) ◽

pp. 219-234

Author(s):

Carmela Murdocca

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Racial Difference ◽

Aboriginal People ◽

Settler Colonialism ◽

Self Determination ◽

Representational Practices ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Drawing attention to the legal and psychoanalytic genealogy of reparations, this article examines the relationship between reparations and racial difference through an analysis of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s documentary series 8th Fire: Aboriginal People, Canada and the Way Forward. The representational life of reparations in liberal settler colonialism is a repository for addressing the broader landscape of legality—sovereignty, self-determination and anti-colonialism—beyond the confines of international human rights mechanisms. This article considers the following questions: How do forms of testimony animate connections between reparations and racial difference? In what ways do visual and representational practices operate through racial and colonial temporalities central to reparative juridics? What is the relationship between reparations and possibilities for anti-colonialism? I argue that the social, legal, cultural, and representational life of reparations in settler colonialism is structured by racial difference.

Book Review: The Social Rights Jurisprudence in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Shadow and Light in International Human Rights

Social & Legal Studies ◽

10.1177/0964663919896049 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 448-451

Author(s):

Alberto Coddou Mc Manus

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Rights ◽

The Social ◽

International Human

Constitutional law and international human rights law in the Inter-American system: approaches, tensions and setting the social rights scene

The Social Rights Jurisprudence in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ◽

10.4337/9781788113045.00009 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 5-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Constitutional Law ◽

Social Rights ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

American System ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

System Approaches

Conceptual Background: Disability in the Field of International Human Rights Law

10.1093/oso/9780198824503.003.0003 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 29-45

Author(s):

Gauthier de Beco

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Model ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Social Model Of Disability ◽

Models Of Disability ◽

The Social ◽

Conceptual Background ◽

International Human

This chapter starts by outlining the existing models of disability and by relating these models to the Convention. The aim is not to advance debates about the models themselves but to examine the extent to which these models have influenced the CRPD’s own understanding of disability. The focus lies especiallyon the social model of disability, which has transformed the view of disability around the world. This is followed by an investigation of the way in which this understanding of disability bears upon the entire field of international human rights law. The chapter further examines the mainstreaming of disability and its consideration by the treaty bodies as well as its consequences for the field as a whole. It finally looks beyond international human rights law by evaluating how disability is addressed by UN agencies.

Mobilization for gender equality in Pakistan and the role of international human rights

Reframing Human Rights in a Turbulent Era ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198299578.003.0003 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 49-90

Author(s):

Gráinne de Búrca

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Gender Equality ◽

Periodic Review ◽

Political Processes ◽

The Social ◽

International Human ◽

And Gender ◽

Over Time

This chapter examines the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality in Pakistan in recent decades through the lens of the experimentalist account of human rights. It describes the work of women’s groups and other activists in Pakistan to advance the rights of women in a highly patriarchal political and social system, and their engagement over time with international human rights law and institutions as part of those efforts, in particular the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Activists have drawn on the support of transnational networks and have used international human rights institutions, including CEDAW as well as the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council, to increase pressure on governmental and other domestic actors to introduce change. Despite the huge scale of the social and political obstacles facing their efforts at reform, many significant changes have been introduced as a consequence of domestic mobilization and engagement. The chapter outlines some of these contested legal and political processes over time and the reforms that have gradually been brought about, as well as the limitations they have confronted.

Protestant conversion and social conflict: The case of the Hmong in contemporary Vietnam

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022463415000089 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 274-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tam T.T. Ngo

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Conflict ◽

Social Implications ◽

The Social ◽

Marginal Status ◽

International Human ◽

The One ◽

Deep Fractures

This article analyses the social implications of the recent mass conversions to Protestantism by one-third of the one million Hmong in Vietnam. The conversions have been condemned by the Vietnamese state, while being understood by international human rights activists as acts of conscience on the part of the Hmong converts. This article focuses on the internal debate and divisions surrounding conversion among the Hmong themselves. The converts believe that Protestantism is the only way to alter the ethnic group's marginal status in Vietnam while the unconverted Hmong see conversion as a betrayal of Hmong ethnicity. Such conflicting views have been causing deep fractures in Hmong society.