Framing the Human Rights Discourse: The Role of Natural Localism and the Power of Paradigm

2011 ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Lawrence Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

The Taming of the Shrill: From Indicators to Indicatorization

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-115
Author(s):  
Siobhán Airey
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
International Economic Relations ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
The Right ◽  
High Level ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This article addresses the specific norm-generation function of indicators in a human rights context, focusing on ways that indicators foreground and legitimize as ‘truth’ particular worldviews or values. It describes the stakes of this process through elaborating on the concept of ‘indicatorization’, focusing on one moment in which the relationship between human rights and development was defined through indicators: the indicatorization of the Right to Development by a un High Level Task Force in 2010. In this initiative, different perspectives on human rights, equality, participation and development from within the un and the World Bank were brought together. This resulted in a subtle but significant re-articulation of ideas contained in the 1986 un Declaration on the Right to Development. The article argues that how indicatorization happens, matters, and has important implications for the potential role of human rights discourse within international economic relations.

scholarly journals The contribution of deontological Christian ethics to the contemporary human rights discourse

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Deontological Ethics ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This article examines the possible role of a Christian deonto- logical ethics in the contemporary human rights debate. It concludes that a Christian deontological ethics in the Reformed tradition can be positively engaged in the human rights debate when Biblical theological topics are transposed into moral directives applicable to the current human rights concerns, such as religious extremism, femicide, ideologies of intolerance and ecocide. As an example of the applicability of a Christian deon- tological ethics from a reformed perspective, the following Bibli- cal topics are investigated: human dignity on the basis of the “imago dei”, creation and creational integrity, the kingdom of God and forgiveness. Furthermore, the article proposes that other concepts can be added to this list such as the Biblical idea of life, eschatology, covenant and holiness.

Group Identities and Human Rights: How Do We Square the Circle in International Law?

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Gaetano Pentassuglia
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Human Rights Practice ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Group Diversity ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
The Relationship

The identity of groups of an ethno-cultural variety has long fallen within the remit of internati­onal human rights law. In this context, discussions have been largely concerned with the legal status of groups and/or the nature of the legal right(s) in question. While acknowledging the importance of these dimensions, in this article I seek to provide an alternative account by dis­cussing the continuities and discontinuities in articulating the very concept of group identity. I first examine the potential, limitations and eventual hybridity of human rights practice across the spectrum of minority/indigenous identities. Then, I critique a range of instabilities in human rights discourse relating to the idea of group identities, their personal scope and the role of international law. I argue that such instabilities do not merely mirror the ambivalent outlook of the relationship between human rights and group identities; they raise the broader question of whether there is a relatively more coherent way to capture the legitimacy of group claims. I conclude by pointing to the outer limits of identity claims, the understated interplay of sove­reignty and inter-group diversity, and the need to unpack the reasons why certain groups merit protection in the way they do.

scholarly journals The Missing Coke Bottle

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-43
Author(s):  
Julian Brook Ruszel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Environmental Destruction ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Western Nations ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

Indonesian artist activist Arahmaiani’s art installations and performances combine western and non-western cultural elements in such a way as to highlight the role of capitalist globalization as an exploitative and destructive neo-colonial force in places like Indonesia. Beginning in the 1990s, Arahmaiani’s work featured a Coca-Cola bottle in a prominent position, emphasizing the effects of commodification and Americanization on indigenous and non-western cultures. Her work is always intersectional, connecting injustices linked to patriarchy, class, and environmental destruction to global political and economic structures in ways not typical of western liberal human rights discourses, such as that demonstrated by academic Lucinda Peach in her own human rights critique. Arahmaiani’s work thus serves as a stark contrast to western liberal human rights discourse that urges academics and activists to redirect their gaze away from the cultural idiosyncrasies of non-western nations towards the western roots of global structures of inequality.

Border Crossings

2014 ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Ian Linden
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This chapter explores some of the core misconceptions about the key concepts central to secularity and their interaction with the realm of religious discourse. In particular, it looks at the supposed hiatus between human rights discourse and religious views of justice with a view to identifying to what extent religious values and secular values are the same or are perceived to be different. For example why are Reason, Liberty, and Choice assumed to be secular values in the public domain differentiating a secular worldview. Finally, the role of assumptions made by journalists about these issues is discussed as a feature of a mystifying account of religion in the public domain.

scholarly journals The Evolving Role of the Human Rights Factor within the State of Necessity Test in Investment Arbitration

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Krasikov
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Investment ◽  
The State ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Resolution System ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

The discussion on increasing the legitimacy of international investment law largely overlooks the potential of the state of necessity, as a circumstance precluding wrongfulness of States’ conduct under general international law, for the protection of human rights. The present article deals with the practice of international investment arbitration in cases involving Argentina in connection with its economic crisis of 1998–2001, in which it raised the necessity defense and appealed, inter alia, to human rights. The article concludes that, as a rule, the human rights factor did not play a noticeable role for resolving the relevant disputes. The human rights discourse either had no adequate place within the merits of the disputes, or the tribunals did not take the relevant arguments seriously. The human rights argumentation tried itself within different parts of the Argentina’s defense, including various elements of the necessity test, but without meaningful effect. The Award in the case of Urbaser S.A. and Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia, Bilbao Biskaia Ur Partzuergoa v. The Argentine Republic has demonstrated the perspective of recognizing the significance of the human rights factor in the context of “the only way” element of the necessity test: this element can unleash the potential of human rights in the disputes involving the necessity-based defense and provide the tribunals with tools capable of taking human rights more seriously in the context of investment disputes concerning emergencies. The Urbaser Tribunal position is an evidence of the evolving and expanding role of the human rights factor within the necessity test but substantial clarification of this test at the doctrinal, practical and political level is still needed to increase the legitimacy of international investment dispute resolution system.

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

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.

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

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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