Living well and sexual self-determination: Expanding human rights discourse about sex and sexuality

This paper examines the implications of Zimbabwe's 2013 harmonised elections on the opposition's continued deployment of the rights-based discourse to make moral and political claims against and demands of the state. Since 2000, two polarising strands of the human rights discourse −1) the right to self-determination and 2) civil and political rights – were deployed by the state and the opposition, respectively, in order to challenge extant relations and structures of power. The acutely strained state–society relations in post-2000 Zimbabwe emanated from human rights violations by the state as it responded to challenges to its political power and legitimacy. However, the relative improvement in the human rights situation in the country since the 2009 coalition government came into office, and during and since the recently concluded peaceful 2013 elections – the flawed electoral process itself notwithstanding – suggests a need for alternative new ways to make moral and political demands of the state in the future.

Download Full-text

Self-determining Multiculturalism

International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies ◽

10.5204/ijcis.v8i2.126 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 55-66

Author(s):

Laine Schultz

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Human Rights ◽

Cultural Difference ◽

Minority Groups ◽

Self Determination ◽

Nation State ◽

Top Down ◽

First Peoples ◽

Rights Discourse ◽

Human Rights Discourse

The burgeoning human rights discourse of the twentieth century inspired new attention to the location of minority groups within the nation-state and their experiences of violence, discrimination and inequality. The result has been attempts by the nation to address the diversity of its population through the recognition of cultural difference. Attending to two particular rights claims—those of Indigenous self-determination and multiculturalism—we can find a tendency toward subsuming the former within those of the latter. This is a move that results from a top-down approach to the recognition of difference, reproducing colonialist priorities and jurisprudence, and significantly undermining the goals and meanings of Indigenous self-determination. By contrast, when self-determination is approached from the bottom-up, we can gain new perspectives on the meanings of this Indigenous right, expanded to encompass a range of relationships, all crucially built in response to Indigenous identities as First Peoples.

Download Full-text

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.

Download Full-text

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.

Download Full-text