Post by Sapphire Capital on Jul 28, 2008 23:30:15 GMT 4
Let's Talk: Dealing with Difference in Human Rights Law
Rory O'Connell
Queen's University Belfast - School of Law - Human Rights Centre
THE TENSION BETWEEN GROUP RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH, Koen De Feyter, George Pavlakos, eds., Oxford: Hart, 2008
Abstract:
Human rights law proclaims that all persons are the same, and have the same rights. Yet this revolutionary claim, which has overturned political regimes and confounded conventions, has itself been criticised. The criticisms have often come from a non-legal disciplinary background - anthropology, philosophy, sociology or others. Sceptics, postmodernists, feminists, cultural relativists and multiculturalists argue that this universalist view is too simple, or even invidious and oppressive and should be rejected. This chapter explores the universalist pretensions of human rights, the criticisms of this universalism, the legal modification of the simple universalist claim and finally discusses a proposal to resolve some of the tensions between these views.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1157402
Rory O'Connell
Queen's University Belfast - School of Law - Human Rights Centre
THE TENSION BETWEEN GROUP RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH, Koen De Feyter, George Pavlakos, eds., Oxford: Hart, 2008
Abstract:
Human rights law proclaims that all persons are the same, and have the same rights. Yet this revolutionary claim, which has overturned political regimes and confounded conventions, has itself been criticised. The criticisms have often come from a non-legal disciplinary background - anthropology, philosophy, sociology or others. Sceptics, postmodernists, feminists, cultural relativists and multiculturalists argue that this universalist view is too simple, or even invidious and oppressive and should be rejected. This chapter explores the universalist pretensions of human rights, the criticisms of this universalism, the legal modification of the simple universalist claim and finally discusses a proposal to resolve some of the tensions between these views.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1157402