This paper seeks to provide a human rights-based analysis of three inter-related concepts: identity, dignity and culture. It advocates that applying international human rights values, ...
Read More
This paper seeks to provide a human rights-based analysis of three inter-related concepts: identity, dignity and culture. It advocates that applying international human rights values, principles, norms and standards to and involving international human rights mechanisms in all aspects of relationships between identity, dignity and culture is essential both for conflict prevention and for post-conflict peace-building. It advocates that applying such international human rights values, principles, norms and standards to and involving international human rights mechanisms in all aspects of relationships between identity, dignity and culture is essential to protect and promote cultural diversity and pluralism in multi-ethnic societies. d by the acknowledgment of the ultimate circularity of our justifications, thus eschewing the pitfalls of both foundationalism and relativism. My main contention is that only by ensuring inclusive and self-reflexive practices of collective decision-making we will be able to address the tensions between universalism and cultural relativism, and produce more flexible models of democratic governance, citizenship and cultural membership suitable to face the challenges of the global processes of integration and differentiation.
Multiculturalism is an emerging notion within human rights discourse based on unity in diversity. It is usually admitted that human rights is in favor of difference and diversity, and ...
Read More
Multiculturalism is an emerging notion within human rights discourse based on unity in diversity. It is usually admitted that human rights is in favor of difference and diversity, and this was clearly affirmed during the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. However, even though the idea of multiculturalism has been developed in political science and philosophy, the legal discourse regarding multiculturalism remains very limited. Usually, human rights treaty bodies and international and regional tribunals are reluctant to use the term. One of the reasons is the lack of a precise legal definition. The paper proposes to explore: how human rights law is in favor of multiculturalism though it never specifically refers to it, the definitional problem and how the notion of legal pluralism is preferred to multiculturalism, the advantage in the recognition of multiculturalism from a legal perspective.