The Culturalization of Human Rights Law

Abstract

This book has the purpose of investigating the impact played by culture in the contemporary dynamics of human rights. It offers a reconceptualization of the debate of universalism vs. cultural relativism and explores how the affirmation of a culturally-driven approach has shaped the recent development of international human rights law. Today custodians of human rights, especially international monitoring bodies, try to advance the effectiveness of human rights standards by interpreting, adjudicating, and enforcing them through taking into due account the cultural specificities and needs of the different human communities. By means of the use of elements of cultural identities and cultural diversity as parameters for the interpretation, adjudication, and enforcement of human rights standards, the latter are evolving from the traditional strictly ‘universal’ idea to a ‘multi-cultural’ one, whereby rights are interpreted in a dynamic manner, responding to the particular needs of the relevant communities and individuals. As a result different meanings can be attributed to the same human rights standards by adapting them to the cultural needs of the persons and—especially—communities specifically concerned. This method is today extensively used and accepted in the context of international practice, even outside the human rights field. Culturalization of human rights law does not only maximize effectiveness of human rights standards, but also promotes the stability of inter-cultural relations and, ultimately, peace. At the same time, a basic cluster of human rights universalism remains necessary, representing the minimum content of the global social agreement uniting all members of the international community.

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