Persistent Legal Pluralism and the Challenge of Universal Human Rights

摘要

This essay examines a new report prepared by the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law (2009). The essay begins by accepting the basic argument of this report (an argument regarding the value of minimum human rights standards that leave a certain amount of room for plural legal orders) before going on to discuss three issues that the report leaves unresolved. The first of these three issues concerns the management of political conflicts involving competing human rights claims. The second addresses the role of the state in managing those claims. The third takes up the degree to which the resolution of conflicts surrounding human rights claims might rest upon an appreciation for the rights of the individual in ways that inspire a familiar set of rejoinders regarding Western liberal efforts to privilege the individual. This is a valuable new report. And, as this essay explains, it deserves a wide readership.