LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Question 1

JOHN & JEAN COMAROFF

Answer 1

• judicialisation of politics thesis, political struggles increasingly taking place in legal arena
• politics migrating to courts
• over 36 new constitutions in Africa since 1989, emphasis on rule of law and human rights

Question 2

ENGLE MERRY

Answer 2

• intermediaries translate global ideas into local situations
• help foster human rights consciousness in grassroots groups

Question 3

NEOCOSMOS

Answer 3

• ANC Freedom Charter ‘calls on people to engage in politics to fight for their rights’

Question 4

ROBINS

Answer 4

• post colonial settings like South Africa ‘strategic value of engaging with both liberal rights talk and communal forms of mobilisation’
• has one of the most progressive constitutions on planet, but for citizens to claim their rights often requires sustained political mobilisation
• court cases and rights based claims may need to be supplemented by grassroots organisation

Question 5

MEDIE

Answer 5

• Liberia rape is criminalised but often not prosecuted, progressive policies not always upheld by state actors
• Women in Peacebuilding Movement, influenced police officers, more cases are referred to court
• lobbying to amend law and policies, education, publicity, training sessions

Question 6

HODGSON

Answer 6

• Massai Women’s Developmental Organisation (KENYA) pressured to fight against one cultural practice rather than fighting for their priority, the social and economic empowerment of Maasai women
• groups speaking for rather than working with
• rights based approaches privilege the individual & secular law makes it difficult to address structural causes and context of gender injustice produced by the adoption and implementation of neoliberal policies and practices