What is the doctrinal approach to human rights?
It treats human rights concepts and structures as given and focuses on analysing legal rules, reconciling conflicts, and suggesting reforms within the existing framework.
What is the critical approach to human rights?
It challenges assumptions and power dynamics in human rights law, exposing biases, questioning foundations, and offering alternative frameworks.
What question does the critical approach raise about universality?
Whether human rights norms are truly universal or rooted in Western/European values.
What is Mutua’s critique of universality?
He argues human rights are predetermined by Western values, limiting meaningful contribution from non-Western cultures.
Why does Mutua call for cultural pluralism?
Because current universalism marginalises conceptions of dignity that do not align with Western liberalism.
What is the impact of ignoring cultural differences in human rights?
It excludes the very populations the human rights movement seeks to protect.
What key question does the UN Charter text raise?
Who defines fundamental human rights and whether those definitions carry cultural or ideological bias.
What does TWAIL stand for?
Third World Approaches to International Law.
What is the central claim of TWAIL?
International law primarily serves the interests of powerful industrial nations and reflects colonial or imperial bias.
What are TWAIL scholars concerned about?
International law entrenching inequalities between the Global North and Global South. Int. Law SERVES AS TOOL FOR HEGEMONY, SUBORDINATION and empire
Why is TWAIL important?
It centres Global South experiences and critiques how international law maintains colonial hierarchies.
What is the Savage-Victim-Savior (SVS) metaphor?
A framework describing human rights discourse as portraying non-Western actors as savages, the oppressed as victims, and Western actors as saviors.
Western Govt. POV
How is the ‘savage’ depicted in SVS?
As culturally barbaric, oppressive, and violating human dignity, usually linked to non-Western cultures- not teh state itslef but the culure.
How is the ‘victim’ depicted in SVS?
As perosn whose dignity and worth have been violated by perpertrator
How is the ‘savior’ depicted in SVS?
As Western governments, HR Framework, UN,NGOs, and institutions that rescue victims and civilise savages.
Pro ises freedom from oppressive forces
Why is the SVS model problematic?
It promotes Eurocentrism, imposes Western values, and creates an ‘us vs them’ hierarchy- non-western cultures must tranform to fit wetsern ideal- ratehr than mixing
imitate west- - non-west = inferior- seen outsode the HR framework- their practices that are harmful to women used as proof they are distant from tur HR reinforcing taht wetsren systems are teh soln.
How does SVS reinforce racial hierarchies?
By consistently depicting non-white people as victims or savages and Western actors as rescuers.
What does Critical Race Theory highlight about human rights?
That racism is embedded in international legal structures despite claims of neutrality.
SVS Framework- casts non-white , non-wetsern as savages- white wetern actors are rescuers
What is the focus of feminist approaches to international law?
Examining how law is gendered in language and logic, applying intersectionality, and foregrounding gender in legal analysis, empahsis on contextual analysis ratehr than abstrect theorising
What do feminist scholars challenge?
The bias in international law that ignores or marginalises women’s voices and experiences. IL is biased against women.
ask to incorporate lived realities of women in legal dicourse and decision making proecss= adresss challenegs faced by women.
critically analyse legal framework to asess how they impact individuals differently based on geneder
What is the future direction suggested for human rights?
- A more inclusive, multicultural approach that treats all cultures as morally equal and promotes global dialogue.
- go beyond eurocentric approach- begin with how al cultures are morally equal; Confront unequal power dynamics across nations, genders, races etc.
- dont limit HR to spf. cultures -deepening division, hinders global agreement on HR
What is meaningful universality according to the text?
A universality built through dialogue that includes diverse voices and traditions and HR shld respect cultural pluralism, as absis for universality.
