Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local JusticeHuman rights law and the legal protection of women from violence are still fairly new concepts. As a result, substantial discrepancies exist between what is decided in the halls of the United Nations and what women experience on a daily basis in their communities. Human Rights and Gender Violence is an ambitious study that investigates the tensions between global law and local justice. As an observer of UN diplomatic negotiations as well as the workings of grassroots feminist organizations in several countries, Sally Engle Merry offers an insider's perspective on how human rights law holds authorities accountable for the protection of citizens even while reinforcing and expanding state power. Providing legal and anthropological perspectives, Merry contends that human rights law must be framed in local terms to be accepted and effective in altering existing social hierarchies. Gender violence in particular, she argues, is rooted in deep cultural and religious beliefs, so change is often vehemently resisted by the communities perpetrating the acts of aggression. A much-needed exploration of how local cultures appropriate and enact international human rights law, this book will be of enormous value to students of gender studies and anthropology alike. |
Contents
1968 | |
1972 | |
CHAPTER TWO Creating Human Rights | |
CHAPTER THREE Gender Violence and the CEDAW Process | |
CHAPTER FOUR Disjunctures between Global Law and Local Justice | |
Making Human Rights in the Vernacular | |
Common terms and phrases
activists Beijing Plus Five bulubulu CEDAW Committee Chan Cheng China Chinese civil claims colonial conference consensus context convention court cultural practices custom delegates developed Discrimination against Women discussion documents domestic violence economic Elimination ethnic example experts female genital cutting female inheritance feminist Fiji Fijian focused funding gender equality gender violence global global North Hawai'i Heung Yee Kuk Hindu Hong Kong honor killings human rights ideas human rights system husband important India indigenous women Indo-Fijians international human rights interview 2003 issues language leaders Legislative Linda Wong marriage meetings ment Muslim NGO representatives organizations participate percent personal laws police political problem programs protection rape ratified reform religious role rural sexual society special rapporteurs status tion tional traditional transnational treaty UNIFEM uniform civil code Univ victim village violence against women woman women's groups women's human rights women's rights