Abstract
The implementation of international human rights law has traditionally been undermined by the dichotomy between universalism and cultural relativism. Some groups regard human rights as more reflective of other culture’s and are unwilling to subscribe to them. One response to this is to enable groups to take co-ownership of human rights. Quality Circles based on institutions and technology, and the collaboration they encourage, provide one such means for doing so. What is required is for states to facilitate rather than undermine and censor these processes. Human Rights Quality Circles at different levels represent one way in which the cultural relativism and universalism division can be addressed, particularly in an ever-globalising world.
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Notes
See, generally, Hutchins (1983).
Ennals (2010).
See, generally, Ben-Ner and Jones (1995).
Hall (2001).
See, for example, Gibney (2006): “Of course, in a neutral reading, the term ‘asylum seeker’ simply refers to a person claiming refugee status whose eligibility for asylum has yet to be decided. But it is not the neutral reading that has been taken up by the anxious governments, the populist press, opportunistic governments, anti-immigrant groups, and large swathes of public over the last 15 years. It is largely a view in which asylum seekers are widely characterised as welfare cheats, competitors for jobs, security threats, abusers of host state generosity and even the killers of swans.”
Schuster (2003).
Kennedy (2006).
The Economist (2011): “David Cameron decided to ride the tiger of populist anger today, more or less urging Conservative MPs to vote for an amendment challenging a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in which the court's judges objected to Britain's blanket ban on voting by those serving prison sentences.” See also, for example, BBC News (2011).
For one view, see Allott (2001): “The Degradation of Universal Values: the emergence of potentially universal values after 1945 suffered a deformation as the emerging values were subjected to almost instant rationalization, legalizing, institutionalizing, and bureaucratizing. That is to say, they were corrupted before they could begin to act as transcendental, ideal, supra-societal, critical forces in relation to the emerging absolute statism of society, including democratic society.”
Glendon (2001).
See also Donnelley (2002): “The source of human rights is man’s moral nature, which is only loosely linked to the ‘human nature’ defined by scientifically ascertainable needs. The ‘human nature’ that grounds human rights is a prescriptive moral account of human possibility. The scientist’s human nature says that beyond this we cannot go. The moral nature that grounds human rights says that beneath this we must not permit ourselves to fall.”
Buergenthal (1998).
ECOSOC Resolution 2008/4.
Bell and Carens (2004).
See, Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights, “Co-operation with National Human Rights Structures” at http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Activities/NHRS/default_en.asp (Accessed on 11 June 2011); See also Council of Europe (2008), Committee of Ministers, “Declaration on Council of Europe action to improve the protection of human rights defenders”, accessed via http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Activities/HRD/default_en.asp (Accessed on 11 June 2011).
City Montessori School (2011): “In order to strengthen the fledging worldwide SQC movement, a World Council for Total Quality for Excellence in Education was established in February 1999 with international QC experts from 8 countries on the Board of Directors. The WCTQEE coordinates SQC activities worldwide and works for popularizing QCs in schools and colleges thus raising quality awareness in education.”
See Amnesty International. Take action, at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10009. (Accessed on 11 June 2001).
UN News Centre (2008).
See, for instance, Leckie (1988).
Human Rights Watch (2011).
Toney et al. (2010).
Rowland (2011).
See, for example, Qiang (2011).
Poster (2008).
UN (2011).
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Kathrani, P. Quality circles and human rights: tackling the universalism and cultural relativism divide. AI & Soc 27, 369–375 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-012-0379-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-012-0379-1