Lecture 3 - Universalism vs cultural relativism

What are the two levels of discussion that must be distinguished when discussing human rights?

The content level, pertaining to specific issues like individual vs. community rights, and the philosophical level, concerning the universalism or relativism of human rights

What is the central question in the universalism vs. cultural relativism debate regarding human rights?

Whether human rights are universally common to all humans or culturally specific

According to defenders of "Asian values," what is prioritized in Asian societies? What is this view seen as a defense against?

The value of community is prioritized over that of the individual, functioning as a defense against the individualism perceived to cause deterioration in Western societies

How do authoritarian regimes often justify their human rights practices?

By claiming their understanding of human rights differs from the orthodox reading of the UDHR, emphasizing historical, societal, economic, and cultural differences

What is the "genetic fallacy" in the context of the cultural specificity of human rights?

The assumption that the geographical or cultural origin of a moral norm determines its significance or applicability to another place or culture

What minimal shared beliefs are essential for intercultural conversation on human rights, according to a universalist perspective?

Basic norms such as the wrongness of genocide, slavery, and racism

What are the agreed-upon rules of conversation based on public reasoning that can move the conversation forward among different cultural assumptions and habits?

Proper argumentation, demands for evidence, and requirement of coherence and consistency

What are three strategies that can be ascertained in the practices of those who defend the universalist position?

Choosing an egregious instance of evil, using argument by example, and philosophically robust

According to the American Anthropological Association, what two points of view must the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations approach from?

The respect for the personality of the individual and respect for the cultures of differing human groups

What problem must those who would draw up a Declaration on the Rights of Man resolve?

How the proposed Declaration can be applicable to all human beings, and not be a statement of rights conceived only in terms of the values prevalent in the countries of Western Europe and America

What is the first proposition that the study of human psychology and culture dictates as essential in drawing up a Bill of Human Rights?

The individual realizes his personality through his culture, hence respect for individual differences entails a respect for cultural differences

What is the second principle related to culture and human rights?

Respect for differences between cultures is validated by the scientific fact that no technique of qualitatively evaluating cultures has been discovered

What is the third principle that must be introduced when considering human rights?

Standards and values are relative to the culture from which they derive so that any attempt to formulate postulates that grow out of the beliefs or moral codes of one culture must to that extent detract from the applicability of any Declaration of Human Rights to mankind as a whole

According to Cobbah, what is the aim of his paper?

To direct African and non-African scholars along a cross-cultural path

According to Cobbah, what Western perspective denies culture?

The natural rights origins of the Western human rights concept

According to Cobbah, what should Westerners study?

African cultures, because the African sense of community obligation that goes beyond charity is just what is needed to foster economic rights

What distinction did Hegel make?

The characteristic Lockeian question, "What is the origin of X" and the question, "What is X?"

According to Cobbah, what is needed to begin the hermenetic understanding of human dignity and achieve truly international human rights norms?

Scholars should begin in earnest to examine comparatively, specific cultural behavior patterns, specific values, and specific structural features within different cultural systems

What is Gacaca?

Rwanda’s experiment in mass community-based justice

What are some of the compromises made in choosing to use gacaca to try genocide cases?

Apparent miscarriages of justice, the use of gacaca to settle personal and political scores, corruption, procedural irregularities, and the curtailment of the fair trial rights of the accused

What is one of the most significant factors restricting the success of gacaca?

The limited training given to gacaca judges, most of whom had little or no formal education

What were African societies like?

Communitarian

What do African societies exhibit?

A clash of style in political thought

What four principles do the complexity of rights and duties revolve around?

Respect, restraint, responsibility, and reciprocity

What is an important difference between African and Western cultures?

The ownership of land; land in African society is communally held

What is the African worldview grounded in?

Social learning and collective survival

What does Freudian psychology teach?

That everything we do ultimately serves our need to rid ourselves of unpleasant external stimulation and to exploit whatever we can use outside ourselves to satisfy our internal needs

What is the difficulty of the African social scientist who operates from the alien (Western) framework?

The worldview, normative assumptions, and referential frame upon which the paradigm is based, must, like the science they serve, be consistent with the culture and cultural substance of the people

What should Western and non-Western scholars seek to overcome?

Their gaping Western chauvinism and help admit other worldviews into the international discourse

What does Pannikkar warn us about?

The undoubtedly positive concept of Human Rights may turn out to be a Trojan horse, surreptitiously introduced into other civilizations which will then all but be obliged to accept those way of living, thinking and feeling for which Human Rights is the proper solution in cases of conflict

What are the key human rights issues in Rwanda's gacaca courts?

Curtailment of fair trial rights, inadequate legal safeguards, limited judge training

What is a major recommendation for countries considering dispute resolution mechanisms similar to Gacaca?

Ensure fair trial rights are guaranteed

What is one proposed solution to Gacaca's shortcomings?

Empowering gacaca tribunals to grant amnesty, potentially in exchange for truth or community service

What are some of the potential advantages of Gacaca?

Expediency in processing cases, community rebuilding, and promotion of democratic values

What are some of the dangers of Gacaca?

Deprivations of due process rights and vigilante justice

What are some of the weaknesses of Gacaca?

Lack of legal representation for defendants, limited training for judges, and potential for biased judgments

What lesson from South Africa's TRC may be applied to Rwanda?

The instrumental value of amnesty in promoting truth and reconciliation

What values are embedded in the South African constitution?

The need for “understanding but not vengeance, reparation but not retaliation”