ssrn-3542773

The Humans of Human Rights: From Universality to Intersectionality

Introduction

  • Eleanor Roosevelt's Quote: Universal rights stem from individual experiences shaping needs for equality and justice.

  • Grenfell Tower: Home to 350 residents, primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds; tragedy on 14 June 2017 claimed around 80 lives, involving predominantly poor, Black, Muslim victims, including children and persons with disabilities.

Context of the Grenfell Tragedy

  • Systemic neglect led to the Grenfell incident, marked by council negligence after safety warnings and choice of cheaper materials post-renovation.

  • The tragedy illustrates how marginalized groups face compromised rights intertwined with poverty and identity, questioning the effectiveness of universal human rights against structural inequalities.

Intersectionality and Human Rights

  • Examines how diverse individual experiences challenge universal human rights, complicating the understanding of rights violations due to factors like race and poverty.

  • Intersectionality theory helps analyze how identities interact to shape experiences of rights.

Clarifying Notions of Human Rights

  • Universality emphasizes equal rights but overlooks nuances affecting rights experiences.

  • Non-discrimination recognition fails to address deeper structural inequalities; Arendt suggests that human rights should reflect the complexity of human conditions.

The Role of Intersectionality in Human Rights

  • Intersectionality implies human rights cannot be uniformly applied; understanding individual complexities is essential.

  • Grenfell serves as an empirical example of intersectional rights violations, highlighting unique challenges faced by vulnerable backgrounds in various rights areas.

Critique of Current Human Rights Frameworks

  • Current non-discrimination frameworks focus on formal equality without confronting deep-rooted inequalities and often overlook material conditions like poverty.

  • Advocates for an intersectional approach to address structural inequalities comprehensively.

Conclusion

  • Proposes an intersectional universality that reflects complex identities and their intersections, suggesting a revised understanding of human rights that connects with individuals' lived realities, fostering a more just society.