Magister Commercii - Mcom (Political Studies) / While they have emerged as global ideals based on the recognition of liberty, dignity and universal rights to 'all individuals' within the global community, human rights have faced numerous criticism and scepticism from the Global South. This research paper argues that such scepticism has had negative impact on the drive for the protection and promotion of human rights and International Human Rights Law in global politics. Given such huge challenges, this research paper points out that, unless the global human rights discourse undergoes significant reform and shift, its Western-centric domination will result into more harm than good in the international community's agenda for human rights protection and promotion. Postcolonial Africa has been at the forefront of the debate on the power-political use of the notion. As such, it has been argued that human rights discourse has influenced relations and policies between the West and the Third World, especially Africa. In this relationship, human rights have been viewed as a strategic tool for powerful states in global politics, to use in their quest to legitimise the case for political change. Furthermore, human rights have also been employed by governments seeking to justify their interference in the domestic affairs of other states, especially the West in the case of postcolonial Africa. It has therefore emerged that the human rights rhetoric/ discourse has been understood by postcolonial Africa as serving to establish a powerful perspective relating to the present and past collective experiences of injustice, exclusion and domination within global politics. Here, the global human rights regimes and Africa seem to be at a crossroads regarding the role of human rights in international politics.

The main concern of this thesis is to analyze the transformation of domestic human rights discourse by looking at the shifting representations of the idea of human rights. The representation of the idea of human rights in &lsquo / Turkey Human Rights Movement Conferences&rsquo / in different political contexts during the period 1998-2010 is evaluated with reference to three areas of literature on the idea of human rights and with a social constructionist perspective which begins with the proposition that ideas and practices concerning human rights are created by people in particular historical, social, and economic circumstances. The different conceptualizations of legitimation of the idea of human rights, the shifting representations of the idea of human rights as civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights and the varying constructions of domestic human rights language amongst local and universal claims in respect of human rights within different political contexts is explored. In this framework, the research design of the study is envisioned to evaluate these issues in the context of &lsquo / Turkey Human Rights Movement Conference&rsquo / texts. The final reports of eleven conferences held in the period 1998-2010 are analyzed by the method of &lsquo / qualitative content analyses&rsquo / .

Over the past decades, a convergence between civil and political human rights non governmental organisations (NGOs) and development NGOs have occurred. The fusion of the two disciplines have led to the construction of so called ‘Rights-Based approaches’ (RBA). One principal concept for RBA’s is the question of accountability. Functional accountability is no longer seen as sufficient and more focus on social accountability have advanced. In previous research NGOs are repeatedly questioned for their level of accountability. This comparative qualitative case study therefore aim to examine how three Swedish based NGOs perceive accountability, with the purpose to contribute to the academic discussion of NGO accountability. By using grounded theory and selective coding, this study will contribute with new empirical data to the ongoing development of RBA theory. Empirical data is collected through interviews, NGOs official strategies documents and analysed in relation to the empirically grounded theory. The main findings in this comparative case study is that organisations different backgrounds and values influence how they perceive RBA and accountability, and which methods are used to reconcile with accountability claims. The collected empirical data concludes perceptions of accountability mostly focuses on four interconnected key principles; power relations, democracy, transparency and empowerment.

This case study explored the process of incorporating human rights into the operation of an international commercial organisation. Constructing a dialogue to bridge the gap between human rights discourse and commercial realities, this case study identified the unique roles required to develop dialogue and created a model as a diagnostic and educational tool. The roles specific to human rights consulting, of interpreter, Champoin and Enabler afforded effective penetration into the participating industry partner's operational levels. These roles emerged from the process of constructing a human rights discourse and tensions therein where the existing theory of organisational change and consulting was found to be inadequate for human rights intervention. Based on the data of industry partner's existing practices and human rights concerns and on the process of collecting and analysing this data, the model for education and implementation was constructed. It is a flexible tool for examining human rights practices from bottom up as well as top down of an organisation. This research showed that having a comprehensive picture of the complexities involved sas an effective method of exploration and making sense of human rights education and implementation in a multinational industrial setting. The construction of the roles and of the model relied on the central premise of willingness of a multinational corporation to examine its practices and take an autonomous position of corporate citizenship and responsibility. This was consistent with the participatory research design of the study. Theretically this research challenges the appropriateness of traditional organisational change concepts when dealing with human rights; provides a diagnostic and educational tool for human rights consulting; and points to further research in this area.

The thesis deals with the normative discourse of transsexuality, both from a general cultural- historical perspective in the context of Western science and medicine and more specifically in the context of Czech sexology. On a detailed analysis of the publication Transsexualita: Diagnostika a léčba (Transsexuality: Diagnostics and Treatment), I illustrate the currently dominant conceptualization of transgender and/or transsexuality as a disorder, which, due to its normative influence, predetermines not only the possibilities of (self)identification available to trans* people in the Czech Republic, but also their treatment by Czech society and state institutions (e.g. in the conditions to be met for legal gender recognition, which still include compulsory sterilization). Methodologically, the thesis is chiefly grounded in discourse analysis, but it also shows an ethical standpoint in relation to the situation of Czech trans* people in the legal and medical systems. I also consider the factual dimension of transgender status and other expressions of gender diversity, primarily in maintaining a critical distance from the notions of their alleged pathology, still widespread in the normative sexological discourse. Keywords Biology, discourse, ethics, human rights, intersex, normativity, pathologization,...

The post-apartheid government of 1994 is a product of the ‘Age of Rights’. Statemaking processes and the exercise of state powers is managed by the rule of law based on a constitution. Constitutionally recognised rights, and rights protection institutions, animate a transition from a legacy of Black political exclusion and underdevelopment. Intensifying class stratification and inequality constrain Black’s formal realisation of citizenship rights, placing great pressure on creative interpretation of constitutionally legitimated claims. My thesis examines the rights discourse informing the Constitution, particularly issues about the realisation of social and economic rights. I examine the unfolding of discourses on the right to housing between 1994 to 2008, to illustrate of the complexity of the discourse. Episodic housing protests suggest significant degrees of alienation, marginalisation, and disappointment with expectations of citizenship and the non-realisation of social and economic rights. Housing rights is an issue that will affect the democratic consolidation and political stability prospects of the new political order. I examine the interface between macro-economic policies, budgets, and the realisation of housing rights, and assess the impact of an identifiable configuration of forces expected to play important roles in realising a rights culture and broadening the discourse. My study draws on a spectrum of qualitative, interpretive, and analysis of discourse approaches, using data from: published articles, annual reports and archives, speeches, court proceedings and statements, interviews with persons whose scope of activities impact the unfolding of the concerned rights, namely, representatives of government departments, private sector developers, financing institutions, and civil society formations. My main findings are that few actors in the configuration support the view that the Constitution should be changed to make explicit the state’s obligations on the realisation of social and economic rights. Nevertheless, there are isolated cases of people expressing an absolute entitlement sense of rights --- the state should deliver when demands are made. My conclusions are that considerable political unrest about non-realisation of these rights will persist, but will not cause a collapse of the post-1994 political institutions and processes. More likely, political actors, legal scholars and jurists, will persistently engage the prevailing rights discourse and the variety of institutions acting towards their realisation, without effecting drastic changes to these, but always invoking positions about how they still are suited for a post-apartheid transformation project yet need critical interrogation and improvisation.

This diploma thesis attempts to provide an analysis of the human rights discourse in Japan and Japanese foreign policy. The author analyses the most important current issues (falling under the category of first-generation human rights) including: Korean minority issue, discrimination against persons of burakumin origin, gender issue and the topic of comfort women. In the second part of the thesis, the author explores the human rights discourse in the foreign policy of Japan. With the help of his research conducted in 2013 in Tokyo among diplomats, academics and NGO representatives, he examines three possible approaches to explain the current state of affairs: a national interests approach, a constructivist approach (cultural conditionality) and a policy-making approach (taking into account the role of intrastate actors).