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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/6287 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Thoba, Athenkosi |
| Contributors | Matshanda, Namhla |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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