Vol. 1, No. 1 (March, 1991), pp. 1-4
HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES by Abdullahi
Ahmed An-Nacim and Francis M. Deng (Editors). Washington: The
Brookings Institution, 1990. 339 pp. Cloth $24.35. Paper $12.95.
Reviewed by Matthew Lippman, Department of Criminal Justice,
University of Illinois at Chicago.
Following World War II, the Allied Powers were determined to
prevent a repetition of the atrocities and barbarities
perpetrated by the Third Reich. The United Nations Charter
enthroned the protection of human rights as a fundamental purpose
of the organization. One of the fledgling United Nations' first
acts was the drafting of the non-binding Universal Declaration of
Human Rights which was proclaimed as a "common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations." The Universal
Declaration was followed by the adoption of the 1948 Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and by
the passage in 1966 of two implementing covenants. The United
Nations now has accepted over fifty multilateral human rights
instruments. International and regional human rights systems and
procedures also have been developed and a myriad of national
non-governmental human rights organizations have been formed. The
protection of human rights has been indisputably established as
being of international legal concern and no longer as a matter
which States' may credibly claim to be exclusively within their
domestic jurisdiction.
Human rights research has lagged behind these advancements and
remains at an inchoate stage of development. Initially, the field
was the exclusive preserve of international lawyers who devoted
themselves to describing substantive human rights protections and
procedures. During the second phase, the focus was on proposals
for new rights, such as the collective right to peace. Human
rights research recently entered a third phase and has become the
concern of scholars in fields ranging from literature to
psychology. Social scientists have begun to devote their efforts
to conceptual issues and to empirical studies of human rights
implementation. The early work defining the nature of human
rights and the role of human rights in foreign policy also has
been refined and extended. Nevertheless, the field remains
characterized by uneven and fragmented scholarship and generally
suffers from an overly topical and journalistic emphasis. There
is a paucity of solid scholarship, and the igniting of academic
interest in human rights has resulted in a scholarly whimper
rather than in the
anticipated bang. HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: CROSS-CULTURAL
PERSPECTIVES edited by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Nacim and Francis M.
Deng is representative of the third phase in human rights
research. It challenges the contention that international human
rights documents and claims reflect western ethnocentrism. A
persistent thread in the fabric of discussions covering human
rights has been the objection that the notion and definition of
human rights is the product of a western, capitalistic and
democratic, secular ideology (critics typically select one or
more of these adjectives from this shopping list of objections).
It is pointed out that the
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the core human rights documents were drafted at a time when the
United Nations was comprised of roughly fifty, mostly
industrialized nation-states. Today, the organization has tripled
in size. This increase in membership largely is due to the
admission of former colonial territories in Africa, Asia and the
Pacific. It is alleged that the foundation human rights documents
reflect the bias of the original member-states and that such
rights have limited relevance to the developing world. This
argument is an amalgam of a variety of cultural and ideological
claims: (1) existing international human rights documents
emphasize individual at the expense of communitarian rights; (2)
secular human rights may not take precedence over divinely
inspired patterns of social organization; (3) states should not
be expected to guarantee civil and political rights until they
achieve economic development; and (4) only certain core human
rights pertaining to the right to life can claim cross-cultural
legitimacy. These four multifarious claims often are animated by
an anti-colonial animus -- a view that human rights merely are
another imperialist effort to impose alien values on what are
arrogantly viewed as the benighted denizens of the developing
world.
The fourteen diverse essays in the An-Nacim and Deng volume
reject this multicultural perspective on rights (which is
pejoratively characterized as cultural relativism) and adopt a
monist view. The authors variously point out that, in general,
only the remnants of coherent traditional cultures remain and
that the world is increasingly becoming one vast uniform
urbanized marketplace. The African reality is not dissimilar from
that faced by peoples in North America and Europe.
The Wiredu and Deng essays document that the notion of rights is
not alien to Africa. Traditional African cultures embodied
limited human rights norms which are similar to many of those
contained in the allegedly imperialist-inspired international
documents. The imperialist claim merely is thought to obfuscate
the central issue; in this new world order human rights are
threatened and require protection from state repression.
Anti-imperialist and fundamentalist rhetoric often merely masks
an effort to legitimize such repression. Virginia A. Leary points
out that the charge that contemporary human rights are a product
of western interests overlooks the fact that most recent
documents, such as those providing for self-determination for
colonial peoples and the right to development, reflect the
interests of the third world. The central question addressed in
essays by An-Nacim and James Silk, is how to gain global
legitimacy for the idea of human rights. The next step would be
the transformation of those remaining cultural practices which
inhibit the realization of universal human rights and to move
towards the humanitarian global culture described by Richard D.
Schwartz in his concluding contribution.
The various authors in this volume focus on a central
contemporary global and domestic issue -- the tension between
ethnocentrism and globalization. As the Salman Rushdie
controversy suggests, there are profound cultural divisions in
the
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world. The book, however, is disappointing. These are conference
papers and few are sufficiently original,penetrating or rigorous
to merit independent publication. The reader is required to plow
through an overly long, repetitious, and disjointed set of essays
in order to reap the harvest of a few perceptive insights. At a
conference, the discussion period often provides the type of
organizing themes and coherence which this collection so
desperately requires. In addition, it was unfortunate that the
editors did not include contributions or rejoinders by the
scholars whose views are being subjected to examination and
criticism. The volume also requires some concrete examples and
analyses of the abstract, conceptual issues discussed in the
essays. For instance, it is not clear which human rights claims
are thought to conflict with existing and widespread African
cultural patterns. To what extent does the colloquy concerning
human rights in Africa involve a symbolic struggle between the
representatives of the developed and developing world rather than
a debate over the substantive protection of human rights?
In the end, the underlying themes propelling the book demand a
more sophisticated and coherent treatment. The difficulty of
achieving a single standard of human rights in a pluralistic
society or world, and the tension between nationalism and
globalism each are grist for the mill of an ambitious author.
Based upon the volume's somewhat deceptive title, the reader also
justifiably anticipates discussion of topics such as AIDS, the
right to food and development, the rights of women and ethnic
minorities, refugees, slavery, apartheid, democratic procedures,
state and guerilla terrorism, comparative human rights
protections in Africa and the establishment of an African human
rights charter and court. However, it should be noted that the
issues of state repression and democratic participation are given
limited descriptive coverage in the chapters by Claude E. Welch
Jr. and James C. N. Paul. Africanists likely will be disappointed
by the fact that most of the essays adopt a broad conceptual
perspective and only vaguely touch on contemporary Africa. Of
course, it nay have been overly ambitious to aspire to encompass
the African reality in a single volume.
Few of the essays grapple with the complexity of the cultural
issue. Many controversial practices are part of an intricate web
of social relationships and traditions and have compelling
societal rationales. These practices often are voluntarily
entered into by the participants and have significant symbolic
import. The western alternative also invariably has limited
appeal. A particular social practice, as a rule, cannot glibly be
condemned as violative of human rights. International human
rights guarantees usually are fairly broadly phrased, subject to
qualifying conditions and open to interpretation. Both the
Islamic world and the United States, for instance, stand together
against most of the globe in credibly insisting that the death
penalty does not constitute cruel punishment. The essayists also
pay scant attention to the fact that the West, like the
developing world, has claimed ideological exemption from
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adherence to human rights guarantees. The United States, based
upon its First Amendment tradition, remains one of the few
countries to resist the human rights provision limiting racist
and bigoted speech. It also has refused to recognize the
legitimacy of social and economic rights, such as the right to
work, food and shelter.
Despite these admonitions, the book is sufficiently unique and
compelling in its subject matter to merit scholarly attention. It
is a significant multi-disciplinary analysis of a central human
rights issue in one region of the world. There is little doubt
that it will be a standard citation for academics in the area of
human rights. Although lacking a bibliography, the volume
provides relatively full citation to the relevant literature. The
essay by Washington attorney James Silk is particularly valuable
in this regard. The contributions by human rights stalwarts Jack
Donnelly and Rhoda E. Howard are the most original, stimulating
and valuable essays. Donnelly reinterprets Lockean liberalism to
accommodate collective claims while Howard launches an effective
frontal assault on the African defense of cultural relativism.
The Tibi and Mayer pieces on Islamic law and tradition are
undistinguished but solid contributions to the burgeoning
literature or human rights in Muslim societies.