African Communitarianism and Difference

There has been the recurrent suspicion that community, harmony, cohesion, and similar relational goods as understood in the African ethical tradition threaten to occlude difference. Often, it has been Western defenders of liberty who have raised the concern that these characteristically sub-Saharan values fail to account adequately for individuality, although some contemporary African thinkers have expressed the same concern. In this chapter, I provide a certain understanding of the sub-Saharan value of communal relationship and demonstrate that it entails a substantial allowance for difference. I aim to show that African thinkers need not appeal to, say, characteristically Euro-American values of authenticity or autonomy to make sense of why individuals should not be pressured to conform to a group’s norms regarding sex and gender. A key illustration involves homosexuality

In international law we (do not) trust: The persistent rejection of economic and social rights as a manifestation of cynicism

Despite a promising start in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, economic and social rights still retain a second-class status in most national jurisdictions. What explains this reticence with which economic and social rights are (still) regarded? This chapter analyses how the sceptical gaze through which states view economic and social rights legitimises (or attempts to legitimise) government failures to provide for those members of their populace who are in most desperate need, and (unsuccessfully) masks the self-interest that pervades most of international law. The chapter commences with a brief introduction and subsequently proceeds in three subsequent parts. Section 2 demonstrates that cynicism was used as a sword to pierce the normative foundations of economic and social rights generally, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights particularly in the early days both before and after its adoption leading to economic and social rights’ lower status in the human rights family; Section 3 posits that cynicism has been relied upon as a shield to offer errant states a defence for not meeting their obligations under both international and national (constitutional) economic and social rights norms; and finally Section 4 argues that a certain amount of cynicism is inherent in the history of economic and social rights and how they advanced through the ages, but more optimistically that a light at the end of the tunnel exists because contemporary developments point to less rather than more cynicism in the area of economic and social rights in today’s world

Privacy, surveillance and the duties of corporations: a South African approach

The internet and mobile communications have become a standard feature of life in many parts of the world. Mobile telephones, for instance, are used today for the most private of purposes, whether that be discussions between parents and children, romantic partners or social friends. They have also become indispensable in the business world. No longer are such technologies limited to fixed abodes: they accompany us wherever we go. As such, they exist in the most private of spaces and the most public

Human rights accountability in domestic courts: does Kiobel increase the global governance gap?

The international community has, for over 40 years, been attempting to determine the legal obligations of corporations in relation to fundamental rights. The various initiatives that have been taken have all been seeking to address a recent reality: corporations no longer operate within one jurisdiction and have the capacity to cause serious harms in a range of jurisdictions. The special representative of the secretary general - Ruggie - was appointed in 2005 by the United Nations specifically to address the nexus of business and human rights in a globalised world. In laying out his three-pronged Framework proposal in 2008, he recognised that globalisation had caused a "governance gap" in the world

How should rights be limited? : regspraak

The constitutional court has had the opportunity to pronounce on the right of access to courts on several occasions. In the recent past, several cases have dealt with the constitutionality of time-bar provisions which prevent the institution of an action upon failure to perform a particular action within a set period of time (see, for instance, Brümmer v Minister of Social Development 2009 6 SA 323 (CC) and Engelbrecht v Road Accident Fund 2007 6 SA 96 (CC))