Human rights: eye for cultural diversity

The relationship and interaction between international human rights law and cultural diversity is a current topic, as is shown by the recent debates in The Netherlands on, for instance, the proposed ban on wearing facial coverage, or burqas, and the proposed ban on ritual slaughter without anaesthesia. Human rights and cultural diversity further concern issues such as whether a person should be permitted to speak Frysian instead of Dutch in court, whether double nationality implies an undesirable loyalty problem, or whether Sinterklaas should be acknowledged as intangible Dutch cultural heritage or be dismissed as a racist celebration. One can also think of issues such as to what extent states should facilitate and fund education in minority languages, to what extent non-formal marriage rituals should be recognized, how land rights for indigenous communities can be reconciled with the economic benefit of mining and logging operations, and the wearing of religious symbols, such as headscarves, turbans and kippas in public schools. All of these issues are crucial to many individuals and communities, because they are expressions of their culture and consequently their identity. And to the extent that those cultural identity elements are associated with human dignity, there is a link with human rights. This lecture explores the scope of international human rights law for promoting and protecting cultural diversity, both at a global and at a regional level. It looks at the human rights standard-setting by states, at the human rights norms themselves and at the monitoring of human rights by international supervisory bodies