Tag Archives: human rights

Potential Audience for Eportfolio

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My project will be of interest to those studying gender studies, specifically women’s studies. My research zooms in on how unequal treatment in the legal system affects women in Pakistan. Students, professionals, activists who want to learn more about human rights violations might find the website helpful. The case studies (of Mukhtar Mai and Kainat Soomro) would be of particular interest for them. This project will also be informative for those who are pursuing careers in international law. The research journals on the political influences and repealed legislations will be revealing.

Since my project is at the intersection of international law, human rights violations, women’s studies, I would expect that most viewers who want to peruse through my eportfolio have prior knowledge on the subject and are expanding their understanding. I think the Bibliography would be a helpful resource for them.

Research Journal: Interpretive Frameworks

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Khouri, N. (2007). Human Rights and Islam: Lessons from Amina Lawal and Mukhtar Mai. The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, 8(93), 93-109.

Khouri explains three accounts/ interpretative frameworks that are used to draw relationships between human rights and Islamic law. There are named as Clash of Civilizations, Global Legal Pluralism, and Transnational Legal Process. The following mind map briefly outlines the important components associated with each:

Frameworks

She also analyzes two case studies – Amina Lawal and Mukhtar Mai- and interprets both of them in light of the three frameworks that she provides in this article. I will only be summarizing Mukhtar Mai’s case since it happened in Pakistan and it is directly related to my topic. The other case is that of a Nigerian woman, but since the penal code in Nigeria is different, I will not go into its detail.

In 2002, Mai was ganged raped on orders of her panchayat (village council) in retribution for alleged zina committed by her younger brother. Khouri explains this case in view of the three frameworks.

1. Clash of Civilization

International media adopted this interpretative framework to state that Mai’s human rights had been violated as a result of Sharia law. However, this framework ignores the fact that the village council did not have any legal authority to impose Sharia. Local tribunals are not part of the federal state law or the penal code. The clash is between traditional tribal law and official state law, not human rights and Islamic law.

2. Global Legal Pluralism

Because global legal pluralism recognizes human rights and Islamic law as separate and interacting entities, it takes local political structures into account. This framework explains that while the village council did not have legal authority, it was the village imam who spoke against the sexual violence. It also considers the class differences of perpetrator and victim. Mai’s perpetrators were from Mastoi tribe and because most members of the village council were from that tribe, they issued such a horrific act of violence against Mai, who was from the socially low Gujar tribe.

3. Transnational Legal Process

This interpretative framework emphasizes the concept of norm internalization. In Mai’s case, government condemned rape, compensated her and provided her legal costs. This could be partly attributed to international pressure which emphasizes human rights norms.

Each interpretative framework provides a unique analysis, but because the global legal pluralism accepts alternative models, it is neutral and more tolerant. Of course, the relationship between human rights and Islamic law is more complex than it is portrayed in these frameworks.

Video Journal Entry on “Paul Farmer: Rethinking Health and Human Rights”

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UC Berkeley Events. (2009, March 31). Paul Farmer: Rethinking Health and Human Rights. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwy22pXrig8

In this online Distinguished Health Leadership Lecture Series organized by the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Paul Farmer discusses community-based health care in poor countries and what strategies can be taken to ensure basic human rights. One of the things that was not always apparent to me was that public health policies are designed with cost-effective approach. (He described cost-effectiveness as the religion of public health.) This plays a significant role in how medical care is delivered in countries with meager public infrastructure. The argument against using expensive medication for poor is that these drugs can be used in other important cases. It is simply not cost-effective to treat drug-resistant cases. That seems very wrong, especially considering that drug-resistant cases arise from mismanagement of medical services, i.e. when patients are moved from one trial to another without properly completing their treatments.

One of the things that I really admire about Dr. Farmer’s philosophy is the idea that standard of care should be uniform and not dependent on a person’s wealth. Therefore, setting low standard of care with the label that that is cost-effective is not right. Instead, policy makers should aim at providing high quality of medical care and work with pharmaceutical industry to bring down drug prices.

Dr. Farmer shared some valuable strategies that potential public health workers can adopt and benefit from. He mentioned that when NGOs from foreign countries work with the public sector, they are able to accomplish far-reaching goals. (I have to research this idea more thoroughly and find out what he meant by “scale” and “rights” as the two main reasons to collaborate with public sector.) He also suggested cutting down consulting fee, which is heavily applied by international agencies.

It was surprising to see that universities that are known for public health research and training have no more than 2% of actual service contributed to real-world work. The lack of implementing research that is conducted in universities is troubling.