A question of narration: The voice in international human rights law

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 406-430

  Slaughter, Joseph ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 6244282616     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.1997.0019     Document Type: Review

References (155)

1. HOMI K. BHABHA, THE LOCATION OF CULTURE 45 (1994).
2. RITA MARAN, TORTURE: THE ROLE OF IDEOLOGY IN THE FRENCH-ALGERIAN WAR 3 (1989).
3. BHABHA, supra note 1.
4. MARAN, supra note 2.
5. Recent debates over universality and cultural relativism have focused specifically on the nature of human subjectivity. See, e.g., Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Toward a CrossCultural Approach to Defining International Standards of Human Rights, in HUMAN RIGHTS IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES (Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im ed., 1992).
6. Many people have documented the pervasiveness of torture during the Algerian War. See ALEC MELLOR, JE DÉNOUNCE LA TORTURE! (1972); PIERRE VIDAL-NAQUET, LA TORTURE DANS LA RéPUBLIQUE (1972); see generally ALISTAIR HORNE, A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE: ALGERIA 1954-1962 (1977).
7. Many people have documented the pervasiveness of torture during the Algerian War. See ALEC MELLOR, JE DÉNOUNCE LA TORTURE! (1972); PIERRE VIDAL-NAQUET, LA TORTURE DANS LA RéPUBLIQUE (1972); see generally ALISTAIR HORNE, A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE: ALGERIA 1954-1962 (1977).
8. Many people have documented the pervasiveness of torture during the Algerian War. See ALEC MELLOR, JE DÉNOUNCE LA TORTURE! (1972); PIERRE VIDAL-NAQUET, LA TORTURE DANS LA RéPUBLIQUE (1972); see generally ALISTAIR HORNE, A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE: ALGERIA 1954-1962 (1977).
9. Burns H. Weston, Human Rights, in HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD COMMUNITY: ISSUES AND - ACTION 14 (Richard Pierre Claude & Burns H. Weston eds., 2d ed. 1992).
10. Richard A. Falk, Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights, in HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD COMMUNITY: ISSUES AND ACTION, supra note 7, at 31.
11. Adenos Addis, Individualism, Communitarianism, and the Rights of Ethnic Minorities, 66 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1219, 1233-61 (1991).
12. Weston, supra note 7, at 17.
13. Id.
14. Id.
15. Id.
16. Id. at 18.
17. Id.
18. Id.
19. Id.
20. Falk, supra note 8, at 32.
21. Id.
22. Id. at 35.
23. Id. at 37.
24. Id. at 35.
25. Id. at 37.
26. Id. at 38.
27. Id. at 39.
28. Id. at 32.
29. See Addis, supra note 9.
30. Id. at 1252.
31. Id. at 1237.
32. Id. at 1244.
33. BHABHA, supra note 1, at 45.
34. Addis, supra note 9, at 1244.
35. Id. at 1246.
36. By modern, I am referring to the historical period from the Enlightenment to the present in which a "new" human was conceived from the philosophical works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and René Descartes.
37. Addis, supra note 9, at 1246.
38. Id. at 1246.
39. See FREDERIC JAMESON, POSTMODERN, OR, THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF LATE CAPITALISM (1991).
40. See JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD, THE POSTMODERN CONDITION: A REPORT ON KNOWLEDGE (1984).
41. See JEAN BAUDRILLARD, SELECTED WRITINGS (Mark Poster ed., 1988).
42. LA DÉCLARATION DES DROITS DE L'HOMME ET DU CITOYEN [THE FRENCH DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN] (1789) [hereinafter THE FRENCH DECL.].
43. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 21 7A (III), 3 U.M. GAOR (Resolutions, part 1) at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 AM. J. INT'L L. SUPP. 127 (1949) [hereinafter Universal Declaration].
44. M. M. Bakhtin, The Bildungsroman and Its Significance in the History of Realism in SPEECH GENRES AND OTHER LATE ESSAYS 10, 21 (Caryl Emerson & Michael Holquist eds., 1986).
45. A standard introductory text in literary studies explains that the term Bildungsroman comes from German, meaning "novel of formation" or "novel of becoming." M.H. ABRAMS, A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS 119 (5th ed. 1985). "The subject of these novels is the development of the protagonist's mind and character, in the passage from childhood through varied experiences-and usually through a spiritual crisis-into the maturity and recognition of his or her identity and role in the world." Id. at 119-20.
46. THE FRENCH DECL., supra note 40, art. 2.
47. "Negative rights" have been defined by the perception that some rights merely require a government to prohibit certain destructive abuses. "Positive rights" generally require active promotion. In this formulation, prohibitions against torture are negative rights, and programs of social welfare are positive rights. For a more thorough discussion, see JACK DONNELLY, THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1985).
48. MARAN, supra note 2, at 3.
49. THE FRENCH DECL., supra note 40.
50. Id.
51. Id. pmbl.
52. Id.
53. Id. art. 1.
54. Id. art. 2.
55. Id. art. 7.
56. Id. art. 8.
57. Id. art. 9.
58. Id. arts. 10-11.
59. MARAN, supra note 2, at 142.
60. Id. at 61.
61. Id. (quoting René Cassin).
62. Universal Declaration, supra note 41, pmbl.
63. Id.
64. Id. arts. 1-30.
65. Id. art. 29.
66. BARBARA HARLOW, BARRED: WOMEN, WRITING, AND POLITICAL DETENTION 252-53 (1992).
67. Id.
68. Universal Declaration, supra note 41, pmbl.
69. MARAN, supra note 2.
70. Id. at 142.
71. See generally MARAN, supra note 2.
72. An-Na'im, supra note 5, at 19.
73. FRANTZ FANON, THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH 210 (1963).
74. See id. at 210.
75. JULES ROY, THE WAR IN ALGERIA 17 (1961).
76. Id. at 84.
77. Remnants of this colonial educational process exist in the language of the Universal Declaration itself, the opening paragraph proclaiming that "every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms . . . both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction." Universal Declaration, supra note 41, pmbl.
78. MARAN, supra note 2.
79. Id. at 5.
80. Jean-Paul Sartre, Preface to FANON, supra note 71, at 17.
81. Id. at 10.
82. Id.
83. FANON, supra note 71, at 262.
84. Addis, supra note 9, at 1238.
85. Id.
86. The "Algerian Question" comes from the United Nations' nomenclature for discussing France and the decolonization of Algeria.
87. Rov, supra note 73, at 106.
88. Id.
89. MOHAMED ALWAN, ALGERIA BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS 4 (1959).
90. Id.
91. ALEXANDRE-CHARLES Kiss, REPERTOIRE DE LA PRATIQUE FRANÇAISE EN MATIÉRE DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC 130 (1962) (discussing CONST. Fr. (1946)).
92. U.N. CHARTER art. 2, para. 7, signed 26 June 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. 993 (entered into force 24 Oct. 1945).
93. Kiss, supra note 89, at 395.
94. HARLOW, supra note 64.
95. Declaration of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, adopted 14 Dec. 1960, G.A. Res. 1514(XV), U.N. GAOR, 15th Sess., Supp. (No. 16) at 66, U.N. Doc. A/4684 (1960).
96. Maurice Flory, Questions intéressant la France: négocition ou dégagement en Algérie 7 ANNUARIE FRANÇAIS DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL 836 (1961).
97. Id.
98. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, G.A. Res. 1514(XV), adopted 14 Dec. 1960, 15 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 16) at 66, U.N. Doc. A/4684 (1960). Resolution 1514(XV) passed in the context of the Cold War. The Soviet Union proposed the matter for inclusion, and the United States responded by directing attention to the Soviet Union's incorporation of the world's "three newest colonies"-Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. In the end, the major colonial powers and their empathizers, including France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, abstained from the vote. See id.
99. ALWAN, supra note 87, at 95.
100. Id. at 88.
101. See supra note 96.
102. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, supra note 96, art. 5.
103. Id. art. 3.
104. MOHAMMED BEDIAOUI, LAW AND THE ALGERIAN REVOLUTION 11 (1961).
105. Id.
106. United Nations, The Question of Algeria, 1960 U.N.Y.B. 132, 136, U.N. Sales No. 61.1.1.
107. United Nations, The Status of Algerians Imprisoned in France, 1961 U.N.Y.B. 99, 101, U.N. Sales No. 62.1.1.
108. U.N. CHARTER, supra note 90, art. 1, para. 2.
109. Id. pmbl.
110. id.
111. CONST. (1946) (Fr.).
112. CONST. (1958) (Fr.).
113. BEDJAOUI, supra note 102, at 212.
114. MARAN, supra note 2, at 43.
115. The domestic French law made those acts criminal in Article 344, making false arrest illegal in paragraph 1 and death threat against a prisoner illegal in paragraph 2. The law also prescribed the death penalty for those committing torture. MARAN, supra note 2, at 39.
116. See HENRI ALLEG, THE QUESTION (1958).
117. See generally LES TEMPS MODERNES (1958-62).
118. GISÈLE HALIMI, DIAMILA BOUPACHA: THE STORY OF THE TORTURE OF A YOUNG ALGERIAN GIRL WHICH SHOCKED LIBERAL FRENCH OPINION 61 (1962).
119. ALLEG, supra note 114.
120. Jean-Paul Sartre, Introduction to ALLEC, supra note 114, at 29.
121. Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 1, adopted 9 Dec. 1975, C.A. Res. 3452 (XXX), 30 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 34) at 91, U.N. Doc. A/1034 (1975).
122. See Michel Crouzet, La bataille des intellectuels français, LA NEF, Oct. 1962-Jan. 1963, at 47, 57; Simone de Beauvoir, Pour Djamila Boupacha, LE MONDE, 2 June 1960, at 6.
123. See Michel Crouzet, La bataille des intellectuels français, LA NEF, Oct. 1962-Jan. 1963, at 47, 57; Simone de Beauvoir, Pour Djamila Boupacha, LE MONDE, 2 June 1960, at 6.
124. HALIMI, supra note 116, at 33-34.
125. Id at 39.
126. W. at 40.
127. Id.
128. Id.
129. de Beauvoir, supra note 120.
130. Cisèle Halimi, D'Henri Alleg a Djamila Boupacha, 15 LES TEMPS MODERNES 1827 (June 1960).
131. Sartre, supra note 118, at 29.
132. MICHEL FOUCAULT, DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH: THE BIRTH or THE PRISON 7 (1977).
133. ELAINE SCARRY, THE BODY IN PAIN: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF THE WORLD (1985).
134. Id. at 27.
135. Ñacuñán Sáez, Torture: A Discourse on Practice in TATTOO, TORTURE, MUTILATION AND ADORNMENT: THE DENATURALIZATION OF THE BODY IN CULTURE AND TEXT 126, 138 (Frances Mascia-Lees & Patricia Sharp eds., 1992).
136. Id. at 133.
137. Id.
138. SCARRY, supra note 130, at 13-14.
139. Id. at 27.
140. Id. at 51.
141. Id. at 49.
142. FOUCAULT, supra note 129, at 49.
143. ANDREW BYRNES, FEMMES ET ACTION 103 (1981).
144. Id.
145. Id. at 104.
146. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted 10 Dec. 1984, G.A. Res. 39/46, U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1985), reprinted in 23 I.L.M. 1027 (1984), substantive changes noted in 24 I.L.M. 535 (1985) (entered into force 26 June 1987).
147. Id. art. 15.
148. Pierre Cot, Preface to BEDJAOUI, supra note 102, at 3-4.
149. Id.
150. Neil Stammers, A Critique of Social Approaches to Human Rights, 17 HUM. RTS. Q. 488, 508 (1995).
151. Id.
152. FANON, supra note 71, at 247.
153. Seyla Benhabib, Hannah Arendt and the Redemptive Power of Narrative, 57 Soc. RES. 187 (1990).
154. Id.
155. Id. at 196.