Law S Cut On The Body Of Human Rights

Scenes of violence and incisions into the flesh inform the demand for law. The scene of little girls being held down in practices of female circumcision has been a defining and definitive image that demands the attention of human rights, and the intervention of law. But the investment in protecting women and little girls from such a cut is not all that it seems. Law's Cut on the Body of Human Rights: Female Circumcision, Torture and Sacred Flesh considers how such images come to inform law and the investment of advocates of law in an imagination of this scene. Drawing on psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory, and accompanying ideas in political theology, Juliet Rogers examines the language, imagery and excitement that accompanies recent initiatives to legislate against what is called 'female genital mutilation'. The author compliments this examination with a consideration of the scene of torture exposed in images from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Rogers argues that the modes of fascination and excitement that accompany scenes of torture and female circumcision betray the fantasy of a political condition against which the subject of liberal law is imagined; this is subjectivity in a state of non-mutilation, non-prohibition or, in a psychoanalytic idiom, non-castration. To support the fantasy of this subject, the mutilated subject, the authors suggests, is rendered as flesh cut from the democratic nation state, deserving of only selective human rights, or none at all.

Scenes of violence and incisions into the flesh inform the demand for law. The scene of little girls being held down in practices of female circumcision has been a defining and definitive image that demands the attention of human rights, and the intervention of law. But the investment in protecting women and little girls from such a cut is not all that it seems. Law's Cut on the Body of Human Rights: Female Circumcision, Torture and Sacred Flesh considers how such images come to inform law and the investment of advocates of law in an imagination of this scene. Drawing on psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory, and accompanying ideas in political theology, Juliet Rogers examines the language, imagery and excitement that accompanies recent initiatives to legislate against what is called 'female genital mutilation'. The author compliments this examination with a consideration of the scene of torture exposed in images from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Rogers argues that the modes of fascination and excitement that accompany scenes of torture and female circumcision betray the fantasy of a political condition against which the subject of liberal law is imagined; this is subjectivity in a state of non-mutilation, non-prohibition or, in a psychoanalytic idiom, non-castration. To support the fantasy of this subject, the mutilated subject, the authors suggests, is rendered as flesh cut from the democratic nation state, deserving of only selective human rights, or none at all.

The UN Human Rights Treaty System: Law and Procedure examines the core UN human rights treaties that form the framework of international human rights law. This book describes the development of each treaty, along with the substantive rights enshrined in them, and analyses the nature and functions of their respective monitoring bodies. Topics discussed include periodic reporting procedures, investigative procedures and individual complaint procedures, with supporting case law analysed in great detail. This practical and indispensable reference resource: - Guides you through the structure of each of the core UN human rights treaties, explaining both the substance of the rights and the various procedures which may be drawn upon to implement those rights - Explains in detail how each of these procedures may be accessed, as well as critiquing their operation in practice - Covers a wide number of areas including civil and political rights generally, racial and gender-based discrimination and the prohibition against torture - Discusses proposals for reform of the UN human rights treaty monitoring system and the implications of these reforms The UN Human Rights Treaty System: Law and Procedure has been written for practitioners and students of human rights law in the UK, Ireland and abroad. Government bodies, non-governmental organisations, national human rights institutions and charities will also find this a great resource.

In this 2006 book, Conor Gearty confronts the challenges that may destroy the language of human rights for future generations.

The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has garnered significant media, political and legal attention in the UK. Despite criminalising the practice in 1985, FGM continues undetected and often underground. This monograph provides a unique insight into survivor's attitudes towards FGM as well as the criminalisation of a culturally embedded practice. Some of the narratives might be deeply uncomfortable as women sympathise and even uphold the practice, whilst others viscerally describe the trauma and pain that they endured. Digging deeper into efforts to eliminate FGM, professionals at the coalface of the end FGM movement provide their views on whether the practice can ever be eradicated. This volume explores the key themes that emerged from the well-publicised criminal trials in the UK and the barriers that prevent the law from working effectively. One of the obstacles that are examined further is the legal double standard in criminalising FGM whilst permitting female genital cosmetic surgery, which incites hostility and anger amongst FGM-performing communities. Whilst ending FGM is imperative, this enlightening work reflects on the unintended consequences that stem from punitive efforts to criminalise a practice performed by often Black, migrant communities. Women describe their experiences of racism and Islamophobia in a context of police surveillance and hyperbolic media narratives. In an effort of encouraging the abandonment of FGM, this publication highlights the need for the law to be accompanied by education initiatives at a grass-root level.

An analysis of the UN human rights treaty bodies, their methods of interpretation, their effectiveness and issues of legitimacy.