Minority Rights: On the Importance of Local Knowledge

A small set of crucial human rights are valued, at least in theory, by all governments in the contemporary world. Rights against torture, murder, genocide, and slavery are simply not contested in the public rhetoric of the international arena. Of course, gross violations occur “off the record,” but in such cases the task of the human rights activist is to expose the gap between public allegiance to rights and the sad reality of ongoing abuse. There is not much point deliberating a...