Edinburgh University Press Human Rights from Community: A Rights-based Approach to Development (Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights)

Despite its predominance, human rights discourse, for all its claims and potential to challenge deep-rooted injustice, continues to develop without significant reference to community. It is therefore no surprise that poverty, exclusion and lack of participation continue to thrive and are symptomatic of the failings of the dominant state- and market-based human rights approaches alike. This book presents community - a fundamental source of hope, relief, support and comfort to individuals' lives in cities and villages across Africa - as a better alternative, capable of inspiring the poor and the vulnerable to organise themselves democratically to claim ownership of the processes that determine their human rights.