Is The Legalization of Human Rights Really the Problem?

At the same time as the globalization of human rights increased in pace and scope after the Cold War, there has been a growing sense of the shortcomings of human rights 1 for addressing legacies of mass atrocities. Critics have noted how human rights commissions have often failed to document past violence adequately (Buur 2001; Mamdani 1996; Mertus 2000; Ross 2003; Wilson 2001), and how establishing fundamental human rights in new constitutions has done little to address the pressing socio-economic needs of the population (Mamdani 2000; Panizza 1995; Shivji 1991,2000).