ABSTRACT
Introduction The recognition of the rights of women in the face of customs and structures which may frustrate or oppose these is essentially a claim to the universal equality of people. This, as has been indicated in the previous chapter, may require a reappraisal of certain traditions, systems and institutions. However, it is not only the rights of women which face challenges in the region. This chapter considers the experience of human rights where identities are being redrawnand freshly examinedas a result of international influences. In particular this chapter looks at discrimination and notions of freedom. All individuals belong to a range of groupings which taken together will make up a person’s identity, which in turn will determine the extent of his or her fundamental rights. Although the rights may be expressed as being individual rights in many cases they are derived from group rights and if the individual is part of that group then those rights will apply. As has been indicated previously in this book, the relationship of individual and group is of considerable importance in Pacific societies. In some cases, a person may change status and group membership either at will – for example, by joining a church or leaving a church; by change of circumstance – for example, by ceasing to be a child and becoming a woman; or involuntarily, for example by becoming a refugee or prisoner. Theremay also be circumstances inwhich a person’s status is changedwhere individual consent to the change of circumstances may be less important than other considerations, for example, initiation and circumcision for boys or arranged marriage for girls. In some cases, however, a person cannot change identity – or at least not easily, for example, the ethnic group to which he or she belongs, the colour of his or her skin or the place in which he or she was born.
