Frågan om människovärde : En kritisk studie av mänskliga rättigheter i rasismens och migrationens tidevarv
Sammanfattning: The starting point for this project is that human rights stand in fundamental opposition to racism. The reason for this is that human rights, as they have been developed within the framework of the United Nations, are founded upon the recognition of every person's equal value as a human being – the principle of human dignity. Today, however, it is possible to find several instances where human rights are being invoked in ways that legitimate and strengthen racism.The aim of this dissertation is to examine this dual relationship between racism and human rights. First, it examines the issue of how different understandings of human rights affect their capacity to make visible, counteract, and protect against contemporary forms of racism. Second, it considers how human rights should be used and interpreted in order to remain compatible with the principle of respect for human dignity. This will help to make visible contemporary forms of racism.The study, which aligns itself with a critical tradition within the field of ethics, addresses six case areas: 1) an exclusionary human rights system; 2) commodification of human rights; 3) human rights and the criminalization of migration; 4) human rights and differentiated citizenship; 5) devaluation of human rights language; and 6) legal curtailment of human rights.In order to examine the ambivalent relationship between racism and human rights, two theoretical frameworks are used: theories of contemporary racism, and theories of human rights. The study pays particular attention to human rights in relation to racism directed against migrants, which is contextualized by consideration of the situation of so-called "African migrants" in South Africa and "socially vulnerable EU citizens" in Sweden.The study makes visible an ambivalent attitude towards human rights in both South Africa and Sweden. On the one hand, human rights are being used as a way to render invisible or even strengthen racism. On the other, human rights are being used to combat injustice and bolster the status of at-risk groups as human rights subjects. A political struggle over the meaning of human rights can thus be seen to be taking place. One central aspect of this struggle concerns the differing understanding of legitimate human rights subjects. The connection between human rights and citizenship which is made both by current human rights systems and in various human rights cultures has the result that human rights are treated as interchangeable with civil rights and the rights of the citizen. This underpins existing racialized practices and increases the danger that human rights will be used to maintain privileges. This dynamic is exacerbated in unequal societies since injustices are legitimized by human rights which take on the form of commodities. The principle of human dignity serves to challenge such relationships.
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