Politics of Human Rights: A Discourse on the Theory and Practice of Human Rights

Politics of Human Rights: A Discourse on the Theory and Practice of Human Rights, now in its second edition, is Duve Nakolisa’s masterpiece on the high-level politics and double standards that characterize international human rights law monitoring and enforcement. The author brilliantly argues that human rights are the common heritage of mankind and not, as some claim, solely Western inspired precepts. He exposes the fallacies in the philosophical assumptions of Western human rights theorists and diplomats, proffering evidence of the universalism of human rights in the indigenous thoughts and traditions of African and Asian peoples, among others. He said that such conceptual universality notwithstanding, there should be, in practice, tolerance for plural models to allow states permissible latitude to domesticate some aspects of the international bill on human rights in line with their diverse cultures and traditions. He gives a blow-by-blow, rigorously factual account of a session of the UN Commission on Human Rights at a crucial time of its history to portray the politics and selectivism typical in its operations.

Politics of Human Rights has been widely praised by many informed commentators. Ebenezer Babatope, author and social critic hailed the book as “An intellectual masterpiece… The objective evaluation of the issue of human rights in Africa and the developing nations. A book of the season.” International human rights lawyer, TOS Benson, SAN, said, “It is amazing that all the views expressed and conclusions reached, with the poignant facts he adduced, support my own views of the matter…a revealing book which I think should be a vade mecum to all.” Dr. Muhammed Tabi’u, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Abuja, situated the relevance of the book within the context of the Vienna Convention: “The global community conceived a vision at the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 hoping to universalize human rights. The subversion of that vision, through the politicization of human rights, is described brilliantly in Duve Nakolisa’s critical exposition. Concise… A significant contribution.”