Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)

Award/Publication Date

5-1-2018

Advisor/Supervisor

Professor Ethan J. Leib

Committee Members

Professor Chi A. Mgbako; Professor Raymond A. Atuguba

Abstract

Most African states are legally pluralistic. As a result, the universalism and cultural relativism approaches to the implementation of international human rights norms in African domestic settings are largely unsuccessful because they do not factor in legal pluralism. A better approach appears to be the cultural pluralism approach. This approach has fared well in Ghana’s implementation of the international convention on the rights of the child. A thorough examination of this case study reveals that the cultural pluralism approach requires an additional step to make it more effective in domesticating international human rights norms. This dissertation identifies this third step: the creation of an interface between state and non-state law for international law and customary law to meet; examines its robustness, and tests it against the implementation of disability rights in Ghana as a measure to improve those set of rights in Ghana.

Share

COinS