HRID

Present : Abraham Catherine (INALCO), Carvajal Liliam R. (Institut des Hautes Etudes de l'Amerique Latine), Coulnecheff-Eloi Philippe (INALCO), de Graverol Gaël (INALCO), Designe Jean (Juristes-Solidarités), Dubois Jean (LAJP), Eberhard Christoph (LAJP), Gbago B. Georges (LAJP), Gincel Anne (LAJP), Huyghebaert Patricia (Juristes-Solidarités), Jouan Marie-Pierre (LAJP), Le Roy Etienne (LAJP), Martin Boris (Juristes-Solidarités), Nké Eyebe Véronique (LAJP), Parmentier Ingrid (LAJP), Soykan Muazzez (INALCO) and Zelmar Stéphane (INALCO).

The session was divided into three parts. Christoph Eberhard started by sketching out during about twenty minutes what the HRID working group could be like. Then the different participants presented themselves and expressed their expectations and perspectives for the working group. Finally we broached the concrete steps to be made and the technical problems to be solved.

The aims of the HRID working group:

The aim of the HRID is to create a forum for meeting, dialogue and research on the issues related to Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue. It has its roots in research led over the last fifteen years within the Laboratory of Legal Anthropology of Paris (LAJP - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Juridique de Paris). Its aim is to to canalize the Laboratory's different streams of research by encouraging team work and by offering a setting in which they can develop in a continuous working dynamics. Besides the HRID will try to make an effort of communication towards other research centers or organisms challenged by the issue of Human Rights and intercultural dialogue in order to enter into a dialogue with them. It is thus not only reserved to researchers of the LAJP but is open to all, researchers or practitioners, who feel challenged by our dynamic.

(1) The HRID seeks to approach Human Rights' problematics in an intercultural perspective. Indeed, it seems nowadays necessary, to reconsider human rights and their universality, in their theory as well as in their practice, in the light of intercultural dialogue since they appear more and more as a requisite than as an acquirement. They are not de facto implemented universally (the ideal of a " Rule of Law" is far from being achieved everywhere on the planet) and their conceptual universality is questioned more and more by the different cultural traditions (see the Vienna Conference on human rights of 1993). It seems therefore necessary to reflect upon the reasons of this non-universality and to think about alternatives that could allow the universal acceptance and "implementation" of the ideal that they embody for us, that is of a harmonious human life in mutual respect, sharing and peace. In this perspective to start a genuine intercultural dialogue on Human Rights seems unavoidable. Indeed, it is only that way that it seems possible to enrich the Western universalism by the other cultural traditions and to permit Human Rights to become a symbol truly shared by the different cultures and allowing each of them to live and embody it according to their own ways.

The anthropology of law, as practised at the LAJP, whose fundamental requirement it is to always refer the observed practices and discourses to the underling systems of thought and to the logics which generate them, and which is thus dialogical by nature, seems to offer a promising perspective to think about Human Rights in a perspective of intercultural dialogue. Indeed dialogue is not solely an exchange of words but a journey through different logics which leads us to the core of different perspectives on our "common humanity" of which the different logics are a reflection. The dialogical process is therefore fundamentally diatopical, that is to say that it seeks to understand the different logics and practices from their place of origination (from the inside) and is not limited to an observation of the "other" solely from one's own point of view (from the outside and therefore often giving only a simplistic and even grotesque view of him/her). The dialogical approach is aimed at taking the "other" seriously and at treating him/her as a subject and not merely as an object, permitting thus to discover the "Other" behind the "other". It allows us to open ourselves up to our different ways to live and to be "human" and to shed light on the implicit prejudices stemming from our own (non conscious) choices. It seems thus possible to create a space of sharing where we can truly appreciate our differences and can mutually enrich ourselves while avoiding the pitfalls of either universalism or relativism.

(2) Above all the HRID wants itself to be a place of sharing, exchange and dialogue as defined above. It is through meeting regularly and gradually learning to know each other better that we will be able to enrich our own perspective by the others', while learning gradually to see the reality of "Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue" partly through their eyes. But if the aim of the HRID is to allow us to share in a process of research it is also to communicate our dynamics and findings to others. Therefore it aims at establishing links with other research centers or other organisms (ex: NGOs) which may be interested. Indeed, it is only by this effort of communication that our processes will be able to become knowable and known, which will then make them practicable and let's hope put into practice.

Round table :

The round table allowed us to discover each other and our respective researches. It revealed the diversity of our researches. The geographical areas of research cover Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. The topics of research are, in an anthropological perspective, connected to the general issue of Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue, to the rule of law, to immigration, to children's and woman's rights. Etienne Le Roy insisted on two fundamental axes for our research : to deepen the research on possible foundations of a real intercultural dialogue on Human Rights and to reflect upon the relations between Human Rights and "cultures of peace". Indeed in the early 90ies, UNESCO has recognized an anthropological approach to the foundations of human rights as main axis of its pedagogy for the realisation of a "culture of peace". But for the moment "anthropology of human rights" and "culture of peace" remain vague concepts which need to be worked on. Nevertheless since a few years, Etienne Le Roy holds a lectures on the anthropological foundations of Human Rights at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Jean Designe of the association Juristes-Solidarités highlighted the enrichment that legal anthropology could provide to the work of NGOs. Legal anthropology can allow NGOs to enlighten their practices and thus to give them some theoretical foundations. In certain cases they can allow NGOs to escape vicious circles generated by the reproduction of ways of thinking which are not always adapted to the grass roots' realities. He also highlighted the importance of communication and suggested to go beyond the mere organization of seminars and to head towards real collaborations between researchers of the Laboratory and the NGO world so that theory and practice can mutually enrich each other. He proposed to start a tight collaboration between Juristes-Solidarités and the HRID and the LAJP in general. It is Boris Martin of Juristes-Solidarités who will be our main partner for this project.

Perspectives and technical details :

A research on the origins and the evolution of Human Rights within the LAJP is now being carried out and order is being put in the LAJP's archives. From the 07/01/1997 on the HRID will meet every second Wednesday from 18h00 to 19h45 in the library of the LAJP. Researchers of the Laboratory will expose the state of their respective researches there. Some outside lecturers will also be invited. The actual seminars will begin at 18h30. Between 18h00 and 18h30 we will have the opportunity to meet in an informal way. All seminars will be recorded and a report will be written. We will perhaps have the possibility to create an internet site. We have a rack at the secretariat of the LAJP that will be able to serve as "mail box ". Now we just need to find a logo and to organize ourselves to share the various expenses (for the photocopies, for the cassette purchase and for the postal expenses). Last but not least let us not forget that in 1998 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrating its 50th birthday. Let's see what we can do for that occasion.

Happy new year to all of you!

Christoph Eberhard