FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 26 rights and freedoms of every individual regardless of race, sex, language or religion57”. Similarly, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), 1948, include the proclamation that all human rights and freedoms are to be enjoyed equally by women and men without distinction of any kind. But, despite the existence of numerous human rights instruments proclaiming principles of equality and non-discrimination, women are denied these so called “protected” rights. Therefore, over the last two decades the phrase ‘women’s right as human rights’ has been used to explore, assert and redress the gap between stated international commitment to equality for women and the actual experience of women58. Saying ‘women’s rights are human rights’ is not claiming special rights for women. On the contrary, it is a call to recognize that women have same basic human rights as men59. But international human rights law fails to recognize women even when they suffer the same human rights abuses as men. Also, it fails to recognize the specific gender dimension of abuse that characterizes the denial of rights to women. The publicprivate constitution of human rights law whereby State action is required before there is human rights violation and whereby private actors are beyond its scope has been critiqued as gendered. Research has exposed the public / private divide with regard to domestic violence, violence of war, and dowry deaths to name a few60. A second critique has focussed on the hierarchy of rights (though removed in theory, is actually practiced) where civil and political rights enjoy a central position as violations within the human rights system61. In contrast, social, economic and cultural rights, and group rights are more difficult to enforce and less accepted as judicable minimum standards. Given that women’s advancement is clearly linked to social, economic and cultural status, the lesser the status of women in the society, the lesser is the protection given to women’s rights. A third critique has been the denial of rights to women on the ground they will attack ‘cultural’, ‘personal’ or ‘religious’ views. The charge of cultural relativism has been leveled in an attempt to diminish state accountability62. Theocratic States for example have challenged the universality of human rights asserting that rights must be seen as culturally 57 58 59 60 61 62 United Nations Charter, Art.1. Christine Bell, “Women’s Rights as Human Rights : Old Agenda in New Guises”, in Angela Hegarty and Siobhan Leonard (Ed.) Human Rights : An Agenda for the 21st Century, Cavendish Publishers, London,1999,p 20. Supra note 26, p. 12. C.A. Mackinnon, “On Torture: A Feminist Perspective on Human Rights” in K. Mahoney (Ed.) Human Rights in the Twenty First Century, p.21. Supra note 53, p. 21. H. Steiner and P. Aiston, International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics and Morals, Oxford University Press, London, 1996, pp. 166-255.