An Emerging Challenge for Justice Sector Aid in Africa: Lessons from Mozambique on Legal Pluralism and Human Rights

ISSN： 1757-9619

Source： Journal of Human Rights Practice, Vol.4, Iss.3, 2012-11, pp. : 289-311

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Abstract

This article discusses the role of justice sector aid in sub-Saharan Africa, and its implications for legal pluralism and the implementation of human rights at grass roots level. Based on a case study in Mozambique, the article argues that development actors can potentially play a crucial role in contributing to the implementation of human rights within the structures of dispute management that most people have access to in that country and in sub-Saharan Africa more generally. First, the article provides a theoretical framework on legal pluralism and human rights. Second, it outlines the Mozambican landscape in terms of human rights and access to justice. Third, it examines how justice sector aid in Mozambique deals with these challenges in practice. The concluding discussion demonstrates that it is vital to scrutinize how legal pluralism and human rights are conceptualized in aid interventions. It shows the drawbacks of policies and interventions that adopt a state-defined conception of legal pluralism and a one-off, unidirectional approach to the promotion of human rights. Finally, these strategies are contrasted with a number of initiatives that embrace an empirical understanding of legal pluralism and dialogical methodologies in relation to human rights.