AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

17 Intersectionality and Human Rights: Law, Theory and Praxis 201
white, middle-class interests, thus concealing the fact that the identity
and social positioning of Native American women result in a different
experience of domestic violence. The voices of these women are silenced,
thereby disguising the need for discourses and services which
appropriately address diversity.
SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND HUMAN RIGHTS THEORY AND PRAXIS
Intersectionality (as a concept) has much to offer human rights theory
and praxis, particularly at the international level. The current fragmentation
of conventions and human rights instruments such as treaties and
treaty bodies, as well as humanitarian organisations and other role players,
is due to their attempts to address one “problem” at a time. Thus,
we have a multiplicity of human rights conventions, with each treaty addressing
one particular issue, such as racism, gender discrimination and
women’s rights, child rights, refugees, and more. People are not onedimensional,
however. A woman is not only a woman – she is positioned
(and she positions herself) in multiple identities of race, ethnicity, class
and sexual orientation, among others. For example, women’s experiences
of racial or ethnic discrimination often differ radically from those of
men.
In addition, despite all these instruments, human rights violations occur
on a daily basis – in homes and places of work, in prisons, and so on.
While human rights (in both theory and practice) can be used creatively
and effectively, some have argued that this “impressive regime of laws
do not protect women” (Murungi 2002: 33). There is some truth to this.
Both human rights law and practice treat human beings as though we
have linear identities. The reality of structural intersectionality means that
we need instruments and theories which deal appropriately with the
complexities of being a human being and the continuities of socially constructed
identities, which are multiple and relational. Intersectionality, as
a concept, offers us this potential. Human rights instruments, such as
international treaties, as well as interventions in conflict situations, can be
strengthened, improved and made more effective through the application
of intersectionality.
The realities of intersectionality are lost among our attempts to categorise
– people, experiences, data, almost everything. These categories,
and the resulting linear identities they create, are neat and relatively easy
to work with. The application of the law is made less complex if we