The construction of identity and rights: race and gender in Brazil

Abstract

The recognition of individual identity as multilayered and circumstance based leads to a shift from a theory of general rights to a theory of specific rights connected to structural social change. General rights, such as the right to health and the right to work, must be interpreted according to the circumstance of differently situated women, so that rights are specific enough to ensure that they are actually enforced for different groups, including groups that, due to discrimination, are made invisible to the law. In this sense, the different circumstances that help develop the identity of women, Black women or poor Black women in Brazil will be studied to give specific content to general rights recognised by Brazilian law and by International human rights law.

An Analysis of the Adequacy of Protection Afforded by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Situations of Armed Conflict

“…Bearing in mind that expressions are likely to affect obligations under international law [125], the CRPD's approach to disability marks a landmark change from using "disability" alone to one that joins it with the expression "persons "as per Articles, 2, 3(d) 4 of CRPD (1). That change is of fundamental importance in the present context for the following reasons: firstly, the change signifies that the CRPD's language makes individuals with disabilities constitute a recognisable group of people identifiable from their disabilities while in post conflict context such recognition and identity seem to be over shadowed by more emphasis on the presence of war related disabilities that might be consequential to the collateral damage often associable with armed conflict related wounding [126][127][128][129][130] (paragraphs 23, 58).…”