Human rights and gender violence: translating international law into local justice

Human rights law and the legal protection of women from violence are still fairly new concepts. As a result, substantial discrepancies exist between what is decided in the halls of the United Nations and what women experience on a daily basis in their communities. Human Rights and Gender Violence is an ambitious study that investigates the tensions between global law and local justice. As an observer of UN diplomatic negotiations as well as the workings of grassroots feminist organizations in several countries, Sally Engle Merry offers an insider's perspective on how human rights law holds aut

Introduction: Culture and transnationalism -- Creating human rights -- Gender violence and the CEDAW process -- Disjunctures between global law and local justice -- Legal transplants and cultural translation : making human rights in the vernacular -- Localizing human rights and rights consciousness -- Conclusions.