Can a knowledge community situated in an African village create and advance human rights practices beyond love thy neighbour principle?

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework to create successful human rights practices using the platform of a knowledge community. The challenges which face human rights promotion are both theoretical and practical and will require community collaboration if they are to succeed. Theoretically, for the framing of human rights to be relevant to Africa, it has to be situated in a combination of international conceptions of local and international knowledge. However, efforts to formulate international perceptions on democracy are complicated because of the apprehension that they are seen as trying to supersede existing traditions outlook and the lack of clarity about what exactly they mean in situ. Local knowledge provided by a community of practice provides an avenue in which effective human rights can operate. The conclusion drawn is that human rights organisations are more likely to succeed if they collaborate with the local community in co-constructing a shared human rights vision.