Regulating Gender Violence in Postcolonial Societies: Is Legal Pluralism a Problem for Human Rights?

Abstract This article is an examination of the pluralistic context in which human rights laws operate. The existence of unequal but mutually constitutive legal and normative orders in diverse societies raises complex issues for human rights practitioners. As the language of rights acquires worldwide currency, questions increasingly arise as to their relationship with other normative orders and systems of justice. While the impetus for legal pluralism may be multifaceted and complicated, this article focuses exclusively on the human rights dimension in Africa. Its main objective is to explore the nature of the relationship between gender equality and legal pluralism. In plural settings, the conflict between the need to preserve minority culture and the protection of rights forms the basis for how legal reforms have failed to address issues affecting women and girls. To ensure a consistent application of human rights norms, States must acknowledge that there are severe limits and resistance to formal laws within society, that there are spaces where its authority is not absolute and that ‘legal pluralism is a fact’. Failing to do this results in the development of new forms of ‘identity politics’ that continue to silence and subordinate women and girls.