Abstract

States are free to choose their own means for implementing international human rights obligations. Western states usually rely on legal means, in particular legally enforceable individual rights. However, law does not enjoy a monopoly. The receptor approach assumes that, especially in Eastern and Southern states, international human rights obligations can be implemented more fully through local social institutions. It identifies domestic social institutions capable of meeting human rights standards and assumes that, where these social arrangements fall short of human rights obligations, they will have to be improved and reformed. This should be done as much as possible with the help of home-grown remedies to foster the cultural legitimacy of international human rights standards.

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