Whose right is it anyway?: equality and conflicts between state policy, culture and rights in South Africa

Abstract

The contemporary debate between liberalism and multiculturalism is often cast in the mould of a conflict between the rights of individuals and the cultural claims of groups. In modern liberal democracies, the state has to negotiate between these two frequently incompatible claims, and formulate policy and legislation in such a way that is both sensitive to the claims of groups, while still protecting the rights of vulnerable persons, in particular women and children, within those groups.