Bahdi, Reem

The author argues that international human rights scholars and advocates, unlike their domestic counterparts, have paid little attention to the role that context and culture play in shaping the meaning of a given text. This author therefore suggests that international human rights scholars should become familiar with the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer because Gadamer expounds a theory of language that recognizes the authority of international texts while accommodating variations in interpretation between national jurisdictions or various cultures.

This article explores distinct yet interrelated justifications offered by national court judges in the United States and Commonwealth jurisdictions in support of their references to international human rights law. In addition, the author discusses the concept of transjudicialism and its potential to transform the women’s human rights movement. Transjudicialism refers to the emerging trend in national and supranational courts to conceive of themselves as members of a larger judicial community, one that transcends national boundaries.

This article examines the judicial use of international human rights law by Canadian courts with a particular focus on the potential to establish economic and social rights to promote women's equality. The article begins by discussing economic and social rights under international law and the regional law of the Inter-American human rights system. The author proceeds to identify the five distinct judicial approaches to international law.