The universality of human rights has been extensively discussed since their inception, and most often in terms of contrasting viewpoints of universalism versus relativism. The present volume seeks to get beyond the polarization and to ask instead "in which sense human rights are universal. The point of departure is that human rights must be universal in some sense, or they are nothing. It is meaningless to talk of human rights if they are not applicable to all humans, unconditionally. From each of their vantage points the authors explore the notion of universality in a joint effort to maintain the fundamental aspiration of the human rights documents without sidestepping the question. The authors come from such diverse fields as law, history, philosophy and anthropology, and between them they contribute in complementary ways to the never-ending quest for universality, correlating with a view of all humans being equal in dignity and rights. They are also keenly aware that the human rights project is unfinished and must always be forcefully argued for.

1. The Quest for Universality: An Introduction; K. Hastrup. 2. Conviction and Critique: Addressing the Sceptic; T. Brudholm. 3. Legal and Functional Universality; C.E.H. Kjeldsen. 4. To Follow a Rule: Rights and Responsibilities Revisited; K. Hastrup. 5. Universal Human Rights: Between the Local and the Global; M. Kj/rum. 6. Instand Paradigm Shifts: Globalizing Human Rights; Z. Skurbaty. 7. The African Charter: Contextual Universality; L. Lindholt. 8. Legal Pluralism in the Human Rights Universe; I.E. Koch. 9. Limits to Universality: Questions from Asia; H. Thelle. 10. World Religions, World Values: In Dialogue with the Bible; E.M. Lassen. 11. Universal Human Rights: An Unfinished Project; G. Ulrich. Notes on Contributors. Index.