The ethics of enforcement: human rights-based policing in duty-oriented societies

• Mahmood, Nafiz Absar ^[1]
  1. [1] Lund University

     Lund University

     Suecia

     
• Localización: Deusto journal of human rights = Revista Deusto de derechos humanos, ISSN 2530-4275, ISSN-e 2603-6002, Nº. 17, 2026 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Religions, diversities and human rights: Public policies for democratic coexistence), págs. 121-150
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.18543/djhr.3533
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • This article examines the tension between rights-based policing and duty-based morality. Liberal democracies, concerned for individual autonomy, procedural safeguards, and encroachment by the state, continue to create tensions with morality rooted in relational duty and collective ethics. In particular, non-Western societies often conceptualize justice in terms of social harmony and duty, representing justice shaped by a cultural context. Through multidisciplinary theory and comparative cases, this article shows how the imposition of rights-based frameworks results in cultural resistance. The paper discusses informal justice systems. Therefore, on the one hand, it explores the promise and peril of hybrid justice models. Accordingly, on the other hand, it proposes a more sophisticated or nuanced conceptualization that respects cultural contexts, without undermining the universality of core human rights protections.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Abou El Fadl, Khaled. 2001. Speaking in God’s name: Islamic law, authority, and women. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
  • Brink, Lizzie F. 2025. «What it’s like to live out your faith as a Christian in Egypt.» ADF International. April 9. Accessed October 21, 2025:...
  • Agnes, Flavia. 2011. Family law: Family laws and Constitutional claims. Vol. 1, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  • Ahmad, Jawad, and Georg von Wangenheim. 2021. «Access to justice: an evaluation of the informal justice systems.» Liberal Arts and Social...
  • Alemika, Etannibi E. O. 1999. «Police community relations in Nigeria: what went wrong?» Paper presented at the Seminar on the Role and Function...
  • Al-Sharmani, Mulki, ed. 2013. Feminist activism, women’s rights, and legal reform. London: Zed Books.
  • An-Na’im, Abdullahi A. 1990. Toward an Islamic reformation: civil liberties, human rights, and international law. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University...
  • Auda, Jasser. 2008. Maqasid Al-Shariah as philosophy of Islamic law: a systems approach. Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought.
  • Baxi, Pratiksha. 2010. «Justice is a secret: compromise in rape trials.» Contributions to Indian Sociology 44: 207–33.
  • Bell, Daniel A. 2006. Beyond liberal democracy: political thinking for an East Asian context. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Bentwich, Norman. 1948. «The legal system of Palestine under the Mandate.» Middle East Journal 2: 33–46.
  • Berger, Maurits, and Nadia Sonneveld. 2010. «Sharia and national law in Egypt.» In Sharia incorporated: a comparative overview of the legal...
  • Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) 2010. State of Maharashtra v. Gopal Sakru Binjewar and Others. Criminal Appeal Nos. 577–578 of 2009.
  • Bowen, John R. 2007. Why the French don’t like headscarves: Islam, the state, and public psace. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Bowling, Ben, and Coretta Phillips. 2007. «Disproportionate and discriminatory: reviewing the evidence on police stop and search.» The Modern...
  • Cairo Misdemeanor Court. 2020. Judgment on domestic violence case. Cairo, Egypt.
  • Chan, Janet B.L. 1997. Changing police culture: Policing in a multicultural society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Chirayath, Leila, Caroline Sage, and Michael Woolcock. 2005. Customary law and policy reform: Engaging with the plurality of justice systems....
  • Claassens, Aninka, and Sizani Ngubane. 2008. «Women, land and power: The impact of the communal land rights act.» In Land, Power & Custom,...
  • Commins, David D. 2015. Islam in Saudi Arabia. London: I.B. Tauris.
  • Cook, Michael. 2000. Commanding right and forbidding wrong in Islamic thought. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Davis, Donald R., Jr. 2010. The spirit of Hindu law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Donnelly, Jack. 2013. Universal human rights in theory and practice. 3rd ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Dumont, Louis. 1980. Homo Hierarchicus: the caste system and its implications. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Elias, Taslim O. 1956. The nature of African customary law. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Englund, Harri. 2006. Prisoners of freedom: human rights and the African poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Factor, Roni, and Yoav Mehozay. 2023. «Deeply embedded core normative values and their relationship with perceptions of legitimacy.» Policing:...
  • Fayez, Said. 2025. «Converts to Christianity in Egypt: Crises without end.» Coptic Solidarity, October 9. Accessed October 21, 2025: https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2025/10/09/converts-to-christianity-in-egypt-crises-without-end/.
  • Fikentscher, Wolfgang. 1991. «Review of harmony ideology.» The American Journal of Comparative Law 39: 454–58.
  • Finnis, John. 1980. Natural law and natural rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Furr, Ann, and Muwafaq Al-Serhan. 2008. «Tribal customary law in Jordan.» South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business 4: 17–34.
  • Galanter, Marc. 1981. «Justice in many rooms: Courts, private ordering, and indigenous law.» The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial...
  • Griffiths, John. 1986. «What is legal pluralism?» The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 18: 1–55.
  • Hallaq, Wael B. 2004. The origins and evolution of Islamic law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hoque, Muhammad R., and Muhammad M. Zarif. 2020. «Traditional Shalish system for rural dispute resolution in Bangladesh.» IIUC Studies 16:...
  • Human Rights Watch. 1999. Broken people: caste violence against India’s ‘untouchables’. New York: Human Rights Watch.
  • Human Rights Watch. 2012. ‘I had to run away’: The imprisonment of women and girls for ‘moral crimes’ in Afghanistan. New York: Human Rights...
  • Jauregui, Beatrice. 2016. Provisional authority: police, order, and security in India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Johnstone, Naomi. 2015. Tribal dispute resolution and women’s access to justice in Jordan. Amman: WANA Institute.
  • Kaime, Thoko. 2004. «Review of customary aw in South Africa, by T.W. Bennett.» Journal of African Law 48: 271–273.
  • Kamali, Mohammad H. 2008. Shari’ah Law: an introduction. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
  • Kane, Pandurang V. 1930. History of Dharmashāstra. Vol. 1. Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
  • Kant, Immanuel. 2012. Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kaste, Martin. 2018. «For local cops in Germany, no talk of ‘Sanctuary cities’.» NPR, July 30, 2018.
  • Klein, George C. 2024. «Real policing: an exploration in police legitimacy.» Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 39: 390–401.
  • Konoorayar, Vishnu. 2014. Old wine in new bottle: Access to justice in India and effectiveness of Gram Nyayalayas. January 15. Accessed April...
  • Locke, John. 1988. «Two treatises of government». In Cambridge texts in the History of Political Thought, edited by Peter Laslett. Cambridge:...
  • Lubin, Timothy. 2007. «Punishment and expiation: overlapping domains in Brahmanical law.» Indologica Taurinensia 33: 93–122.
  • McConkie, Daniel S., Jr. 2024. «Promoting and reforming Kenya’s customary justice systems in criminal cases.» Emory International Law Review...
  • Mendelsohn, Oliver, and Marika Vicziany. 1998. The untouchables: subordination, poverty and the State in modern India. Cambridge: Cambridge...
  • Merry, Sally E. 1988. «Legal pluralism.» Law & Society Review 22: 869–896.
  • Mokgoro, Yvonne. 1998. «Ubuntu and the law in South Africa.» Buffalo Human Rights Law Review 4: 1–6.
  • Morning Star News. 2025. «Two Christians in Egypt released after three years in jail.» February 4. Accessed April 27, 2025: https://morningstarnews.org/2025/02/two-christians-in-egypt-released-after-three-years-in-jail/.
  • Mutua, Makau W. 2001. «Savages, victims, and saviors: The metaphor of human rights.» Harvard International Law Journal 42: 201–245.
  • Nwauche, Enyinna S. 2010. «The Constitutional challenge of the integration and interaction of customary and received English Common Law in...
  • Oomen, Barbara. 2005. Chiefs in South Africa: Law, power & culture in the post-Apartheid Era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Panning, Hunter A. 2024. «Ubuntu: Uniting hearts and transforming public safety for a better tomorrow.» Police 1, June 16. Accessed April...
  • Parekh, Bhikhu. 2001. «Rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory.» Ethnicities 1: 109–115.
  • People’s Action Party. 2019. «Efforts to protect and defend Singapore’s social cohesion.» PAP News, April 11.
  • Phillips, Naomi. 2017. «Challenges to police reform in post-apartheid South Africa.» On Politics 11(1): 53-68.
  • Pkalya, Ruto, Mohamud Adan, and Isabella Masinde. 2004. Indigenous democracy. Nairobi: ITDG–Eastern Africa.
  • Ramose, Mogobe B. 1999. African philosophy through Ubuntu. Harare: Mond Books.
  • Rani, Bittoo. 2014. «Sharia Courts as informal justice institution in India.» International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education...
  • Republic of Indonesia. 2006. Law No. 11 of 2006 on the Governing of Aceh. Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.
  • Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1968. The social contract. London: Penguin Classics.
  • Sharma, Arvind. 2000. Classical Hindu thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Shan, Wei. 2014. «China’s initiatives in ‘social management’.» In Governing Society in Contemporary China, edited by Lijun Yang and Wei Shan,...
  • Shell-Duncan, Bettina, Zhuzhi Moore, and Carolyne Njue. 2017. The medicalization of female genital mutilation/cutting: What do the data reveal?...
  • Sidahmed, Abdel S. 2011. «Review of Islam and the secular state.» Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 29: Article 3.
  • Skolnick, Jerome H. 1993. «Justice without trial.» In Police innovation and control of the police, edited by L. Green, D. Weisburd, and C....
  • Tamanaha, Brian Z. 2011. «The rule of law and legal pluralism in development.» Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 3: 1–17.
  • Teltumbde, Anand. 2010. The persistence of caste: The Khairlanji murders and India’s hidden apartheid. London: Zed Books.
  • Tu, Weiming. 1993. «Confucianism.» In Our religions, edited by Arvind Sharma, 141–227. San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco.
  • Tutu, Desmond M. 1999. No future without forgiveness. New York: Doubleday.
  • Tyler, Tom R. 2003. «Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law.» Crime and Justice 30: 283–357.
  • United Nations General Assembly. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Paris: United Nations.
  • Van der Veer, Peter. 2004. «The production of Hindu-Muslim violence in contemporary India.» Contemporary Sociology 33: 483–484.
  • Walker, Samuel. 2014. The new world of police accountability. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
  • Wilson, Richard A. 2001. The politics of truth and reconciliation in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wortley, Scot, and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah. 2011. «The usual suspects: Police stop and search practices in Canada.» Policing and Society 21: 395–407.