The
research draws a distinction between the legal
regulation of sexual speech and of hate speech - two
very different kinds of speech, with two very different
kinds of laws.
Hate
speech laws addresses a specific harm -
promotion of hatred towards different racial, caste and
religious groups.
The
dimensions of hate speech and the handling of such
speech by the courts, has become an increasingly
sensitive issue in the context of the contemporary
communal environment and the ascendance of the right
wing.
Sexual
speech laws
or
the legal regulation of sexual speech are designed to
reinforce traditional and highly conservative sexual
moralities. The Centre examines how interventions
by right wing political forces, human rights groups or
feminist groups on issues such as sexual harassment or
obscenity compromise the right to free speech,
especially to sexual speech, and the implications of this
move on the rights of sexual subalterns.
Culture,
Media and Censorship
Sexual speech and sexual
expression, whether in the form of Hindi film songs,
beauty contests, advertisements, or satellite
broadcasting, constitute zones of contestation where
culture is invoked either
to legitimize or delegitimize sexual speech. The
call to censor sexual representations has come
from progressive and conservative groups alike.
This call also implicates deeper issues of
nationalism and cultural authenticity that reinforce an
us/them, west/rest divide.
The Centre examines the different meanings of
culture that inform debates on speech and expression,
how culture is used to justify censorship and the
implications of these cultural moves on media today.
Right to Freedom of
Religion
& Secularism The
right to freedom of religion is of particular concern in
the context communal politics and the assertion of the
Hindutva agenda. This right is about the protection of
the rights of religions minorities, the cornerstone of
democracy. The meaning accorded to this right depends, in
part, on the meaning of secularism. Secularism in India
is based on the equal treatment of all religious. The
meaning of secularism is contingent on the meaning that
is given to the right to equality. If equality means
treating everyone the same, then it is a call for
minority groups to give up their special rights – to
education, personal law, and special educational
institutions. If equality is based on a substantive
model, that is, redressing the disadvantage that groups
or communities have historically endured on the grounds
that they are different, then temporary special measures
are justified to accomplish that end.
The
Centre’s research in this area has focused on
discrimination against religious and sexual minorities
and women.
Right
to Sexual Autonomy
·Sexual
Subalterns:
Sexual Rights Sexual
wrongs have been the core focus of contemporary feminist
engagements with law in India. Rape, sexual assault,
sexual harassment and obscenity have all been the
subject of law reform.
As important as these issues may be, the Centre
also draws attention to limitations of this strategy.
There has not been a similar focus on the articulation
of sexual rights. Sexual
rights claims are often confronted by competing claims
about Indian cultural values, sexual morality, the
family and violence against women.
The articulation of a sexual rights strategy
within a postcolonial context is important to develop.
It is distinct from the way sexual rights and issues of
sexuality have been articulated in other contexts which
have been influenced by a psychoanalytic perspective. ·
The
Centre is also engaged with the Sex Workers' Rights
movement in India, and is an active ally of the National
Network of Sex Workers (NNSW). It facilitates conceptual
and strategy meetings amongst the sex workers community.
Its research examines how the treatment of sex workers
is based on dominant sexual ideology and cultural
essentialism. It also examines the rights claims of sex
workers, how they contest assumptions about sexuality
that inform the law, expand the right to sexual speech,
and expose the discrimination they experience based on
sexual stigma · There
is little analysis of the complex intersection between
sexual behaviour, HIV prevalence and culture in Indian
research and scholarship. CFLR focuses on analyzing how
the epidemic impacts on the women's rights agenda,
especially sexual speech and expression, as well as
trying to influence the development of successful human
rights intervention policies and programmes in this
area. ·
Postcolonial Approaches to International and Human Rights Law
Freedom of speech and expression
Right
to Equality