Cultural harm and engaging the limits of a right to cultural identity

This article critically examines the limits of a right to cultural identity. Some have argued that human rights norms require a reformulation in the light of cultural diversity. One element of this approach will be examined: the right of exit, as it appears to provide an instrument by which legislative authorities can largely avoid the politically and conceptually fraught challenge of normatively evaluating traditions and practices. By analyzing the effects of domestic abuse, this article will argue that a human rights-based evaluation of rights to cultural identity cannot rely entirely upon the following principle: that an individual’s lack of overt opposition to key defining and binding relationships provides a secure basis for a rights-based response to cultural identity. The article will demonstrate that some domestically-abused women’s ability to exercise their right of exit has been effectively disabled by the highly restrictive identities which their communities accord to them.