Book review of Elsa Stamatopoulou, Cultural Rights in International Law (Martinus Nijhoff: Leiden/Boston 2007)

Does Man have a right to culture? Can people freely express their own cultural distinctiveness, be it in a language, physical appearance, or a specific set of norms and values? Should the state intervene to support and protect cultural rights of individuals, minority groups, or even the majority? And what role can the international community play in this endeavour to further cultural rights? Can a careful and balanced scrutiny of cultural claims contribute to a constructive ‘dialogue among civilizations’? Does culture necessarily clash with other human rights? Notwithstanding early case law and the formal entry of cultural rights into the human rights catalogue after World War II, cultural rights have been neglected for a long time and have been less developed than civil, political, economic, and social rights. The book under review gives an excellent and systematic overview of the existing law and practice concerning cultural rights and, by offering answers to the questions mentioned above, surely contributes to the development of legal doctrine.