This article puts forth an analutical framework aimed at highlighting and furthering the potential for emancipation of human rights politics in the current context of globalization and fragmentation of cultures and identities. Given that human rights can (and have been) used to advance both hegemonic and counter hegemonic forms of globalization, it is imperative to specify the conditions under which they can be used as a counter hegemonic tool, that is, one that furthers the agenda of subaltern cosmopolitanism. I argue that this entails the recognition of the incomplete nature of every culture and the need to engage in cross cultural dialogue, which i call "diatopical hermeneutics"Finally I consider a set of conditions under which diatopical hermeneutics is likely to lead to a cosmopolitan discourse and practice of human rights.