Universal Rights
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Universal Rights
Universal rights are a set of moral and values applicable to all members of mankind transcending culture, time, and place. Everyone, no matter race, gender, or preference, is entitled to the basic freedoms necessary to live and practice free will. A common understanding of these principles will create a basic level of respect between all peoples and nations necessary for peaceful international interaction. This is the concept behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was a monumental shift in the right direction. The global enforcement of these values is the first step toward the betterment of mankind. Once fundamental rights are secured equality can begin to permeate on a global scale. The eradication of social poverty will create a higher level egalitarian growth and development. The spread of universal rights has not gone uncontested. There are is an opposing school of thought that believes that right, morals, and values are relative and should be determined by individual cultures.
To fully understand the basis and justification of universal rights, the opposing viewpoint, cultural relativism, must be examined. Cultural relativists believe that universal values, a set of global overarching, do not exist. Rather they believe there is a diversity of perspectives with great variations between places and peoples. These variations have evolved into the unique cultures that make up the world. Morals and rights exist only within the contest individual cultures. It should be up to the cultures themselves to preserve and protect their own values and morals.
Relativists feel that the requirement to enforce values t from outside the contest of the culture can be detrimental to the culture itself with possibility that it can worsen the existing human rights conditions (Delaet). This idea can be the applied to the veil in Muslim culture. Some women feel the veil is a means of protection allowing them to participate freely in the outside world. This is quite the opposite of most westerners interpretation the view the veil as a sign of repression. (Algeria article)
Western cultural misinterpretation is significant to the basis of the relativist argument. They see the West’s actions as an attempt to fix something that is not broken and in turn actually worsening the conditions. They claim that identifying differing values as wrong is ethnocentric and an attempt to “…assert the superiority of their own culture and value to non-Western cultures and values rather than respecting cultural diversity (Delaet).” This accusation is taken further, alleging that the attempt to spread a system of universal rights is a continuation of colonialism, which used Western moral as a justification for violence and control.
The universal rights movement is a step towards the future not the past. The global spread of universal right and values is incomparable to the history of colonialism and imperialism as alleged by relativists. How could Article 3, “ Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the security of person,” or Article 4, “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms,” be a continuation murder and exploitation of the past (Declaration of rights). This is not attempt to insert Western values but fundamental values that are necessary to all. These values are the essential for a peaceful functioning society. Finical assistance can help a nation who does not exist under such basic values.
It is important to note that I do acknowledge articles 1-27 of The Universal Declaration of Rights are universal. They are for the most part “Universal” and necessary, however there are a few exceptions that are not basic needs, instead constructs of Western thought. One example is Article 17 Part 1, “Everyone has the rights to own property alone as well as in associations of others.” This can be traced back to the philosophy of John Locke who declared the “natural rights” to life, liberty and property. The right property is not a necessary and can be considered a Western construct. This being said, The Universal declaration of Human Rights, is the working of the United Nation, which is multinational organization consisting of members from all over the world and is the most significant documents to the movements. The document was created post WW2 and thus should viewed under such context. It would be advisable for revisions to be made.
One of the major difficulties in the debate between universalism and relativism lies in that it is centered on the concepts of values and morals. These ideas are philosophically rooted and therefore can be argued to no avail. However, as identified by Fernado Teson, the moral relativist argument is self-undermining (delaet). The relativists claim