Cultural relativism Essay

The issue of universalism of man dutys vs. ethnical relativism has been a focal calculate of heated debate for the last some(prenominal)(prenominal) decades. As globalization is bringing nations together, cultural differences and peculiarities become increasingly more salient. The planetary Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the fall in Nation in 1948, lists several categories of justifiedlys that the deals of the world tolerate agreed to repeat and recognize.These rights include the right to life, liberty and nourishive c everyplaceing of person the right to be informal from slavery and servitude the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, in world or degrading treatment or imperious arrest, detention or exile the right to marriage with the drop come on and full admit of the parties the right to own property the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religionm and the right to make up, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable condition s of work (United Nations, 1948).These rights argon universally recognized because they protect the dignity of an individual and the basic genial institutions which ar present in approximately every culture. However, their universality is still contested, as human rights as laid out in the international covenants ignore the traditions, the religions, and the socio-cultural patterns of what utilize to be called the Third universe of discourse (Tharoor, 1998, para.1). For example, in some African societies, group rights have always taken precedence over individual rights, and political decisions have been make done group consensus, not through individual assertions of rights (Tharoor, 1998, para. 4). There are numerous instances when traditional practices conflict with universal human rights.For example, female genital mutilation, practiced by some African and Asian people for cultural and communal reasons, translates into irreversible long health risks for females (UNICEF, 20 08). The debate whether human rights are universal is perennial. It is important to recognize, however, that an effective fabric for the protection of human rights can be developed only using a bottom-up approach, giving the broad livelihood of a society where human rights are promoted.References Tharoor, Shashi. (1998). Are Human Rights Universal? World Policy Journal, 16(4). Retieved June 11, 2009, from http//www. worldpolicy. org/journal/tharoor. html UNICEF. (2008). womanly Genital Mutilation/Cutting. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from http//www. unicef. org/protection/index_genitalmutilation. html United Nations. (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from http//www. un. org/en/documents/udhr