Human Rights - Essay Example

Human rights Are human rights truly universal? Are the rights in the UDHR too western-biased? Should we try to simplify and reduce the number of human rights?
Human rights are not truly universal. The rights differ in their application all over the world, depending on the conditions of the various nations. Article 26, for example, asserts, “Everyone has the right to education.” However, many African children in developing countries fail to access education, given the conditions in their respective countries.
The rights in the UNDHR cannot be termed as too western-biased as they take a general form of humanity. These rights apply to humankind without bias of race or color, which further proves they are not too western –biased. In addition to these, the power possessed by people of any nation determines whether the people exercise their rights, or not.
Simplifying and reducing the number of human rights would not work to the advantage of humanity. The human rights as they are can be easily understood by any human being, hence no need for further simplification. On the other hand, reducing the number of human rights would omit important issues, which stand central to the dignity of man. Therefore, adjustments to the human rights would lead to greater harm than good.
Think about the major human rights issues listed on module 4, slide 10. What do you think is the biggest human rights challenge of our time? Why?
In my opinion, female genital mutilation accounts for the biggest human rights challenge of our time. Girls and women are denied their rights through the violence involved in the practice. The act also denies them their physical, as well as mental integrity. This follows the fact that people still practice it in the secrecy of their homes. The various cultures, especially in Africa and the Middle East that advocate for this practice do it without raising an alarm to the outside communities. The girls and women involved in the act take an oath of secrecy; hence, most people do not report the vice. The secrecy emanates from the fight against the many non-governmental organizations, and governments that seek to abolish the act (Snarr & Snarr, slide 8). Consequent to these, efforts aimed at eradicating such abuse of human rights continues to fail, which makes female genital mutilation the biggest human rights challenge of our time.
Works Cited
Snarr, Michael & Snarr, Neil. “Human Rights”. Power point presentation. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers (2012). Print. Read More