Are Human Rights Truly Universal - Essay Example

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 the 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. Human rights as they are can be easily understood by any human being, hence is 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 human rights would lead to greater harm than good. Think about the major human rights issues listed in 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 continue to fail, which makes female genital mutilation the biggest human rights challenge of our time.