Universalism of Human Rights Vs Cultural Relativism

 

Universalism of Human Rights

Every person deserves basic things like air, water, and everything from nature that we don't pay for and isn't given to us by any leader. This is something everyone needs to live. Imagine if we didn't have these things - we couldn't survive without them. But is just surviving important? No, it's not. Besides eating and breathing, let's talk about modern life. We need things to live with respect and self-worth. What's respect? It's feeling valuable and good because each person is important in a society. The word "society" means a group of people living together, and one important thing in a society is rules called laws. Laws help keep order in a society. Usually, some people make and enforce laws in a society, like a king or a government. The government makes laws to help its citizens. They also create rules and freedoms for people, and these have punishments if not followed. But what about the rules that give rights to every person, no matter where they live?

Let's talk about rights and responsibilities. Rights give people some power in a society. If rights give power, then responsibilities are like paying back for those rights. They go together - if someone breaks another person's rights, they're also breaking their duty. Some types of rights could be everyone should be treated the same and have equal chances. So, they should also not take away someone's chance for fairness. Another type could be everyone has the right to live and not be hurt, and they also have rights to health, education, and food. If we look at India, which is the world's biggest democracy, they give their citizens rights to life, fairness, food, education, and health. Other rights can also be given by governments or kings. But these mentioned rights are for everyone, no matter where they live, because everyone deserves them just for being human. There's a document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that says what these basic rights are. Just like how the Indian Constitution protects the rights of Indian people, the UDHR protects the rights for every person. If some rights are for everyone, they should be for all people and not given by a leader but by something bigger - like the universe.

Cultural Relativism

Cultural Relativism is quite different from Universalism in Human Rights. It says that rights change based on different cultures and can be seen in different ways. As we talked about before, every person should have basic things like air, water, and natural resources, which are needed everywhere and not given by anyone in charge. But rights are not the same - they don't apply everywhere automatically. The papers that say we all have these rights are made by people, not by nature or the world. People understand these rights because of their culture and personal experiences, which is why they are written down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Cultural relativism says that we should think about rights in the specific cultures they come from. For example, ideas like the freedom to say what you think or treating men and women equally might be seen in different ways depending on where you are. This idea tells us to think about the ways people see things differently in different places. It also shows that people have different ideas about what rights are important, depending on where they live and what they believe.

For instance, when we talk about LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, and rights for native peoples, we often talk about cultural relativism. This shows us that different societies have different thoughts about these topics, based on their own ways of life and beliefs. This diversity teaches us that human rights are complicated and we need to be careful when we talk about them. We should respect how different cultures see things while also making sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally.