Is the "universal declaration of human rights" even possible, given the diverse values, religious beliefs, and cultural practices around the world? I'm skeptical.
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from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights available at:
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
[...]
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
[...]
Surely there are, around the world, people who would take issue with these two articles based upon their cultural practices and religious beliefs.
Since their explanations are almost certain to be built upon some sort of reference to traditions within a religious structure - the slave owner, for example, expounding on how "in my culture", slave owning is quite alright and the expression of a deep super-symmetry with cosmic law in which the owner is natural master and the slave natural servant - should we then say the declaration's ideas are of little or no use as a universal standard, given the planet's rich diversity of cultural habits and religious beliefs?
Let's say human rights activists within a country (home grown, not Western imports) use the declaration as a touchstone as they seek to change their society. Are they wrong to do so because some or all of the declaration's ideas run counter to various traditions?
.d.