Topic 2 questions Flashcards
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights seeks to impose a western view of Human Rights on non-western societies” To what extent do you agree with this criticism?
Religion: UDHR v CDHRI, UNDHR allows for freedom of religion or secularism, CDHRI poses that any attempt to dissuade people from Islam is inadvisable.
counter: freedom of religion still allows for islam, it is not imposing a western view.
individualistic: many of the UDHR clauses adhere to rights of the individual, right to freedom of religion, right to food and water, all classified in terms of the individual. western societies are individualistic, eastern societies tend to be collectivistic.
Counter: there is an argument to be made that western societies are not altogether individualistic. E.g., organization of the EU which focuses on collective good. If western is not inherently individualistic then the individualistic UDHR is not inherently western.
Democracy: the UDHR does prompt many ideals of democracy, freedom of choice of individuals, freedom from oppressive government, right to subjection of fair and even law. Democracy is, to an extent a western concept of society. and to suggest it in a universal declaration which applies to both western and eastern nations would seem to impose a western view over eastern societies.
counter: democracies do appear to be the safest society ‘No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.”
–– Amartya Sen, Indian winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics’, proposal of their implementation may come from an impartial, non-western concern from right to life rather than a goal to impose westernism.
Compare and contrast an institutional approach to the ratification and enforcement of human rights with non-institutional approaches.
NGO vs
IGO/GOV
Evaluate the claim that a national or regional approach to human rights is more effective than a global approach.
Cultural relativism: UDHR v CDHRI shows how a regional doctrine applies more to certain cultures and ideals
counter: the CDHRI is non-secular, a regional approach can be prone to bias whereas a global approach is more likely to be impartial. Also cultural relativism can be harmful e.g. LGBTQ+ in Uganda
Protection of sovereignty: realism, states should take care of themselves and not be subject to global order to protect sovereignty
Counter: humanitarian intervention in Cote Di’iviorie, result of human rights abuses, led to enhanced sovereignty
Local or regional is more approachable: people can more easily voice concerns with a level closer to individual or community than a level of global. E.g. cooperation HRW letter to the ACHR about HR abuses in Eritrea
counter: important to consider that HRW acted as an amplification, perhaps peoples voices still would not have been heard in this situation, valid to suggest that local or regional is not more approachable and is the same as global, just less powerful.
