And second, I've been working on a paper that was due this evening. Granted it was a little paper, and probably not worth all the time or energy I spent on it, but I found that my views on the topic had changed since the last time I had articulated them, so I kept starting over, trying to properly express what I have come to believe. I'm posting the paper below. Please feel free to comment or give me feedback; this is a topic I care about, so I'm very open to hearing other ideas.
The Universality of Human Rights
In order to discuss the universality of human rights, I feel that it is important to give at least a rudimentary idea of what is supposed to be understood by the term “human rights.” At the most basic and, arguably, most important sense, human rights refer to what is needed for survival and to ensure that people retain there inherent dignity. As societies continue to grow and develop, however, the range of human rights broadens and begins to include many rights, ideas, concepts beyond what is needed in order for people to live and even thrive. While I believe that some human rights - namely those which ensure a basic standard of living - are universal, others I feel need to be viewed and evaluated within cultural or societal context and be allowed to develop naturally.
My opinion regarding the universality of human rights is formed both by my Catholic upbringing and also by my studies in college. The Catholic Church’s places great importance on social justice, with the dignity of the human person being the first of the Catholic Social Teachings. Because of this belief and teaching I feel that access to clean water, food, clothing, shelter, and health care are rights that should be universal and unquestioned. Without any one of these rights, a person’s sense of dignity is damaged and their ability to not only thrive but even survive day to day is lessened. Any other human rights are secondary, and need to be seen as second tier goals by the international groups working to promote human rights. This assertion comes from a pragmatism that the study of international politics has bequeathed to me.
When fighting battles in the arena of interstate politics, progress is only ploddingly made. Too many independent cultures, beliefs, peoples and societies are involved to allow fast development. Instead of recognizing this, and acknowledging the pace at which our own societies developed over centuries, the western countries in control of international organizations alternately request and force non-western countries to “liberalize” and “democratize” at lightning speeds. This tactic does not serve any of the interests involved. Rather than jump-starting economic development or gaining political rights for citizens of poorer countries, these policies more often tend to foster anti-western sentiments and keep the poorest individuals in these countries living in poverty. This is where the academic ideals of all the rights we enjoy in western society being universal fails. Rights such as women’s equality, democratic elections, protesting, and other higher level freedoms need to be adopted and instituted when individual societies are ready for them and request them of their own governments. These rights need to be instituted from the bottom up and not the top down.
There are countless examples of countries where western powers and the UN setup elections in a country and the people actively elect a dictator. Then we ask that the country liberalize and allow political opposition, when the electorate chose the dictator because they promised food, water and heath care. Obviously, the citizens in that country have more pressing needs than the right to protest, or equal education for all citizens. Once those basic universal rights have been gained, then people are more willing to look for increased freedoms and demand them of their government. That is the time for the international community to step back in and help set up systems of education, grow a civil society that holds the government accountable, work towards gender equality.
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