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4 - The significance of cultural differences for human rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2013

By
Alison Dundes Renteln
Edited by
Cindy Holder  and
David Reidy
Cindy Holder
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, British Columbia
David Reidy
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
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Summary

Introduction: whether culture represents a challenge to human rights

In the twentieth century, international human rights standards emerged in the global arena. There was tremendous excitement about their potential to protect individuals from atrocities and to help guarantee a decent quality of life for all. From the beginning there were questions about the philosophical foundations of human rights. In particular, there has been considerable attention paid to the challenge culture poses to the validity of international human rights. Because human rights notions were seen as being derived from the Enlightenment tradition, this seemed to imply that human rights are “Western” or “Eurocentric” (Pannikkar 1982). If, in fact, they did reflect a cultural bias, that might undermine the legitimacy of this new regime.

During the drafting of the initial human rights instruments collectively known as “the International Bill of Rights,” delegates came together from diverse countries. Insofar as there was representation from different parts of the world at the meetings, one might have thought this would mitigate the impact of such a critique. Nevertheless, the challenge from cultural relativism remained.

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Type
Chapter
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Human Rights
The Hard Questions
 , pp. 79 - 99
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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