Human rights and culture: Incompatibilities

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights designed by the General Assembly of the United Nations organization is an ideal which men strive to attain.

Nevertheless, when one looks keenly at some of its articles, this declaration is incompatible with the fact that the entire human race is composed of diverse cultures and visions of the world.

In its first article: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

This is a utopia. All humans do not have equal dignity and rights. Social stratification has made it such that the society is made up of diverse groups of people who interact in their various strata, everyone accepting his / her position and acting as organs and playing their role for the smooth functioning of the body (society).

A child born in Cameroon (Africa) doesn't have the same rights and obligations in his society as a child born in the USA. The environmental context imposes upon us all humans to design our cultures to polish our environment.

In article 5: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

If coercive measures are not taken in society to act as "the sword of Damocles", then human society will be in total anarchy. PUNISHMENT therefore is a necessary evil.

This declaration has to be reviewed. All men are different and have different visions of the world and NO one has the right to impose his vision of the world and of mankind to the others..even if he feels it's for the good of all.

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Comment by Keith Hart on June 6, 2013 at 3:32pm

The question whether the differences observable in the world are natural and inevitable or arbitrary and replaceable. If the latter, what standards might be used to build a world society in which all people are free and equal. You call this utopian (as it is) and evoke reality in support of how things are. But do we want the world to remain as it is? Don't we want it to be better? If th elatter, how do we go about thinking of what we would like to become?

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