Blog Post 3 - An Essay: Universalism, Cultural Relativism and Human Rights

Being inspired by the readings on universalism and cultural relativism regarding human rights, I did more research and ended up writing on essay using the below quote as stimulus.

The heart of the idea of human rights … is this: Every human being, simply as a human being, is sacred (is “inviolable”, has “inherent dignity”, is “an end in himself” [sic], or the like); therefore, certain choices should be made and certain other choices rejected; in particular, certain things ought not to be done to any human being and certain things ought to be done for every human being.

-          Michael J. Perry, The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, page 43.

The above quote supports the arguments of universalism. It essentially asserts that ‘every human being’ should receive certain rights preventing and entitling ‘certain things’ because we are human beings. Supporters of universalism claim that human rights are the rights that every individual has by virtue of being human. They are viewed as equal because people “are or are not human beings, equally” [1 p282]. These are also seen as inalienable rights as being human is an unchangeable part of nature, and not something that can be gained or lost (Donelly, 2007). On the other hand, arguments against the above quote fall in line with that of cultural relativism whereby no human rights principles can be universal in application owing to the diverse range of moral and ethical values across different cultures. The moral framework of another culture can only be judged fairly from within and attempting to do so with an external set of values results in the arrogance of assuming the superiority of ones’ own culture to that being judged. (Shestack & Jerome, 1998).

The practice of child marriage in Yemen is a source of ongoing debates regarding human rights. There is no minimum age for marriage in Yemen, and in September 2013 an eight year old girl bled to death on her wedding night after being raped by her husband who was over 40 years old. There have been many documented cases of the psychological and physiological harm caused to girls from child marriages (HRW, 2013). In 2009 there was a bill moved in Yemen to change the minimum age to 17 but was blocked by Sharia Law Muslim activists.

Child marriage results in the violation of many articles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In the UDHR, some of the articles broken as a result of child marriage include 2 (discrimination based on gender in regards to enjoyment of UDHR), 7 (discrimination based on gender in regards to enjoyment of protection from the law), 10 (not entitled to a fair hearing), 13 (no freedom of movement), 16 (no right to choose who one will marry) and 26 (no right to access education). In regards of the quote provided, ‘certain things’ such as forcing marriage upon a minor can be considered an act or ‘certain thing’ that should not be done to these children, simple because they are ‘human beings’ and deserve to preserve their ‘inherent dignity’. This is a universalistic stance, which argues against the practice of child marriage due to the multiple violations of human rights. Most of these violations are first generation human rights (civil and political), which refer to ‘certain things’ not being done to the individual whereas ‘certain things’ being done for the individual refer to second generation rights (economic, social and cultural) and third generation rights (solidarity).

In the book Reconceptualising Children’s Rights in International Development, the concept of ethic and ethos is introduced to model the argument between universalism and cultural relativism. Ethics refers to politico-philosophical values and ethos referring to implicit and embodied values. Ethos would be a local morality or system of values that are expressed in a culture’s practices and are recognized as legitimate. Whereas an ethic is a rationally structured accumulation of explicit values and in this case represents Western views. The arguments stemming from an ethic result in a new ethos being imposed on a system of views. Ethics are universal and collide with local ethos and cultures which are dismissed as “irrational worldviews based on traditions and naïve representations” [4 p144]. The ethic is then supposed to “enlighten” the irrational ethos. In this case it is the UDHR, ICCPR, Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that will bring light to the Yemeni ethos of child marriage. (Hanson, Olga, 2013).

However this can be also viewed as the West extending its culture onto the rest of the world, resulting in the loss of dignity of other cultures. Cultural relativists argue that all cultures “are morally equal” [2 p15] and that no human rights are absolute (Shestack). In other words, they believe that the Western views are indeed ethos arguments rather than ethics. The Yemeni ethos justifies child marriage in their culture because parents give consent to the marriage, the practice is seen as a tradition and social norm, a girl is seen as mature as soon as they reach puberty and because Sharia Law permits it (as prophet Muhammad PBUH did so) [5]. If universalism is an ethos and so are Yemeni views, both arguments are equal and completely valid from a cultural relativistic view.

There are quite a few instruments involved in this human rights issue including the UDHR, ICCPR, CRC, CEDAW, Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956), Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1964) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The mechanisms include committees for these instruments including the Committee on Economic and Social Rights, Human Rights Committee, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Because of the lack of “cultural homogeneity” [7 p24] in Asia, there are no regional instruments protecting human rights.

If human rights are universal, then whether everyone enjoys these rights is another issue. Many countries, including Yemen, refuse to implement and grossly violate many internationally recognised human rights. A set of global human rights relies upon the implementation of internationally agreed upon human rights, however, the enforcement of legally binding human rights is left almost entirely up to sovereign states to “implement human rights in their territories as they see fit” [1 p80]. However, the above instruments empower the above mechanisms at the request of state parties or of persons to investigate reported violations of internationally recognised human rights by a particular state. In accordance to the findings made by working mechanisms, binding instructions may be issued to certain states. If these measures do not stop human rights violations then sanctions may be used, including force, if authorised by the UN Security Council (Stoilov, 2001). However this only occurs in extreme cases such as genocide and does little prevent the child marriage practice in Yemen.

Many of these human rights treaties represent customary international law. The following of these laws differ widely across different states. In the UK, customary international law is a definite part of common law whereas in Australia, it is only a contributing source of common law. Likewise, in Yemen, customary international law is more of an “influence rather than substance” [6 p205]. States can accept international law obligations by ratifying these treaties without it having a substantial impact upon domestic law. Thus I believe that the instruments and mechanisms available to child marriage disallow and prevent the widespread practice of child marriage, however it does not completely eradicate it, allowing some cultures to continue the practice.

Most resolutions are non-binding recommendations from a universal point of view, argued from the point that simply because an individual pertains to the human race, they have a claim to certain basic rights allowing them to live their life in dignity in support of the above quote. However cultural relativism argues against this with a “set of doctrines that imbue cultural relativity with prescriptive force” [1 p291] and the norms of the instruments are presented as having “no normative force in the face of divergent cultural traditions [1 p291]. Child marriage in Yemen cannot be evaluated by these standards, and instead can only be fairly judged by the standards of the culture in question.

Although there is a lack of bindingness regarding these instruments and mechanisms, many of the resolutions guarantee tremendous influence on the development of domestic law. The pressure put on the Yemeni government to stop child marriage is increasing. Finding solutions to problems regarding human rights issues depends on the character of the state. The potential to create an appropriate environment for the protection of human rights still lies with the sovereign state regardless of the ongoing debate between universalism and cultural relativism. International mobility presents challenges in preventing child marriage, however does allow for the development of new legal systems to address this and should not be underestimated.

References:

1.      Donelly, J. “The Relative Universality of Human Rights” . Human Rights Quarterly 29.2 (2007)

2.      Shestack, Jerome J. “ThePhilosophic Foundations of Human Rights.” Human Rights Quarterly 20, no. 2 (1998)

3.      Human Rights Watch. (2013). Yemen: End Child Marriage. Available: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/10/yemen-end-child-marriage. Last accessed 23rd Jan 2014.

4.      Hanson, Karl; Nieuwenhuys, Olga Reconceptualizing Children's Rights in International Development : Living Rights, Social Justice, Translations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (2013). 144-145

5.      Jon MC. (2013). Aisha: child-marriage and Menarche.. Available: http://www.faithfreedom.org/aisha-child-marriage-and-menarche/. Last accessed 23rd Jan 2014.

6.      Stoilov, Yanaki B. “Are Human Rights Universal?” Human Rights in Philosophy and Practice , England, 2001

7.      Tomuschat, Christian, “Human Rights Between Idealism and Realism” Vol XIII/I, The Collected Courses of the Acadmeny of European Law, Oxford Press, 2003

8.      Michal Polacek, “International Human Rights Law”, Lög 111F, Iceland, Faculty of Law University of Iceland, (2012)

9.      Sutherland, Elaine E (2012). The Future of Child and Family Law : International Predictions. London: Cambridge University Press. 212

Blog Post 2 - Different Religions

Initially, I believed that a Global Citizen would just accept others regardless of their nationality or skin colour. As I continued my learning of global citizenship I realized that a global citizen is someone who accepts others regardless of ANY differences to themselves, including religion, disability or any other quality.

And so I thought about the arguments, disagreements and bloodshed that humans have over their differences. These differences that have separated us and caused loss of life are not just due to nationality, but also includes religion. Many people respect other nationalities but there are still individuals that have religious intolerance.

Whilst reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi, the main character describes his childhood. He was a born Hindu, but during his life was exposed to Christianity and Islam and eventually began practicing all three religions simultaneously. He believed in all three religions in his heart and formed great connections with the communities of all three religions (till they found out at least).

His religious journey begins when he enters a Church for the first time. As Pi was Hindu born, his reaction to a foreign religion is not surprising. A Priest recounts the story of Christ to Pi and he is left in disbelief.

" What? Humanity sins but it's God's Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me, "Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another lion killed a black buck...... The situation has become intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided that the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if i feed you to them.
"Yes Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up"
"Hallelujah, my son"
"Hallelujah, Father"

What a downright weird story. What a peculiar psychology" " 

Over the next few days Pi is consumed by the teachings of Christianity and finally opens his mind. He requests the Priest to make him a Christian and it is done. Later on, Pi meets a baker who teaches him Islam.

Eventually he speaks to his mother, " I would like to be baptized and I would like a prayer rug .... I want to pray to Allah. I want to be a Christian". To which his mother responds with confusion and condemnation. Eventually the religious leaders of his community (Imam - Muslim, Priest - Christian, Hindu - Pandit) meet with Pi to discuss his actions and to force him to decide upon one final religion. Pi responds with "Bapu Ghandi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God".

All three are caught off guard by his response and the Priest responds thoughtfully,

 "I suppose that's what we're all trying to do - love God".  

If the humans involved in wars and fights over differences in religions realized this and instead focused on their common love for God, the world would be a much better place. I have decided that each year I will learn about one new religion in detail. I won't necessarily follow it's teachings, but will become a student of that religions teachings for that year.

I am a Muslim.

Blog Post 1 - Persecution of the Falun Gong

(Was supposed to be posted weeks ago for the first block but accidentally saved as a draft instead)

On my way home from a day at Uni I boarded the bus at central as usual and got out my laptop to study during the upcoming journey home. The traffic was extremely bad and whilst traveling through the city (on George St) the bus was moving at a snail pace through heavy traffic. As we approached town hall I looked out and noticed a couple of banners and Chinese people approaching strangers with clip boards. Since we weren't moving much, I took in the scene in more detail.


The banners depicted Chinese people being tortured with various devices with the heading "Persecution of the Falun Gong". It seemed that the people running the awareness campaign were trying to get signatures to support their cause. As I had just completed some work for Global Citizenship, I immediately opened up Google and began researching the Falun Gong.

From my research I learnt that the Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) was nothing but a peaceful and spiritual discipline introduced in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. The direct translation of Falun Gong is Law Wheel Practice as it promotes the virtues of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in conjunction with medication and slow qigong exercises. It is an advanced self cultivation practice of the Budha school.
The spiritual/religous movement gained a lot of momentum and by 1999 was estimated to have in the ten millions of followers. Over 10 000 peaceful Falun Gong protesters gathered outside Bejing to peacefully request legal recognition and freedom from state interference.

 

What followed was the nationwide crackdown on Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party which intended to eradicate the existence of Falun Gong. It was declared a heretical organization, that threatened social stability. Many Falun Gong practitioners were abducted and practicing Falun Gong was outlawed. Hundreds and thousands of innocents have been imprisoned extra judicially with an extreme violation of basic human rights. Many followers were sent to "Re-education Camps" where guards attempted to torture followers out of their beliefs. The torture included live organ harvesting, beating with electric rods, burning with hot metal rods, breaking bones, intensive toil (20 hours a day of hard forced labour), sexual abuse, force feedings, starvation, beatings and much more.

 

A brief introduction to Falun Gong can be found here "http://en.falundafa.org/introduction.html"

A list of torture techniques used at ONE of the re education facilities can be found here "http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2013/7/10/140957.html"


After learning all this, I was already on the M2 and needless to say, did not feel like studying anymore. I spent the rest of the bus ride thinking about what I had just learnt.