The Universality and Relativism of Human Rights

The principle of the inherent dignity of human beings, equal and inalienable rights which are declared within the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have a universal nature of the rights; it is originally adopted from the common values as human beings. As Antonio Cassese writes, there are two characteristics of the UDHR which are the universality of human rights and the consent of its member states. Derivation of those rights has been codified in many human rights treaties and all state parties to those treaties acknowledge a duty to respect the universality of human rights of their citizens in all conditions without exception. However, the universality of human rights has been challenged by the relativism of human rights. Can the relativism override the universality of human rights?

            One of the prominent among the critics of universality today is the proponents of so-called “Islamic values”. In this paper, I will focus on a Muslim organization in Indonesia, MUI. MUI has interpreted human rights as challenge to universality. MUI has provoked that Indonesian human rights laws on civil and political rights as well as economic, social and culture rights are contradicted to Islamic values. However, the proponents have not explained which values are contradicted to the Islamic values. The opposition groups of the proponents, the modern Muslim scholars and culture experts, explain that those human rights are not contradicted to Islamic values. They affirm that all Indonesian and Islamic people have right to life, right to have family, freedom to adopt religion, and no one shall be subjected to unlawful acts as well as slavery.  

The proponent tries to refuse the universality of human rights because they are a product of Western culture. However, among moral and cultural diversity, these aspects discuss a human who possess freedom and equality in dignity and rights regardless of region, sex, religion, or others and they are protected under human rights laws. The human rights are individual rights not tied to a group, community, nationality or any other membership. The proponent seeks to override the universality of the human rights concept in its territories. Some authoritarian regimes have misused the relativism to escape from international obligations to respect and protect the human rights. The basic idea of refusing the universal human rights is that they want to keep the power to control and pressure their citizens by legitimate reasons and cultural acceptance which are relativistic in theory.

The relativism cannot reject to apply the basic human rights concepts. Indonesia has ratified those human rights conventions and adopted the human rights systems. Citizens are growing in concern and demand that their rights should be also protected. The proponent and the opposition groups have conducted dialog to build the bridge between the concept of Islamic value and the universality. They discuss that the notion to change the human rights law systems are unlawful and domestic jurisdiction should full apply and implement the concept of universality. 

            In conclusion, by eroding the concept of the universality of human rights, we may increase the number of human rights violations in many Asian and Islamic countries. Provided that tolerance of any kinds of reasons for refusing to protect human rights is allowed, it can be maintained that racism, sexism, religious intolerance, imperialism, and authoritarian regimes will continue to succeed in the world.   

Bibliography

1.     Campbell, Penna, Beyond Universality and Relativism, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 1, Mar 1998, pp 7-27

2.     Renteln, Relativism and the Search for Human Rights, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 90, No. 1, Mar 1988, pp. 56-72

3.     Dallmayr, Asian Values and Global Human Rights, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 52, No. 2, April 2002, pp 173 – 189

4.     Human Rights and the Debate Between Universalism & Cultural Relativism, http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~sclavier/research/hrdebate.pdf