Global human rights and cultural values
Individuals are born into a specific culture and cultural values, which are as diverse as they are powerful. These are obviously important and relevant; however as Prof Jim Ife (see below) notes, culture is not static, but constantly changing, and not monolithic, but pluralistic. This means we need to carefully evaluate each situation that has implications for human rights and consider this on its own merits.
As the United Nations points out, the concept of human rights is bound closely to the belief that culture is precious and central to our identity. The way we are born, live and die is affected by the culture to which we belong, so to take away our cultural heritage is to deny us our identity. At the same time, we can all benefit from our experience of other cultures and we have something to offer them in return. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community” and by implication, this also means that no-one has the right to dominate, direct or eradicate that culture or impose theirs upon us.
(see www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/CrossCuttingThemes.aspx)
In a similar way culture must never be used as an excuse to commit human rights violations or deprive certain groups of their rights in defence of “maintaining traditional values”. Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) underscores this point, calling on ratifying countries to “modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.” (see CEDAW at www.ohchr.org). An example here is the practice of female genital mutilation, where an estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the severe consequences of FGM.
(see www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/)
Excerpt from “Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Rights-Based Practice” by Jim Ife
Book reference: Unspoken facts
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