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Universal Human Rights

Human beings have inalienable rights because they cannot abandon being human. In theory, human rights are also universal. If rights are universal, then all humans regardless of gender are entitled to the full complement of rights. Universality is debated in light of cultural differences among states supposedly bound to honor the rights of each of its citizens. Critics contend that emphasis on the individual is a consequence of Western beliefs and is not supportable in cultures where the well-being of the group is paramount. Nevertheless, international law is evolving to protect fundamental rights of individuals worldwide, including the right to life, liberty, and bodily integrity. Rights range from political and civil to social and economic. Violations vary with numerous factors such as gender, group membership, and poverty.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In response to the atrocities of World War II, the UN Commission on Human Rights, led by Eleanor Roosevelt, drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the UDHR without dissent. However, the Soviet Union and its allies, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, abstained. Saudi Arabia objected, in part, to provisions for gender equality.

The UDHR includes 30 articles, 2 of which explicitly mention sex or gender. Article 2 states that everyone is entitled to rights and freedom regardless of sex, religion, race, and more; Article 16 states that women and men have equal rights to marry and raise a family. The UDHR affirms the rights of the individual as a social being, mentioning family, community, and country. However, Article 29 also states that individual rights are limited by the rights of others for the preservation of public order and general welfare and that everyone has duties to the community.

Even though the UDHR is a central human rights document, political leaders, philosophers, and activists disagree about its nature. A major criticism is that the declaration is seemingly rooted in Western cultural imperialism (where a powerful state imposes its culture or language on a weaker one). The notion of universal rights is further criticized in light of the centuries-old principle of state sovereignty. A sovereign state is not subject to outside intervention—regardless of known violations carried out by a government against its own people, including massacres.

Gender and Human Rights Violations

Serious violations of human rights are torture and slavery. Historically, men were viewed as the preponderant victims of torture during strife and women as preponderant victims of ordinary violence, especially rape. However, rape is increasingly viewed as a violation of human rights and a form of torture, especially when mass rape occurs during sectarian violence among groups, civil war, or war among states.

Mass rape is also a form of genocide because impregnating hundreds or even thousands of women is a deliberate and systematic attempt to destroy an ethnic, political, or cultural group by introducing children fathered by the enemy. Furthermore, rape increases exposure of women to HIV/AIDS, which increases the death rate. Women marginalized by their own communities because they have been raped are vulnerable to more violence, hunger, and disease.

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