Do you think human rights are universal?

Till date, many efforts have been put in to enforce universal human rights – human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union aims to protect human rights, claiming to 'fight violations of civil liberties wherever they occur', while the Human Rights Watch is dedicated to preserving and promoting human rights around the world. Despite that, there are still many people in the world suffering under inhumane treatment. So, I do not think that human rights are universal.

Human rights cannot be achieved in every country due to the different policies followed by different government systems. The government plays an important role of determining treatment received by the people. For instance, there are countries which followed the Sharia or Islamic law, which possible penalties includes amputation of limbs and stoning. Meanwhile, there are also countries which governments are endorsing a variety of interrogation techniques, dubbed 'torture lite', of which include rough treatment or psychological techniques to induce fear and confusion. Such are examples of how governments are enshrining the practice of torture into law although such cruelty clearly violates human rights legislation. Even if human rights groups try to intervene and stop such acts, the taint of hypocrisy still remains. As one official put it, "if you don't violate someone's human rights some the time, you aren't doing your job." Hence, despite efforts to enforce universal human rights, such efforts will still become futile as long as the government is not willing to support it and since there are many governments who are not willing to support such efforts, human rights are not universal.

In addition, universal human rights are still not guaranteed due to the inability to manage conflict, natural disasters, poverty and healthcare. In many parts of the world, the welfare of the people is not protected due to social problems. For example, having enough to eat is basic human right but every day, one in five of the world's population goes hungry. These can be due to epidemics, war, natural phenomena or bad government. While bad governance and war can still be dealt with, epidemics and natural phenomena are far beyond our control. Unfortunately, until we are able to solve all of these problems, universal human rights would not be achieved.

In conclusion, human rights are not universal because many people in the world are still suffering under inhumane treatment and there is still a long way before human rights would be universal.