Do you think that human rights are universal?

In my opinion, I think that human rights are only universal to a small extent. Firstly, what are human rights? Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. (http://www.answers.com/topic/human-rights?nr=1&lsc=true). The ‘universality of human rights’ is a concept. This concept holds that human rights belong to all human beings and are fundamental to every type of society. In this way, everyone has the same basic human rights. Individuals may exercise different rights, or exercise the same rights differently, depending on which group they belong to within society. (http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4142.php)

Human rights are not universal because in some countries some groups of people are not granted their himan rights. One of the example would be Afganistan. The talibans which rule most of the Afganistan, denys women the right to leave home except when accompanied by a brother or husband and forbidding them all access to public education. Education is a basic right of a human. They should have the freedom to access to knowledge. Therefore I would say that the group of woman are not given human rights. Hence they human rights are not universal.

In Singapore, we have yet to sign the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights. As an Asian country, we claim that social and economic rights take prcedence over civil and political rights. We assert that civil and political rights are immaterial when people are destitude and society is unstable. Thus we can see that on Singapore is only supports human rights to a certain extent.We can also see that how a country view different human rights differently affects whether human rights are universal. Therefore, I believe that human rights are not totally universal.

In conclusion, we cannot say that human rights are totally universal but it is universal only to a certain extent.