Universal conceptions of human rights should supersede culturally relative conceptions. Discuss. Assess the effectiveness of the international community with reference to the cultural practice of female genital mutilation.

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Topic: Universal conceptions of human rights should supersede culturally relative conceptions. Discuss. Assess the effectiveness of the international community with reference to the cultural practice of female genital mutilation.

ABSTRACT

The atrocities committed against individuals in events such as slavery, the two World Wars, the Holocaust, and apartheid in South Africa caused the issue of human rights to become a major concern to all nations across the globe, particularly the western nations. The issue of human rights, however, has its roots in natural law theories of the 17th and 18th centuries and was more firmly established contemporarily in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other covenants, conventions and declarations that were derived from it. At the core of this issue, is the controversy as to whether human rights are universal or culturally relative. Another area of disputation is the efficiency of the international community in the face of cultural practices that serve to discriminate against individuals, such as female genital mutilation, for example. The use of secondary data was applied in carrying out this research to address the above-mentioned issues.

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE FOR STUDY

The issue of human rights has been an issue