The Universality of Human Rights

The universality of human rights is considered one of the most significant concepts defined in
international law. In Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, Jack Donnelly shows
human rights claims characteristically seek to challenge or change existing institutions,
practices, or norms, especially legal practices.1 And explains international legal universality
and demonstrates the most important practical legacy of international action on behalf of
human rights2.
The human rights movement has legal support from existing international law, and it has a
means of holding governments accountable. The UDHR was created with significant input
from non-Western nations3, giving it legitimacy as a law that applies everywhere. The UDHR
has so far been able to achieve "wide acceptance among many cultures" as a result of this. 4
These rights go beyond the statement of unalienable rights that define the areas where the
state cannot interfere at the price of individual freedom. . The case of Handyside 5 centred
freedom of expression as one of the fundamental pillars of such a society and in Opuz v
Turkey6 case, the court ruled that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination under the
European Convention on Human Rights.
Shashi Tharoor upholds human rights in this larger sense have taken in the rights of
individuals and groups including peoples and minorities - and the rights to peace,
development, disarmament, to self-determination.7
Human rights do not depend on any cultural or legal recognition, but on “the moral question
of whether there is a decisive justification of including these forms of inviolability in the
status of every member of the moral community” 8. Though human rights are universal
because they belong to all human beings solely by virtue of their humanity, they are often
violated. Tharoor argues that developing countries cannot afford human rights, since the tasks
of nation-building, economic development and the consolidation of the state structure to these
ends are still unfinished.9 Massive and flagrant violations of human rights occurs in these
countries because of unable to exercise them accordingly. If there has been a violation, there
must be a way leads to an effective remedy10
Human rights have the potential to be universal if the international community continues to
play a constructive, critical role and domestic efforts for human rights are supported by
international law.

Bibliography
1
Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Cornell University Press, 2013) 12.
2
Ibid 95
3
Mary Ann Glendon, ‘The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal Human Rights
Idea’, Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16 (2003): 27-39
4
Ibid 38
5
Handyside v United Kingdom [1976] ECHR 5
6
Opuz v Turkey App. no. 33401/02 (ECHR, 9 June 2009)
7
Shashi Tharoor. "The Universality of Human Rights and their Relevance to Developing Countries", Nordic
Journal of International Law 59, 1 (1990): 140
doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157181090X00288
8
Thomas Nagel, Concealment and Exposure: And Other Essays (Oxford University Press, 2002), 33.
9
Tharoor (n5) 144
10
European Convention on Human Rights, Article 13
 Primary Sources
European Convention on Human Rights, Article 13

European Court of Human Rights Cases

1. Handyside v United Kingdom [1976] ECHR 5
2. Opuz v Turkey App. no. 33401/02 (ECHR, 9 June 2009)

Books
1. Nagel, Thomas, Concealment and Exposure: And Other Essays (Oxford University Press,
2002)
2. Donnelly, Jack, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Cornell University Press,
2013)
Journals
1. Glendon, M, ‘The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal
Human Rights Idea’, Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16 (2003): 27-39
2. Tharoor, Shashi, "The Universality of Human Rights and their Relevance to Developing
Countries", Nordic Journal of International Law 59, 1 (1990): 139-152