The history of human rights across the regions: Universalism vs cultural relativism

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Abstract
The article begins with a necessary description of how the term ‘human rights’ originated, and a consideration of how ‘universal’ it is possible for human rights to be, compared with the differing views of human rights in existing cultural systems. There follows a discussion of the continual argument between the ‘universal’ approach towards human rights with the diametric perspective of ‘cultural relativism’, contrasting the African and Islamic priority of ‘duties’ within the community with the western approach of individualistic ‘rights’. The second part of the article deals with the contemporary Arab, European, Inter‐American and African UN Commissions on Human Rights. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential for intertwining these two approaches in some form of compromise and mutual respect.

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