Universal Declaration of Human Rights; The Controversies on Its Universality

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a widely recognized international document containing many civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights that were brought before humanity after the atrocities conducted during the Second World War. It, for the first time, embodied all these rights into a single document and tried to universalize the concept of human rights worldwide irrespective of sex, religion, place of birth, creed and color. It was no doubt an outstanding contribution in the regime of human rights by the then-world leaders. But controversies arise on the universality and universal application of all the rights incorporated under the document as there are cultural diversities around the world. There are high criticism that in the camouflage of the Declaration, the West intended to impose their political ideology upon the people of the rest part of the world. Some of the provisions of the Declaration being in direct conflict with Islamic and Chinese culture, the criticism has got some grounds. In my paperwork, I have however tried to bring out a critical clarification on the question of universality of the Declaration and the ways by which it can be turned into more multi-culture oriented.