Sovereignty Redefined: Human Rights and The Responsibility To Protect (original) (raw)
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Although the idea of human rights has been as old as man depending on the culture and traditions of different peoples of the world, however it was the colossal damages of the World War II that made it imperative to institute and affect these inalienable rights and make these rights universal. While it can be said that to a very large extent, the victorious powers through the United Nations achieved their aims of making the basic rights of human beings have universal status. In practice, the purported universality has not yet been achieved. Many peoples of the world still view the universal declaration of human rights as the views and interpretations of the West European countries and therefore they may not be applicable outside Europe. The paper argues that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may not perfectly represent the views of all the people of the world owing to differences in culture, sex, religion, to mention but a few. Thus it is not a binding rule to all the countri...