Universal Human Rights and Cultural Differences

Universal Human Rights and Cultural Differences Since the end of the Second World War, an increasing number of human rights instruments have been adopted, by the United Nations. These instruments have set forth common standards of human rights, and members’ states of the U.N. are called upon to respect in order to ensure better protection of human rights everywhere. But opposite to this trend, there has been a sort of resistance in many parts of the world, where human rights norms are seen as western matter. During the Cool War period, countries of the Soviet block used to consider them as linked to ‘capitalist bourgeoisie’ while young independent nations of the South saw the focus on human rights as a threat to their newly acquired sovereignty. Both sides claimed their right to difference. This raises the issue whether human rights standards should be considered differently because of cultural or differences among peoples. To put it another way, â€Å"are human rights of universal viability and applicability or are they better understood and evaluated within specific social and cultural contexts? What level of social accountability can be accommodated within the emerging global human rights regime to accord it cultural legitimacy within various societies?†1 Voices from the West have pointed out that differences among people did not permit them to meet the Western standards of human rights. It is believed that some cultures are more likely to commit human rights abuses, and for a series of reasons, there are people elsewhere to cover them or to keep silent because of their interest, thus ‘excusing the inexcusable’ which they claim being ‘part of their culture’. The aim of this paper is to sound the long debate on the relationship between universal standards human rights and cultural differences. Firstly, it recalls the foundation on which is grounded the concept of human rights, namely the human dignity, irrespective of culture, race, religion or gender. Secondly, it analyses major arguments put forward by cultural relativists, highlighting their danger, that is, the risk of having double standards of human rights. Finally, in concluding remarks, the paper considers the actual trend of recognizing human rights norms and condemning their abuses (such as female circumcision or sharia), even where people justify them by cultural specificity. I. The universal concept of human rights and the recognition of human dignity The concept of human is grounded on the idea that Man has rights simply because he is human. The universal worth and dignity of human being is founded in the writing of philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. For the former, â€Å"human beings are by nature free, equal and independent†2, and the protection of that freedom and equality should be the end of the political society. Rousseau also insists on the freedom of the human being and writes that Man should never surrender his freedom: â€Å"A man who renounces to his freedom renounces at his quality as human being†. After bloody revolutions, there were attempts to introduce these concepts in states constitution in England, in France, and in the United States of America. But the first recognition of the need to secure rights for human being was stated in the Charter of the United Nations, following the atrocities of the Second World War. In its Preamble, it is said that one of the purpose of the U.N . is the achievement â€Å"international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedom for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion†. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is the first instrument on human rights in its preamble presented itself as â€Å"a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations†. It went further by stating: â€Å"Recognition of the human dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world†. Subsequent instruments such as the Covenant on Civil and political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights contained what is usually called ‘core rights’ meaning â€Å"that are indispensable for an existence in human dignity and therefore need absol ute protection†. Among those core rights are the right to life, the prohibition of torture, slavery, arbitrary arrest, discrimination or genocide. No derogation from such rights is permitted, even in time of war. The philosophical foundations of the concept of human rights are to be found in the Western Europe. As Robertson and Merrils write, â€Å"it is clear that the mainstream has its origin in the liberal democratic tradition of Western Europe, a tradition which is itself the product of the Greek philosophy, Roman law, the Judeo-Christian tradition, the humanism of the Reformation and the Age of reason†. It means that the Western World translated into international law its philosophical, moral, cultural and religious value. Questions arise therefore as to their universality that is whether it is possible to take into account the differences while focusing on the common standards of human rights. On the other hand, if cultural differences cannot be denied, it is to establish whether differences can be an excuse to human rights abuses. Who will decide the nature and the level of change to meet universal standards of human rights and how avoid to be labelled /or accused of cultural he gemony? For the relativists, moral and cultural values differ from one culture to another. According to Parekh, â€Å"Different societies throw up different systems of moral beliefs depending on such things as their history, traditions, geographical circumstances, and views of the world. We have no means of judging them for there are no objective and universal criteria available for the purpose, and even if there were, we would be too deeply conditioned by our own society to discover them†. Cultural differences may have an influence on the human rights issues where national competence, the sovereignty of the state or the quest of self-determination are opposed to the idea of universal human rights standards. The 1993 Vienna Conference was an example of arena where, universal principle of human rights clashed with relativistic assumptions. At the eve of that important even, African and Asian groups of nations mate to draw their views they intended to put forward at the conference. In the Tunis Declaration, which reflected both their convictions and their expectations, the African group nations gave a different sound. While admitting that the universality of human rights, they declared that â€Å" no ready-made model can be prescribed at the universal level since the historical and cultural realities of each nation and the traditions, standards and values of each people cannot be disregarded†. They also highlighted the â€Å"principle of the indivisibility of huma n rights†: â€Å" Civil and political rights cannot be dissociated from economic, social and cultural rights. None of these rights takes precedence over the others†. Finally, the Tunis Declaration insisted on the link between human rights and economic development: â€Å"Political freedom when not accompanied by respect for economic, social and cultural rights is precarious. The right to development is inalienable. Human rights, development and international peace are interdependent (†¦) Africa, which has chosen the path of democracy, economic reform and the promotion of human rights, in an unfavourable international economic environment, and which finds itself particularly exposed to internal tensions deriving from the failure to meet the basic needs of populations and from the rise of extremism, will nevertheless remain committed to its choices and its responsibilities, and calls upon the international community to do likewise, in particular through an intensific ation of international solidarity, an adequate increase in development assistance and an appropriate settlement of the debt problem†. In the Bangkok Declaration, Asian group of nations opposed what they saw as Western imperialism and urged the international community to take into account their cultural difference as regard to human rights. While agreeing like Africans that human rights are universal in nature, they insisted that those rights â€Å"must be considered in the context of a dynamic and evolving process of international norm-setting, bearing in mind the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds†. Furthermore, they added, â€Å"the promotion of human rights should be encouraged by cooperation and consensus, and not through confrontation and the imposition of incompatible values†. Finally, criticising â€Å"the use of human rights as conditionality for extending development assistance and as an instrument of political pressure†, the Bangkok Declaration stressed â€Å" the need to avoid the application of double sta ndards in the implementation of human rights and its politicisation†. Indonesian Foreign Minister stated later in Vienna: â€Å"While human rights are universal in character, it is now generally acknowledged that their expression and implementation in the national context should remain the competence and responsibility of each government. This means that the complex variety of problems of different economic social and cultural realities and the unique value systems prevailing in each country should be taken into consideration†12. One may draw the conclusion that for Southern countries, priority has to be given to the satisfaction of basic needs for food, shelter, clothes before other rights such as freedom of expression and fair elections. One may even go so far to consider Western concepts of human rights as luxury for poor countries, because â€Å"cultural

The Importance of Learning Organization

L & D Assignment 2: The Importance of Learning Organization A learning organization works with ideas i. e. it comes up with new ideas on all levels, disseminates these new ideas across the organization and finally inculcates these new ideas into operations by embedding them in its policies processes and reviews. It has structured mechanisms and processes put in place to generate knowledge and it takes this new knowledge as a basis of responding to the change in its business environment. A learning organization as per its formal definition is skilled at two things which are as follows: a. Creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring and retaining knowledge which is relevant to its business processes for enable it to achieve its business objective in an efficient manner. b. ) Acting or modifying its behaviour as an organization to respond to that new knowledge and insights. To be a successful organization one must monitor its processes and make sure that they are efficient. A learni ng organization observes its business processes and learns where it is efficient and where it is not.It encourages organizations to shift to a more interconnected way of thinking. A learning organization has five main features; systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning. In the article â€Å"Is yours a learning organization† the authors David Garvin and Amy Edmondson described the three building blocks of learning which fosters the creation of a learning organization which are as follows: a. ) A supportive learning environment b. ) A concrete learning processes and practices c. Leadership that reinforces learning Importance of learning organization in current business context: Ray Stata, the confounder and chairman of the board of Analog Devices once quoted â€Å"The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. † In highly competitive current business scenario products and ser vices can easily be copied or emulated by the competitors. Even processes can be copied for example Six sigma is easily available and accessible to anyone for implementation.Thus the only source of sustainable competitive advantage for any organization is rapid pace of learning and the execution of this new knowledge in its internal processes. Furthermore, the current business environment is evolving at a very rapid pace due to globalization, deregulation and evolution of new business paradigms. As an organization the only way to survive and compete in this business environment is to have a rate of learning which is greater than this rate of change of the business environment. Barriers in being a learning organization: The idea of a learning organization is been around for quite some time.The discussion about the learning organization has been around for almost 4 decades but there were certain shortcomings and limitations of in these ideas of learning organizations. As a result of w hich these ideas have failed to bring about little concrete change as they should have. Firstly, the fundamental fallacies with these initial ideas were that they were abstract concepts without concrete prescriptions for actions for the organizations. For an organization to be able to change, it needs to know the steps necessary to solve the problems it faces.Secondly, these initial concepts of learning organization were aimed at the top managements of the organization without including the middle level managers. These managers heading divisions, departments and projects where the real critical work of the organization happens. Their inclusion was very necessary because these are the people who are primarily responsible for generation of business intelligence at the operational level. Thirdly, there was real lack or standards or tools through which the managers can assess how well they were doing on being a learning organization. An Ideal learning organization:The concept of perfect ion is in itself elusive as no individual or organization cannot ever claim to be perfect no matter how good they are. However, the one organization which comes very close to becoming a ideal learning organization is General Electric (GE). Infact, In his last letter to the shareholders Jack Welch wrote that I finally understand why we as an organization are so successful. The reason is that we are an learning organization. They have all three building blocks (processes, environment and leadership) which is prerequisite to become a successful learning organization. Role of management in building Learning Organization:Managers can help their teams have a supportive learning environment. In particular, the concept of psychological safety where the perceive that the workplace environment one that is comfortable for asking questions, making mistakes and floating of new ideas related their job role responsibilities. Basically, the managers facilitate the creation of a workplace environmen t which is conducive to taking personal risks by the employees that it is absolutely essential for learning. The managers should make conscious efforts to help people be comfortable with the risks which are present in the workplace today.So that the employees can engage in the learning processes without fear. Apart from a supportive learning environment the managers can also put in place concrete processes and procedures for experimentation, sharing knowledge and best practices across the organization and ways of reflecting on what we have learned from past expierence. Each of these are systematic processes where companies generate ideas, respond to new knowledge and reflect on what they have already learnt. In some organisations a lack of a learning culture can be a barrier to learning.An environment must be created where individuals can share learning without it being devalued and ignored, so more people can benefit from their knowledge and the individuals becomes empowered. A lea rning organization needs to fully accept the removal of traditional hierarchical structures. As a manager the most ideal way to start implementation of the concept of Learning organization in its organization is to start within his/her own department by modelling the behaviours of learning himself like showing curiosity, asking a questions and laying emphasis on disruptive innovation.This kind of leadership at department levels creates the environment where more structured kind of processes to build a learning organization can take form. References: 1. ) Garvin, David A. â€Å"Building a learning organization. † Harvard Business Review (1993). 2. ) Garvin, David A. , Amy C. Edmondson, and Francesca Gino. â€Å"Is yours a learning organization. † Harvard Business Review (2008). 3. ) Darling, Marilyn, Charles Parry, and Joseph Moore. â€Å"Learning in the thick of it. † Harvard Business Review (2005).

Dorothy Smith s Approach Challenges Sociological Theory

Dorothy Smith’s approach challenges Sociological Theory and the way it has been constructed. She offered a framework to close the gap between the objective knowledge and the personal experiences that people encounters in everyday life. Most importantly, Smith challenges one of the most traditional sociological discourses of male dominance through the use of concepts, theologies, and textual concepts that confines human behavior. Her framework known as institutional ethnography constitutes that bridge between the macro and micro level in society. She also focuses in marginal groups from the micro level and the way their agency is conceptualized to and dominated by the macro level’s ruling relations. She takes women and her experiences to rebuild this framework from a standpoint of inquiry rather than social scientific inquiry. 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The On Download Free Music - 1182 Words

In 1998, the first websites to download free music appeared, thus making it possible for users to share mp3 files between one another online. These free sites caused CD sales to plummet 72% from 2000 to 2013. Spotify, founded in Sweden in 2006, came onto the online streaming music scene with the mission to let people listen to music they want, when they want and where they want. Spotify is different from the other sites like Napster and Limewire by giving customers legal access to a library of over 30 million pieces of music. Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, the men behind Spotify, sought to find a way to give the public unlimited access to an exhaustive catalogue of songs, stored on servers and available online. Therefore, Spotify encourages people to abandon pirating by giving the public the ability for Internet users to get unrestricted access to music online, without breaking the law. Spotify offers two types of memberships: free and paid premium. 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Some people love it and some people hate it. Musicians feel they need to be paid for people listening to their music and the average downloader feels there is no harm in downloading a few songs. Are there positives aspects of downloading music for free for musicians? Are there negative aspects of downloading music for the average person? Downloading music at a first glance doesn’t seemRead MoreRecording Industry Association Of America1144 Words   |  5 PagesA lot of us love music and in this day and age it can be hard to come by, especially if you don’t have anyway to buy online. The sound of music can affect all of us and our emotions. When we want to be in a good mood we’d probably listen to an annoying and catchy tune through our headphones. We shouldn’t have to be in trouble for giving ourselves joy. Today, I’m going to try and persuade you why illegally downloading music isnâ₠¬â„¢t wrong. 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