The modern doctrine of human rights is primarily concerned with the protection of individuals from persecution by the state, and is used as a normative base-line for criticizing the standards of governmental conduct throughout the world. The UN Declaration influenced other statements of fundamental rights, including the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. While the language of fundamental human rights has been associated with the spread of liberal and democratic ideals, it has its critics. Some maintain that there are no such things as universal human rights. They claim there are likely to be major differences of cultural interpretation, for instance, as to which freedoms should be constitutionally entrenched.
Controversy also surrounds the content of human rights.
Finally some political scientists argue that to reduce all questions of politics to questions of rights means that all public policy questions will eventually become 'juridified', that is, decided by judges rather than by more directly democratic processes. Civil Rights Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought 2. Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia 4. Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia 5. All rights reserved.