Political rights are the basic freedoms of speech and association, while economic rights are the less well-defined but equally basic freedoms from need. As the World Conference on Human Rights recognized, however, these two sets of rights should be indivisible, since economic growth is far more likely to occur under conditions of political freedom and political freedom is most likely to be stable when people's basic economic needs continue to be met. A final argument against universality is that it intrudes on long-established cultural or religious practices. Cultures and religions cannot be changed by appeals to human rights, but those who are subject to severe persecution because of such practices should be protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For example, women who flee from female genital mutilation, long practiced in some cultures, should receive asylum in other countries.
Human rights are for everyone.
They are not a Western construct, nor an assertion of cultural hegemony, but a set of aspirations that people the world over should be treated with dignity in a climate of freedom by their own governments. John Shattuck was assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor from 1993-98 and US ambassador to the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2000. He is CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library.