Universal human rights: the rhetoric but not the reality

Abstract

The United Nations faces an uphill battle in its bid to secure the universal realisation of human rights. At present, the universal pledges of the United Nations core human rights treaties are not, as yet, a universal reality: millions the world over suffer continuing, often horrific, violations of these purportedly universal entitlements on a daily basis. The universal ideology is challenged in turn by the competing forces of cultural relativism, state sovereignty, reservations and poor compliance. This thesis examines the United Nations universal human rights ideology and the challenges it faces, before ultimately concluding that the promising rhetoric of universalism remains far from being fulfilled: the gap between words and actions remains wide indeed