Do you think human rights are universal?

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which are often thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education.

I feel that human rights are universal in the sense that these rights are what every human being would want to have. However they are also not universal if you look at each right in specifics. Not all human rights are universal. For example, the right to freedom of expression is allowed in both democratic countries like America and Singapore. However, it’s evident that freedom of expression is more explicitly shown in America and not that promoted in Singapore. Hence, human rights are only universal to a certain extent.
Everyone in the world has the right to education but many of the poor in Africa, India and other third world countries do not receive education they rightly deserve. Hence, it can be seen that the right to education is universal meaning no one should be denied it. However, in the third world countries, their current situation does not allow them to have access to education making the right to education all in all in not universal.

It was mentioned in the passage that human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. Hence, in Singapore’s context, where social and economic rights take precedence over civil and political rights, there will be certain human rights that may be compromised along the way. Furthermore, Singapore’s historical-cultural legacies interpret human rights with a communitarian emphasis and primacy of duty to community over individual rights. For example, people have the right of freedom of expression in Singapore but if this right was really practiced, racism would be strife and ‘duty to community’ which would take the form of preserving social stability would not be done.

In conclusion, human rights are generally not universal. Some human rights, like the right to education, work and food are rights that involve everyone. It does not involve sensitive issues such as race and religion. However, in today’s world there are people who are denied such rights. Also, human rights such as freedom of expression are sensitive to each country’s social structure. Though everyone has the right to freedom of expression, it cannot be helped that governments want to hamper the popularity growth of such rights as it might cause social instability.