Universality as a symbol of human rights

The article emphasizes that the concept of human rights as a universal value is currently extremely relevant, especially within the framework of the problems of the modern theory of international relations. From birth, a person, regardless of citizenship, nationality, race and gender, has natural rights that accompany him until death. Such rights give a person the opportunity to enjoy the elementary, most important benefits and conditions for a safe, free existence of an individual in society. However, in the context of globalization, both the issue of their universality and the issue of cultural differences in their recognition and implementation come to the fore. The article aims to consider different views on the issue of the universality of human rights in modern conditions. Consideration of this topic is important for the protection, primarily by modern states, of human rights, preventing the exaltation of any nation due to the violation of the rights of some people due to their nationality, skin color or attitude to religion. To achieve the goal, the work uses a system of scientific methods of cognition, in particular general scientific (analysis, synthesis), private (comparative, quantitative and qualitative analysis, approximation), as well as special legal (formal-legal, comparative-legal). The arguments of criticism of universality as one of the features of the category of human rights are studied. It is emphasized that critics of the universality of human rights use arguments based on cultural relativism, substantiating the idea that the international community has still not managed to reach a universal agreement on human rights. Supporters of the concept of cultural relativism question the legitimacy of the theory of human rights, which assumes the existence of universal values and norms that apply to all people. They argue that the traditional understanding of human rights, which is the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, needs to be revised and modified due to the fact that it is impossible to evaluate each culture on the basis of universal criteria. The study concluded that universality is manifested in the fact that human rights express the most general, basic interests of their bearers, interests from which an individual cannot renounce, for example, life, freedom, property. With all the cultural, religious, moral and legal diversity, all people are united by belonging to the human race as biological beings, as well as individuals who are mainly interested in the opportunity to live, freely realize their abilities, acquire and maintain their property.

human rights, universality, cultural relativism, ethno-nationalism