cultural relativism and the universal declaration of human r

The conflict between cultural relativism and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights involves two opposing views. In some cultures, some practices are considered reasonable and appropriate, even though they violate principles of the universal declaration of human rights. For instance, in some cultures it is not uncommon to perform an ‘honour killing’, wherein a member of a family is killed by another member or other members of the family due to the perpetrators’ belief that the victim has brought dishonour onto the family. This could be done to relatively innocuous behaviors such as wearing western-style clothes and would violate the principles of personal liberty (for instance to wear what one pleases) that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration of Human Rights proposes that regardless of culture, all humans should have certain rights, and to violate those rights is wrong regardless of culture. The cultural relativist approach, on the other hand, proposes that what is ‘right’ or appropriate depends on the culture, and who are we to judge a norm from another culture as ‘wrong’, regardless of whether they violate principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.