cultural relativism vs. universalism
...ns to the ECOSOC to endorse. It also serves the purpose of having "consultive status" with the UN to non-governmental organizations. ICTY- The International Crime Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was the first international tribunal of it's kind since the Nuremburg Tribunals. The decision to form such a tribunal came for several different reasons. The first being the response to the publics outcry after the exposure of such horrific crimes. Something very significant needed to be done to show the public that the world would not tolerate such atrocities. In addition to bringing a sense of public justice, the ICTY also provided the oppurtunity to develop international law and the ability to hold the party responsible for the actions. ICTR- The International Crime Tribunal for Rwanda was a similar scenario to the ICTY. It gave the court the ability to prosecute those who were responsible for the genocide that took place in Rwanda. The council believed that the ICTR would "contribute to the process of national reconciliation and the restoration and maintenance of peace." The ICTR gave the ability to prosecute for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention. The major debate in the human rights field is that of cultural relativism vs. universalism. This is a debate that has been looked at for many years in scales outside of the human rights field. Recently, through the advances in human rights, this has been brought to the front of the human rights debate. Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of their own culture. When being applied to human rights debate, followers of this theory believe that many of the norms, rights and rules we apply depend on our culture. In addition, they feel that the belief of right vs. wrong are different throughout the world because we as people are all different. They feel that culural norms can be so drastically different and therefore it is impossible to set forth standard laws and guidelines that can be applied to all. The cultural relitivists beleive that because of this diversity, even the push for universal human rights guidelines is impossible because they can never be agreed upon by all cultures. Relitivist's believe that many functions of human rights further the idea of western dominance of ideals. They feel that these functions cannot be applied just because the west belive...