Law Commons^™

Detention Of Hiv-Positive Haitians At Guantanamo, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Speaking for the United States, Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the June 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna that human rights are universal and that “we cannot let cultural relativism become the last refuge of repression”. The universality of human rights was first recognized internationally in the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. But the fact that these rights are recognized and even seen as universal does not ensure that they will be respected, even by their strongest supporters. The lack of an international tribunal with jurisdiction to hear complaints about human-rights violations and provide remedies …