These two things came up today in various places, and I did my best to tell them people who said them they were wrong. Now I'm going to write them here to make myself feel better.
Statement: "Africa does not have human rights."
- First off all, 'Africa' isn't homogeneous.
- Many cultures in Africa are based on principles of equality and have a greater community focus than we do in North America, which would suggest regardless of Charters, basic ideas of equal distribution of resources are put in to practice much more there than here.
- Many of the human rights violations that have occurred Africa, stem, either directly or indirectly, from colonialism and slavery. For example, Rwanda and South Africa.
Statement: "Female genital mutilation is a culturally acceptable practice because it has been around for a long time."
- Just because it has happened for a long time doesn't make it right. Examples include: women haven't always voted, homosexuality used to be a crime, we used to think the world was flat.
- Women have been oppressed in many cultures on many levels and oppression is always bad.
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