Can honour crimes be deemed cultural traditions or are human rights universal -Panorama - Britain's Crimes of Honour (Part 1 of 2)

Disturbing video from BBC's famed documentary series "Panorama". As we have been studying Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in English class, some TOK students may find this topic interesting in terms of the claims of cultural traditions versus the claims of human rights in the UN Charter. Are human rights universal? Why are these crimes described as crimes of honour - is this an example of language as a way of knowing creating a knowledge issue.

UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS


http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Article 1.

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

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Article 2.

• Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

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Article 3.

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.