The United States is considered the melting pot of the Western world. It boasts many different cultures. People from all over the world have chosen to live among others. They can assimilate within cultures; Italian Americans, or maintain their own cultures; Greeks. With such diverse cultures represented, it is difficult to imagine individuals being denied basic human rights. In other areas of the world, humans are tortured, raped, and killed. These human rights violations are protected through the muse of tradition or culture. Cultural rights are elevated by the notion that only people within that particular society can moderate their culture. This is called cultural relativism. Although cultural relativism states that cultures cannot be judged by external societies, individual human rights should prevail over cultural rights. Cultural relativists promote the rights of cultures to dictate what is morally accepted within their own society. Cultural relativism is defined as the view that an action is morally right if one's culture approves of it (Vaughn). This ideology is formed to prevent ethnocentrism, or the belief that one's culture is superior to another. While this seems plausible in theory, it does little to promote understanding of different cultures. Since society establishes the laws that dictate and protect its people, universal laws of protection may not apply. Cultural rights are important as they protect individual cultures from the majority of states and communities. (Donnelly 219). If it were not for cultural rights, smaller cultures would cease to exist along with their traditions and beliefs. Tradition, therefore, may be a cover for continuing prejudices within... middle of paper... ant, fundamental human rights are inalienable and universal. These rights cannot be disregarded due to tradition or custom. Works Cited Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa, ed. Female circumcision. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Ball, Olivia, and Paul Gready. The practical guide to human rights. Oxford: New Internationalist Publications Ltd, 2006. Donnelly, Jack. Universal human rights in theory and practice. 2nd. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 2003. Jones, Adam, ed. Gendercide and genocide. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004.Phillip. "Human rights". 2008. Oxford Reference Online. September 4, 2011. The desert flower. Dir. Sherry Hormann. 2009.The stoning of Soraya. Dir. Ciro Nowrasteh. Perf. Mozhan Marno. 2008.Vaughn, Lewis. Doing Ethics. 2nd. Castle House: WW Norton & Company Ltd., 2008.