A/73/227 A. Today’s complex reality: attacks on the concept of universality and advances in its realization 32. Entire systems of thought are today based on opposing the principle of a shared humanity. As the Special Rapporteur has previously noted, at the heart of the fundamentalist and extremist paradigms are rejections of equality and the universality of human rights, making unwavering defence of those principles the touchstone of the human rights response (A/HRC/34/56, para. 2). 33. It is no accident that the rhetoric of universality often resonates most strongly with the persons who are most marginalized and discriminated against, and that especially those working for the rights of these persons have insisted on this principle. 20 The Special Rapporteur recalls that African-American high school students among civil rights protestors in the iconic 1965 march in Selma in the United States of America carried the flag of the United Nations. 21 Today, for example, the framework of universal rights, non-discrimination, justice and dignity is used regularly by human rights defenders working to ensure the rights of Dalits and challenge caste-based discrimination in India. 22 Attacks on universality often come from the more powerful who seek to destroy a tool used to remedy the power differential. Hence, the defence and strengthening of this principle is vital for making rights for all, including cultural rights, a reality. 34. The Special Rapporteur is troubled by documented efforts to use the concept of universality to exclude certain rights and rights holders from protection. In this anti rights lexicon, universality, couched as “universally accepted”, means that human rights only apply to particular categories of people if everyone agrees, which turns the idea of universality into a contingent popularity contest rather than inherent protection for all, including the most discriminated against. Anti -rights actors manipulate the use of the terms “universal” and “fundamental” rights to apply only to certain human rights, often attempting to cast sexual and reproductive rights or the rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity as optional. 23 Universality is a framework for inclusion, not exclusion. 35. The increasing attacks in many countries on human rights defenders, including cultural rights defenders, and limitations on their ability to engage in universal human rights work, including through labelling them as “foreign agents”, curtailing their ability to receive international funding or adopting additional norms that disproportionately restrict the work of human rights organizations, are very worrying __________________ 20 21 22 23 18-12312 The importance of universality has been reiterated by many United Nations human rights experts, including those who work on the rights of marginalized perso ns, such as the Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities (A/HRC/37/56 and A/HRC/34/58, para. 32), on freedom of religion or belief (A/HRC/37/49 and E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2, paras. 27 and 29), on the right to education (E/CN.4/2003/9, para. 23), on the rights of indigenous peoples (A/68/317, para. 70) and on violence against women (A/HRC/4/34, para. 22). Thomas Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 189. See, for example, the work of Jan Sahas Social Development Society. Available from http://jansahasindia.org. See Naureen Shameem, Rights at Risk: Observatory on the Universality of Rights Trends Report 2017 (Toronto, Association for Women’s Rights in Development, 2017), p. 84; and Human Rights Council resolution 32/2, preamble. 11/26