UNIVERSALISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS: A COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL JUDICIAL BODIES

This article examines the relationship between the universalism of human rights and cultural relativism in the practice of international and regional judicial bodies. Based on a comparative legal analysis, the study explores the activities of the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations, as well as international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court. The findings demonstrate that universalism constitutes the fundamental basis of the international human rights protection system, ensuring the inviolability of core standards, including the right to life, the prohibition of torture, non-discrimination, and other peremptory norms of international law. At the same time, regional judicial bodies have developed different approaches to incorporating cultural context, ranging from «culturally sensitive universalism» in the European system to «culturally oriented universalism» in the Inter-American framework. International criminal courts and the International Court of Justice adhere to a stricter model of universalism, under which cultural and historical considerations cannot limit the application of fundamental legal norms. The analysis reveals an emerging multi-level model of legal implementation in which universal standards are combined with due consideration of cultural diversity.

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