Anthropologists were also highly critical of the notion of universal rights. In 1947, the president of the American Anthropological Association warned that the promotion of ‘universal values’ would encourage people to overlook cultural differences and lead to a lack of respect for the alternative ideas and ideals of those who did not think in terms of human rights.41 Since then, many have accused human rights laws and their champions of imposing Western cultural values on people and places in which they do not belong.
