Human rights are now in an evident lackluster phase. Causes of disbelief in them are not only their continuing violations, nor distortions that stem from non-Western values. First and foremost, they involve an exaggerated conceptual extension of those rights, promoted by the post-modern cultural Left, as well as the endless repetition of today anachronistic forms of action and positions inherent to the existing international protection system. In order to recuperate human rights on a constructive direction it is necessary to return to the Universal Declaration, of 1948, to update Lua Nova, São Paulo, 86: 253-260, 2012 255 Resumos / Abstracts a discourse that was originally built against dictatorships, and to re-adapt the whole system to the situation of present democracies under threat.
Human rights; universalism; particularities; cultures; collective rights; criminality