Two problems surrounding the universality of human rights

Abstract

This thesis points at two main issues in the concept of the universality of human rights. First, the obstacles it poses to the notions of the sovereign and the political as defined by Carl Schmitt. Second, the paradox of human rights formulated by Hannah Arendt remains unsolved, since the contradiction at its heart has not changed since its formulation. The third chapter attempts to illustrate how these theoretical concepts are relevant for our understanding of human rights crises involving state actors analyzing some of the events that took place during the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe. The thesis concludes pointing at the need to end the misconceptions derived from the idea of the universality of human rights in the mind of the public.