For virtually all of history, ethnic divides have been a major source of conflict among the world's peoples. Whether it's slavery, ethnic isolationism, religious dogma, or egocentric bigotry, people have an historically innate distaste for the different. One of the many challenges in effecting peace in the face of ethnic conflict is that there are often several causes for mutual hatred rooted deep within quarrelling cultures. These causes are generally factors of social cleavages, or, the "divisions in a society that arise from differences in demographic and socioeconomic attributes" (Emizet). These attributes include gender, religion, place of residence, occupation, education, income, class, and institutional affiliation (Emizet). Basically, people are different, and this causes tension. Regardless of the individual motives for such discord within a state, social cleavages (in relation to ethnic conflict) can generally be construed as differences in societal values held by clashing ethnic groups. Certain values are shared by particular pockets of society, and these very firm and divergent standards influence their actions within civilization. This variance in values can explain virtually all international and ethnic struggles. If only every nation could somehow adopt similar social standards, ethnic conflicts and conflicts in general would greatly diminish.
             On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in an effort to quell social conflicts common throughout the world (UDHR). Worldwide observance of "universal" rights was a promising solution to these ideological differences experienced by clashing ethnicities. This document seeks to recognize innate human rights and values "that transcend borders, cultures, societies and ideologies" (UDHR). Although distinctly partisan and "Western" in influence (which will be discussed later in this paper), this idyl...