GPERS – The Girl in the River

 

The Girl in the River

The Girl in the River is a Documentary made in 2015 about a girl called Saba and her story. In this documentary, we learn about how her father and uncle tried to kill her because she secretly married the one she loved and brought shame to her family. When Saba had to decide whether or not to forgive her father and uncle, it was a matter of whether human rights should be universal or culturally relative.

The ongoing debate on whether human rights should be universal or culturally relative is quite interesting. I believe that human rights should be universal because I think that everyone, everywhere should have the same rights. However, some religions and cultures overlap and overpower the rights that we all should be entitled too. For example, I didn’t think that it was fair that if his family forgive him, a father could kill his daughter and not be sent to jail (In a normal honour killing). This overpowers the human right to a fair trial because of what they believe in that community, and this is common in other places around the world.

I think that Saba’s father and uncle should have stayed in jail because they tried to take her life and that is wrong because they would be taking away her right to live. However, I believe that she did it for a good reason, even though it was at the cost of her own safety and beliefs, both families can live in harmony like it was before the incident.

 

 

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3 thoughts on “GPERS – The Girl in the River

  1. I agree with all your points about rights being universal. Your point about how how ‘religions and cultures overlap’ is an important one. I think that there are many cultures that hold more traditional values and even though society is adapting I feel it’s also wrong to tell people it’s wrong to tell them what they believe is wrong if that is all they’ve grown up knowing. But, yes, I definitely agree that things like honour killings shouldn’t happen at all. You clearly show your understanding of universalism and cultural relativism. I also think that maybe the father and uncle should have stayed in jail, but not only that I think there should be a way for them change the way they think and maybe redefine the morals of their actions (then again, there is also a difference in how he was raised and it’s important to recognise that) because as he said, he would stay in jail for the honour of his family.

  2. You gave a nice short introduction to the documentary which was nice. I agree with you when you said, “I believe that human rights should be universal because I think that everyone, everywhere should have the same rights. ” as i also think that everyone should have access to these rights.

  3. I agree with your perspective on how it was wrong for her father to attempt to take her life as the right to life should be universal. In addition I think you used “A girl in the river” to represent this quite well as you use good examples from the incident to talk about the issue.

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