Criminalization from human rights perspective, the demands of the moral right to self-determination

Human rights faces an obvious challenge concerning criminalization. On the one hand, putting emphasis on individual autonomy of human beings has blocked any attempt to impose any restrictions, the harm principle being the only criterion of criminalization. On the other hand, putting stress on public morals and proper moral norms in the text of the UDHR and ICCPR implies that we may go beyond the harm principle and adopt legal patriarchy and legal morality as additional criteria in criminalizing human rights issues. Authors on human rights have failed to address this issue and as a result the harm principle has been gradually adopted as the only criterion in criminalizing human rights issues and this has resulted in the failure to take other criteria of criminalization into account. This article aims to address and explore the challenge between individual autonomy and proper moral requirements, both of which have been stressed in the UDHR. Each perspective will be analyzed critically.