This article critically looks at the human rights project as a damning three-dimensional metaphor that exposes multiple complexes. It argues that the grand narrative of human rights contains a subtext which depicts an epochal contest pitting savages, on the one hand, against victims and saviors, on the other. The savages-victims-saviors (SVS) construction lays bare some of the hypocrisies of the human rights project and asks human rights thinkers and advocates to become more self-reflective. The piece questions the universality and cultural neutrality of the human rights project. It calls for the construction of a truly universal human rights corpus, one that is multicultural, inclusive, and deeply political.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an intergovernmental organization with the goal of promoting peace through the arts, sciences and culture. A major focus of UNESCO is the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage. An interesting function of UNESCO is the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, set forth in the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.