Human rights and the deification of traditions

Tzvetan Todorov on human rights:

I’m not against human rights. Who could be against human rights? But I’m a little sceptical about their use. It seems to be that the preliminary of human rights is indeed something that we should cherish very much, which is the capacity of finding a common ground. I observe, however, and I think that’s why I have this sceptical view, that human rights nowadays are used as a kind of instrument for justifying our Western superiority. And as soon as we observe that somewhere rights are not exactly accepted in the same way, we consider these countries definitely inferior and maybe even deserving punishment.
I think that we in the West are very proud of our traditions and justly so, but we still have a lot to learn from the Chinese traditions, from the African traditions, from all sorts of ways of being elsewhere. We need to pay attention to these rather than extracting one savage habit such as clitoridectomy, and say, “Well, how can you do that?”

I disagree with him for two simple reasons. The first is that I don't think that there is such a place as the "West" and the rest for this distinction comes from the denial of the reality that the world is too small and the west has become the rest and vice versa. This fact doesn't mean that we are all the same, but rather that differences cannot longer be sacred and justified by invoking a glorified past or unchallengeable faith in the divine. My second reason for disagreeing with Todorov is that although I'm to acknowledging the human rights are problematic especially in the sphere of international affairs, that reality doesn't mean that cultural differences are legitimate excuses/justifications for barbarism and cruelty. Culture doesn't justify anything and more importantly, traditions can be barbaric, grotesque, and unique without using the human rights criteria or comparing them to what others or to use a lauded term "civilized" people do. It is always important to pay attention to savage habits because they affect more often than not an incredible amount of people.