Well, there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human..., which is to say, it's complicated. Notice USSR did not vote against the proposed universal declaration, implying they were willing to go along with whatever everyone else decided.

So, the person quoted in the article has at least some grounds for arguing about human rights, although you might consider the grounds fairly weak. I furthermore claim that the only compassionate response is to agree even if the person isn't on the strongest ground in a formal legal sense where someone might actually be able to do something about it.