Introduction
Over the past fifteen years, scholars, human rights advocates, and government officials have been promoting or criticizing the claim that human rights, as defined in the U.N declaration of human rights, are universally valid. Considering this loggerhead this paper attempts to analyze the conflict between the cultural relativism and universal human rights from the point of view of human security in Asia. This paper will consider claims about ` Asian Values` made in connection to human rights and economic development rights to find Asian way of encouraging human security. The research results shows that universal human right does not have to be demolished on the reasons of cultural diversity. Therefore, to encourage human security …show more content…
The first level is the substance of the list of human rights to be protected. The thesis of cultural relativism holds that different societies have different perceptions of right and wrong, so human rights substances should also be different. But it is absurd to make a critical standard of morality dependent on the level of support it has from various societies as every society try to set it according to their own interest. For example should we say ‘child marriage’ is right just because some people believes it is right? I think this does not make standard of morality and such perception from cultural relativism should be …show more content…
The form in which human rights are protected should also be more cooperative rather than confrontational. This would lead to human rights instruments that are better applicable to specific regions for their culture by taking account of “geographical complexity, diversity and vastness of the region as well as their historical background and levels of political stability, economic development and social progress” (Statement from Indonesia at the World Conference on Human Rights, 1993) (UNHCR,1993). Donnelly argued to this clam saying that “other regional organizations have not been successful in implementing very stringent human rights norms on a regional level (Donnelly, 1989)” . Asian cultural relativist claims are quite justifiable in this argument, because the Universal Human Rights declaration was inspired by the western
Over the past fifteen years, scholars, human rights advocates, and government officials have been promoting or criticizing the claim that human rights, as defined in the U.N declaration of human rights, are universally valid. Considering this loggerhead this paper attempts to analyze the conflict between the cultural relativism and universal human rights from the point of view of human security in Asia. This paper will consider claims about ` Asian Values` made in connection to human rights and economic development rights to find Asian way of encouraging human security. The research results shows that universal human right does not have to be demolished on the reasons of cultural diversity. Therefore, to encourage human security …show more content…
The first level is the substance of the list of human rights to be protected. The thesis of cultural relativism holds that different societies have different perceptions of right and wrong, so human rights substances should also be different. But it is absurd to make a critical standard of morality dependent on the level of support it has from various societies as every society try to set it according to their own interest. For example should we say ‘child marriage’ is right just because some people believes it is right? I think this does not make standard of morality and such perception from cultural relativism should be …show more content…
The form in which human rights are protected should also be more cooperative rather than confrontational. This would lead to human rights instruments that are better applicable to specific regions for their culture by taking account of “geographical complexity, diversity and vastness of the region as well as their historical background and levels of political stability, economic development and social progress” (Statement from Indonesia at the World Conference on Human Rights, 1993) (UNHCR,1993). Donnelly argued to this clam saying that “other regional organizations have not been successful in implementing very stringent human rights norms on a regional level (Donnelly, 1989)” . Asian cultural relativist claims are quite justifiable in this argument, because the Universal Human Rights declaration was inspired by the western