SSRN 1405436

The ‘Asian Values’ Perspective of Human Rights:
A Challenge to Universal Human Rights
Hoang Van Nghia *
"What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others"

Confucius (551-479 BC), Analects
The so-called ‘Asian values’ perspective emerged during the 1990s after the collapse of
the Soviet Union bloc and as a result of the rise of East Asian economies. Although no
longer in general use, this concept still proves a useful reference point when
considering the cultural relativism of human rights as a championing viewpoint and the
premise upon which Asian countries (in particular those in East Asia) rely when
defending their own values against the universalism of human rights, as well as a
justification for the shortcomings of human rights practices. It refers to values which,
distinct from those emerging from European discourse, advocate the particularity of
human rights and deny their universality. It can be summarised as having the following
major components: a relativistic approach to human rights, a communitarian outlook, a
strong emphasis on the family at the core of society, the need to acknowledge the
significance of economic, social and cultural influences, human dignity as the
foundation of human rights, an identified correlation between rights and duties, and
emphasis on national sovereignty. This concept has been widely debated by many
prominent East Asian politicians and scholars, and used to challenge the universality of
human rights 1 . Opponents have argued that this view can lead to the advocating of
double standards to justify mass violations of human rights. In this paper, the author
argues that although it is a new trend of human rights discourse and a contribution to
the evolution of human rights theories, the emergence of the ‘Asian Values’ perspective
is a great challenge to universal human rights and international human rights regimes.
The author also argues the approach to human rights can be neither universal nor
*
Doctor of Jurisprudence, researcher and lecturer, Vietnamese Institute of Human Rights, Ho Chi Minh
National Academy of Public Administration and Political Science, Hanoi, Vietnam.
1
For example, Lee Kwan Yew (prime minister of Singapore, 1959-90) and Mahathir Mohammad (prime
minister of Malaysia, 1981-2003) advocated that human rights are not only universal, but rather
culturally specific. Li points out that ‘by sorting out the various threads in the notions of "cultural
specificity" and "universality," it shows that the claim to "Asian values" hardly constitutes a serious
threat to the universal validity of human rights’. See Li, Xiaorong (1996), ‘Asian values’ and the
universality of human rights, Report from Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Volume 16, No. 2,
Spring 1996, at http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/IPPP/li.htm (accessed 15.10.07)
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particular, but should incorporate aspects of both of these essential viewpoints. A
common standard should thus emerge, reflecting diverse values whilst at the same time
transcending religion and culture.
The cultural relativists maintain that human rights, far from being universal, essentially
represent Western (more specifically, Christian and European) values 2 . Sen and other
Asian scholars have been critical of the claim that Asia had ‘long expelled’ political
freedom from their system and that democracy as a fundamental and ancient feature of
Western culture was not to be easily found in Asia 3 .
‘Asian values’ are enshrined in doctrines such as Confucianism. Confucianism protects

group rights rather than those of individuals; it also states the duties or obligations
owed to society by the individual. This had led many to the conclusion that Asia does
not recognise and respect the individual basis of liberties, and that liberalism is not
suitable for East Asians 4 . However, although diverse cultural values have undoubtedly
led to diversity in the understanding of human rights, it is clear that an acceptable
minimum standard of protection of human rights common to all cultures 5 must be
agreed. This controversial debate, resulting from a variety of approaches in theory and
practice, has raged amongst the world’s scholars, particularly since the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 6 , and resulted in many obstacles being placed in
the way of the realisation of common standards of human rights at both national and
international levels.
Those who deny that human rights ideas are a product of culture also deny the Asian
and African cultural perspective of human rights. Donnelly is an advocate of the
significance of socio-economic conditions in the development of human rights. He
stresses that ‘just as traditional Asian and African societies lacked ideas and practices
2
See Langlois J., Anthony (2001), The Politics of Justice and Human Rights: SouthEast Asia and
Universalist Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
3
Sen, Amartya (1997), Human rights and Asia Values (lecture) (Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs), at http://www.cceia.org/media/254_sen.pdf (accessed 05.05.05)
4
Chan, Joseph (2005), ‘Human Rights and Confucian Virtues’, Harvard Asia Quarterly 2005, at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/haq/200003/0003a006.htm (accessed 08.11.05)
5
Justice David Malcolm AC, Human Rights at the End of the 1990s: Challenges to Universality.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MurUEJL/1998/30.html (accessed 20.10.05)
6
See Donnelly, Jack (1989), Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press), p.5-7
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of human rights, so did traditional Western societies’ 7 , and that both theoretically and
in practice the concept of human rights was only born in modern industrial societies.
Though the positive legacy of Asian values is still contentious, even amongst Asian
scholars 8 , most contemporary Asian scholars have tried to prove Asia has valid and
traditional perspectives on human rights.
The Eastern tradition views human rights as belonging to members of a community,

who are dependent beings rather than autonomous individuals. This perspective is
based on the inevitable needs of capitalism that requires the liberation of the labour
force and the escape from religion-state feudalism. The socio-economic conditions
prevalent in the West during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did not exist in
Asian societies in this period, and thus such ideas of the rights of the individual did not
emerge as relevant. Instead, such a concept only came to exist from the mid-
nineteenth century onwards, first in Japan and then to China, spreading throughout the
whole of East Asia in the footsteps of Western colonialism.
Sen distinguishes between East Asian and south Asian values. He points out that in
south Asia there exists a tradition of respect for tolerance (a pre-conditional value of
human rights), whereas East Asian society is mainly based on Confucianism that
advocates the significance of society over the individual. He emphasises the impact of
this tolerant attitude on public policy-making, with governments being influenced
towards values of non-injury, restraint, impartiality, and mild behaviour 9 . Sen argues
that unlike ancient India, in China (and in East Asian societies that have been
influenced by Chinese civilization, such as Japan and Korea) the political order
presides in principle over every area of socio-political life 10 .
It should be remembered, therefore, that discussion around so-called Asian values

involves a diverse range of cultures and religions. Asia is home to major religions such
as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism and Confucianism. The champions of Asian
7
Donnelly, Jack (2006), The Relative Universality of Human Rights, Working Paper N.33 (University of
Denver), at http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/working/2006/33-donnelly-2006.pdf (accessed 15.05.06).
8
For instance, Joseph Chan, in his numerous articles on Confucianism and human rights, has claimed
that neither Asia nor its major philosophies, for instance Confucianism, contain the ideas of human rights
or traditions. See Joseph Chan (2000), ‘Human rights and Confucian virtues’, Human rights Asia
Quarterly, Volume IV, No. 3, Summer 2000, http://www.asiaquarterly.com/content/view/79/ (accessed
25.10.05).
9
Sen, Amartya (1997) Human rights and Asia Values (lecture), Ibid.
10
Sen, Amartya (2006), Ibid.
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values however, are notably from East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and
Singapore), where Confucianism is a key factor and where the resulting values are
embedded. The focus of analysis of Asian values in this paper is thus East Asia, in
particular the core characteristic of Confucianism.
1. Relativity of human rights

In 1993, thirty-four Asian and Middle Eastern states adopted the Bangkok Declaration 11
claiming that human rights ‘must be considered in the context of a dynamic and
evolving process on international norm-setting; bearing in mind the significance of
national and regional peculiarities and various historical, cultural, and religious
background’ 12 . This sentence was added to the 1993 Vienna Declaration of Human
Rights.
Of all the champions of ‘Asian values’ the first prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kwan
Yew, has been the most outspoken. Shortly after the British handover of Hong Kong
to China in 1997, Lee argued that East Asia may well define government differently
from the West: ‘Whether China will be a democracy like the West or have its own
form of pluralism and representative government, I would leave time and circumstance
to decide’ 13 . Goh Chok Tong (prime minister of Singapore, 1990-2004), also stated
that East Asia could follow an alternative way of democracy and human rights based
on their own cultures and particularities. He argued that Singaporeans themselves had
‘rejected Western-style liberal democracy and freedoms’ 14 . Malaysian counterparts,
including former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed and his successors, have also
claimed an approach to human rights based on the premise of cultural specificity as
being appropriate for them. Approaching the debate from a slightly different
perspective, former Malaysian foreign minister and now prime minister, Abdullah
11
See “The Bangkok Declaration,” adopted at the Asia Intergovernmental Meeting, Bangkok, March 29–
April 2, 1993, in preparation for the Second UN World Conference on Human Rights,
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu5/wcbangk.htm (accessed 10.10.07);Ayton-Shenker has also claimed
that universal human rights do not impose one cultural standard, rather one legal standard of minimum
protection necessary for human dignity, and they are a modern achievement, new to all cultures.’ See
Ayton-Shenker, Diana (1995), The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity.
http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm (accessed 26.07.05).
12
The Bangkok Declaration, Ibid.
13
Gordon, Uri (2000), Viewpoints: Machiavelli’s Tiger: Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore’s authoritarian
regime, Singapore Windows, http://www.singapore-window.org/sw00/000614ug.htm (accessed 12 Dec
06).
14
Hamlin, Kevin, ‘Singapore Makes Bold Bet On The Future Of Democracy’, Asia Times, 24 June 1997,
http://www.singapore-window.org/at0624.htm, 1., (accessed 10.10.07).
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Badawai, argues that though there can be no different definitions for human rights,
there can be a different standard 15 .
2. Communitarianism
Communitarianism is a vital pillar at the heart of Asian values, and shapes the defences
of its champions. The main characteristic of this perspective is its emphasis on the
interests of community over the individual, and duties over rights.
Lee Kwan Yew believes this communitarian approach evolved as a result of the
influence of Confucianism. He criticised unfettered Western liberalism, stating that an
ordered state, rather than one of contention and anarchy, is needed for true freedom to
flourish 16 . He states that Asians have ‘little doubt that a society with communitarian
values where the interests of society take precedence over that of the individual suits
them better than the individualism of America’ 17 .
He also claimed that economic successes in East Asian societies were due to this
communitarian approach. As he argued, ‘We were fortunate we had this cultural
backdrop, the belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety and loyalty in the extended family,
and most of all, the respect for scholarship and learning’ 18 . He argued,
Most East Asians do not think of themselves as individuals in the same way Westerners do.
Westerners think of themselves first and foremost as autonomous individuals, whereas Asians
think of themselves in terms of relationships with others, their family members in particular19 .
He also defended the Asian perspective of human rights, by asserting that:
In Eastern societies human rights are understood in the communitarian values or the
community-centred values rather than the individual-centred values… the individual exists in
the context of his family. He is not pristine and separate. The family is part of the extended
family, and then friends and the wider society. The ruler or the government does not try to
provide for a person what the family best provides 20 .
Lee has claimed that in choosing whether to incorporate Western-style democracy

(based around individualistic values), or Eastern-style democracy (based around
collective values) into Asian societies, the latter is obviously better for Asia. He added:
15
Asiaweek, 31 October 1997, http://www.singapore-window.org/1O31 mal.htm )1.,(accessed 10.10.07).
16
Zakaria, Fareed (1994), 'Culture is Destiny: A Conversation With Lee Kuan Yew', Foreign Affairs 73
(2), 109-26, at http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/other/culture.html (accessed 10.10.07)
17
International Herald Tribune, 9-10 November 1991
18
Peng-Khaun Chong (1968) (ed), Problems in Political Development: Singapore (Berkeley:
McCutchon Publishing Company, 1968), p.97.
19
Bell, Daniel A (2000), op. cit., p.193.
20
Zakaria, Fareed (1994), Ibid.
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We’ll do what’s necessary to protect our communitarian traditions, including putting
restrictions on people’s democratic freedoms. But I’m not saying you should learn from
us. Americans may prefer more democracy and less community, which is fine, but we
prefer less democracy and more community 21 .
This argument is held in high regard by most East Asian leaders and elites. However,
the inherent danger of this approach is that it can lead to the prioritising of
authoritarianism over human rights and the democratic process. Some might find it
easy to agree with the view that the rights of the individual should be considered
alongside those of the community. However, others find it harder to accept that these
individual rights must always, in case of conflict, give way to the interests of
community. A further point of contention is Lee’s assertion that communitarianism
and political stability are more important than democracy and individual human rights.
The thesis upon which Lee based his argument, that of the ‘Asian mode of
production’ 22 , is a system which according to Marx, is one based on totalitarian
feudalism and patriarchal regimes 23 .
Marx stated that the regimes in such societies were undemocratic and patriarchal,
centring around family-based societal and human relationships, and creating many
obstacles to the emancipation of individuals and the forces of production. However, it
could be said that Marx was following the well-established European intellectual
tradition that depicted Asian societies in undifferentiated ways as ‘barbarians’ or ‘semi-
barbarians’, portrayals that generated socialist antipathy to neo-Confucian and ‘feudal’
culture 24 . Truong Chinh, former Vietnamese communist party general secretary, also
blamed the Asian mode of production for backward economic and social conditions in
Vietnam. He vilified traditional cultural precepts as ‘unscientific’, promoting
‘superstition, idealism, mysticism, bungling, carelessness, all those habits that are
irrational or retrograde’ 25 . From a Marxist perspective, therefore, Asian values have
been open to criticism, even within East Asian society.
21
Bell, Daniel (2000), op. cit., p. 234.
22
A term coined by Karl Marx and developed by his followers.
23
For example, in Politics Aristotle defined the various forms of government and the resulting levels of
freedom and democracy. He criticised any form of government in which there existed only one or few
rulers. He also compared occidental feudalist monarchy with oriental feudalist monarchy, and referred to
the latter as a form of tyranny. See Aristotle Politics, (Books 1-8), trans. by Benjamin Jowett, at
http://www.constitution.org/ari/polit_00.htm (accessed 15.10.06). Also see Aristotle Politics, at
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2t.htm#politics (accessed 15.10.06).
24
Marx, K., 1969 (1877) Otechestvenniye Zapiski, reproduced in S. Avineri (ed.),
Karl Marx on Colonialism and Modernization, Doubleday, New York: 6. Quote in John Gillespie
(2005), op.cit., at 50.
25
Truong Chinh, 1948. Marxism and Vietnamese culture, Report delivered to the Second
National Cultural Conference, July 1948, reproduced in Truong Chinh Selected
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Like Western thinkers, Sen supports the view that the concept of human rights only
emerged as a result of Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment movements, and that
neither Asia nor Europe had such a tradition before this. However, unlike many
Western thinkers and contemporary scholars, Sen asserted that before the concept of
human rights emerged, there was a tradition of human rights in the East. For example,
according to Sen, ideas around political rights and democracy existed in ancient India 26 .
Sen also takes a more radical stance than Lee, pointing out that in Asia there existed
(for example, in the humanism of Buddhism and the discrimination of Hinduism’s caste
system) the traditions both of tolerance and intolerance. Sen emphasizes that ‘[i]t is
worth remembering that democracy has developed well enough in many countries in
Asia, Africa and Latin America’ 27 .
However, Sen argued that his discussion of human rights refers to the concept and its
contents as widely understood as a modern category, and that its existence as such in
Asian cultures is doubtful. In Human rights and Asian Values he argues,
The question that has to be asked, rather, is whether Asian countries share the common feature
of being sceptical of freedom and liberty, while emphasizing order and discipline. The
advocates of Asian particularism allow internal heterogeneity within Asia, but in the context of
a shared mistrust of the claims of political liberalism. 28
He states that ‘when one claims an Asian perspective of human rights… it does not
mean that there is only Confucian influence on Asian thoughts in relation to human
rights, there are other traditions, especially Buddhism’ 29 , criticising Lee Kwan Yew and
others as those who ‘did not understand about Asia.’ It is clear that the Asian values
are products of, or at leastleast inherited from, a variety of religions, philosophies and
cultures.
The majority of Vietnamese people classify themselves as non-religious, although they

visit religious temples several times every year. Their everyday behaviours and
attitudes are dictated by the synthesis of philosophies which can be traced from many
religions, especially Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism. Those religions
have co-existed for centuries (alongside the Vietnamese tradition of worshiping ones
Writings. Hanoi: Su That (The Truth) Publishing House, at 25-52.

26
Sen, Amartya (1997), ‘Human Rights and Asian Values: What Lee Kuan Yew and Le Peng don't
understand about Asia’, The New Public, at http://www.brainsnchips.org/hr/sen.htm (accessed 20.10.08).
27
Sen refers to Indian emperors (such as Ashoka) who imposed the jurisdiction and practice of tolerance
of religions. He believes such a view indicates a universalist approach to human rights. Sen, Amartya
(2006), ‘Democracy isn’t ‘Western’’, The Wall Street Journal, Friday, March 24, 2006.
28
Sen, Amartya (1997), Human rights and Asia Values (lecture), Ibid.
29
Ibid.
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ancestors and national heroes), to the extent which many people find it hard to say
exactly which religion they belong to 30 . Sen argues that Buddhism, rather than the
more conservative Confucianism, places freedom as its central pillar. At the same
time, he argues that the long tradition of respect for humanity and human dignity,
implicit in Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, cannot be a substitute for a truly
inclusive system of human rights 31 .
The precepts of humanity and tolerance are present in all major religions, and religion
without doubt informs culture. However, with the encroaching effects of modernity
(over half century in Vietnam), other factors have exerted a strong influence on Asian
societies which were traditionally regarded underdeveloped. These have brought about
awareness of such concepts as the individual’s rights to privacy, to freedom of speech,
to freedom of association and assembly, and to freedom of religion and beliefs, as well
as the group rights such as women’s rights, children’s rights, minorities’ rights and
indigenous people’s rights. As a result of modernism and globalisation, demand from
Asian societies for these rights has come about as a process and their traditional values,
such as communitarian and collective rights, have more or less been replaced by
modern and westernised values 32 .
Amongst religions and philosophies upon which the premise of ‘Asian values’ relies it
is Buddhism, perhaps, that is prevalent. As early as the first millennium, Buddhism
stretched throughout a large part of Asia 33 , and to date lives on in many Asian nations,
including those which have Islam as their official religion34 . However the proponents of
the ‘Asian values’ perspective seemed to be likely to champion Confucianism only.
In defending particularity over universality, relativists criticise the dysfunction of

Western societies caused by individualism. They also claim that in traditional societies,
the rights and interests of the community can, if necessary, be asserted over those of
30
See Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Vietnam
31
Sen, Amartya (1995), Thinking Human Rights and Asia Values (conference paper) (Carnegie Council
on Ethics and International Affairs 1996),
http://www.cceia.org/viewMedia.php/prmTemplateID/8/prmID/519 (accessed 07.03.05).
32
Not all Asian societies however have incorporated universal human rights or become democratic
countries. In many the influence of religious fundamentalism is strong, such as Islamic states of
Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan. The traditions of intolerance for the freedom of religions have been a
dominant factor in traditional Asian societies, especially in south Asia.
33
Buddhism originated from India around five thousands years ago, then spread out through South Asia
(Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, etc.) to East Asia (Burma, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Lao,
Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.).
34
For example, Buddhism is still popular in India, Pakistan, and Malaysia.
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the individual without any violation of human rights. For example, Lee Kwan Yew
claims that in the US, so-called human rights are in reality the overemphasis of the
individual’s interests, leading to them forgetting their duties and abandoning the
community. The freedom of the individual has thus led to the violation of human
rights, due to the crime rate increasing and the devaluation of morality 35 .
The supporters of Asian values also point out that so-called Western concepts of human
rights can be found in Asian cultural traditions. The notion of ren in Confucianism, for
example, expresses the value of impartial concern to relieve human suffering. In
Mencius’s famous example of a child falling into a well, a man with ren would be
moved by compassion to save the child, not for personal gain but simply because of his
concern for the suffering of a human being. The same sort of idea, presumably,
animates concern for human rights in Western countries 36 . However, there are some
ideas which are thought to be not available in any Western philosophical and cultural
tradition such as the children’s duty towards their parents and the parents’ obligatory
care and control over their children, even when they become adults, were once present
in Christian cultures such the commandment in the Old Testament to ‘honour your
father and mother’ (Exodus 20:12; cf Deut. 5:16). 37 The value of the family plays a key
role in Confucian ideology of politics and morals 38 .
It has however been argued that East Asian philosophies, notably Confucianism, do not
have a concept of human rights. Its philosophy seems to advocate inequality of social
relations between the citizens and the state, and between individuals on the basis of
gender and age. Individuals are regarded as duties-holders, rather than rights-holders.
This viewpoint sees, for example, that each human being has a specific social role: as
father, as son, as wife, as ruler, as subject, as friend. Each role was assigned a different
status and a different pattern of behaviour. This became the basis of the ancient East
Asian legal systems 39 . Although modernity and globalisation have swept away the
predominance of these values in East Asian’s developed countries (such as Japan and
35
Straits Times, Singapore 21/11/92, at 31.
36
Bell, Daniel A (2000), East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia (Princeton:
Princeton University Press ), p.50.
37
http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/misc/tarazi_honor_father_mother.htm (accessed
19.12.08)
38
Bell, Daniel A (2000), p. 96.
39
Senger, Harro von (1993), ‘Chinese Culture and Human Right’ in Wolfgang Schmale (ed.), Human
Right and Cultural Diversity- Europe, Arabic-Islam World, Africa and China, (London: Goldbach), pp.
305-9.
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South Korea), this perspective and tradition have been still influential to East Asian’s
developing countries (such as China and Vietnam), especially their rural areas.
Some critics go as far as to argue that the communitarian perspective of human rights is
incompatible with universal human rights. They explained that in the Western liberal
tradition, the only subjectivity of human rights is the individual 40 . Since universal
human rights standards are set forth based on this tradition, it is very hard to accept that
the individual’s rights should be balanced with those of the community.
3. Family as the core value of society

For traditional Asian societies, the first and foremost unit was the family. The family
was regarded the foundation of society, therefore its values and virtues were those of
the society. Although there have been changes in Asian society’s values system, such
as the breakdown of traditional family, the rise of individualism, etc., the family has
still placed as a central role in modern Asian societies. It has a most significant
influence on social institutions, providing the emotional and philosophical model that
results in the thinking of society as an organic unity. It thus provides the strongest
rationale for communitarianism. In 1989, Mahathir argued that in the beginning there
was Individual Man, living in isolation, unfettered by rules or codes of behaviour 41 . In
fact, from earliest times human beings lived in groups – first the family, then the
village, then the district, then the state. Being instinctively gregarious, humankind
needed the security that only living in a group could provide. In 1994, Lee Kwan Yew
argued that, ‘Eastern societies believe that the individual exists in the context of his
family. He is not pristine and separate. The family is part of the extended family, and
then friends and the wider society.’ 42 Another prominent Vietnamese academic argued
that ‘[i]n line with tradition, Vietnamese people always put the interests of the society
above those of the family and of themselves. The rights of each individual are respected
on condition that they are not opposite to those of the family, village and country’, and
that ‘we do not accept those individual interests, which are opposite to the social
interests. We always consider that correct relationships between society and the
40
See Donnelly (1989), op. cit.
41
Mohamad, Mahathir (1989), ‘The social responsibility of the press’ in A. Mehra (ed.) (1989), Press
Systems in ASEAN States (Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre), p.
107.
42
Zakaria, Fareed (194), ‘Culture is destiny: a conversation with Lee Kwan Yew’, Foreign Affairs, 1994,
vol. 73, p. 113.
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individual are a good value in the Vietnamese tradition’ 43 . Although the extended
family has been not a predominant figure in urban areas of modern and transitional
Asian societies, it is still common in rural areas, particularly in China and Vietnam.
There is no doubt that in ancient and feudal Asian societies, the family was a stable,
solid and initial unit of the social and political community. However, modernism and
globalisation have brought in individualism that has led to a shift away from these
values 44 . Many East Asian societies are seeing the breakdown of traditional family
structures 45 . Modernity has, of course, had both good and bad influences. On the one
hand, the wave of human rights, especially the individual’s rights, has been shifting
away traditional values which conflict with the liberty of individuals. On the other
hand, modernity has adversely affected traditional values that once stabilised the
society and family foundations, such as the respect for the elderly people, the stability
of family (as the highest divorce and broken families), 46 or other values such as
tolerance, righteousness, etc. As Dalton and Ong asserted in their empirical study on
the testing of ‘Asian values’ perspective,
With modernization comes urbanization, the breaking up of traditional social networks, and
the spreading of competitive mentality, some of the factors contributing to the growth of
individualism in Asia 47 .
Although there are disadvantages resulting from the process of modernisation and
globalisation, the advantages can outweigh them and create better chances for the
recognition and protection of human rights. Ideally, the creation of a human rights
culture, upon which the family and society are based, will lead to the emergence of a
new set of values, based on true respect of the rights of the individual. From this point
of view, human rights will only come about through the questioning of tradition,
overcoming any obstacles to the development of individuals and society in particular
and human beings in general. The ultimate goal of the society should be to realise the
43
Vu Khieu, ‘Vietnam vis-à-vis Asian and European values’, paper presented to a workshop on ‘Asian
values and Vietnam’s development in comparative perspective’(Hanoi, March 1999).
44
See Woodside, Alexander (2006), Lost Modernities: China, Vietnam, Korea, and the Hazards of
World History (Cambrigde, MA: Harvard University Press), (91-101), p3.
45
See Rydstrøm, Helle (2003), Encountering “Hot” Anger: Domestic Violence in Contemporary
Vietnam, http://vaw.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/9/6/676 (accessed 21.10.08).
46
The divorce rate in Vietnam is higher among younger people. In Ho Chi Minh City, its figures in 2006
show that couples aged 18-30 account for over 35% of divorces. See VietnamNetBridge,
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/07/589769/ (accessed 21.10.08). See also Rydstrom (2003), op.
cit.
47
Dalton, Russell J. & Ong, Nhu-Ngoc T. (2004), Authority Orientations and Democratic Attitudes: A
Test of the ‘Asian Values’ Hypotheses, University of California Irvine’s Centre for the Study of
Democracy, http://www.democ.uci.edu/resources/virtuallibrary/vietnam/mpsa03.pdf (accessed
20.10.07).
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individual’s potential capacity in terms of their rights and freedoms. Marxist thought
on freedom can thus be reasserted: that the free development of the individual is a
precondition for the free development of society 48 .
Like most contemporary Western scholars, Huntington, in The Third Wave, rejects the
superiority of the Asian values approach to human rights. He argues that Confucianism
results in undemocratic (even anti-democratic) practices, emphasising as it does the
group over the individual, authority over liberty, and responsibilities over rights. He
also points out that because in such societies, order and respect for hierarchy are central
values, they lack the tradition of asserting one’s rights against the state 49 . However,
this argument ignores the fact that an independent Asian perspective on human rights
does exist. At a regional conference in 1995, several Asia-Pacific countries identified
an approach to human rights education that draws on ‘the rich cultural heritage and
diversity in the region, including appropriate recognition of family and community
values’. They also stressed that ‘human rights education must affirm not only rights
and freedoms but also responsibilities’, and that education should ‘promote the values
and practices of healing, reconciliation and conflict resolution’, and should ‘cultivate
participative values of governance, consensus building and accountability’ 50 . However,
it has also been argued that this approach has enabled some Asian states to justify anti-
democratic regimes and to protect unpleasant human rights practices. Some critics thus
state that the so-called Asian perspective is in fact the voice of authoritarian
governments using the discourse of culture to reinforce their own authority 51 .
Evidence shows that Confucian societies based on the family hierarchy demonstrate
less respect for human rights 52 , advocating as they do inequalities, with the man, as
father and husband, being given the position of authority. This inequality in gender
relationships is an extension of the social inequality inherent in Confucianism:
48
See Marx, Karl (1848), Communist Manifesto,
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm (accessed 21.10.08)
49
Huntington, Samuel P. (1991), The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late 20th Century (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press), pp. 300-301.
50
See Conference-Workshop on Asia-Pacific Human Rights Education for Development 1995 in
HuRights OSAKA, Human rights and Cultural Values: A Literature Review.
http://www.hurights.or.jp/database/E/note10 (accessed 14.07.05).
51
See Langlois, Anthony J. (2001), The Politics of Justice and Human Rights: SouthEast Asia and
Universalist Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); also see, Langlois, Anthony J., ‘Human
Rights Without Democracy: A Critique of Separationist Thesis’, Human Rights Quarterly, (Baltimore:
John Hopins University Press), pp. 992-1007.
52
On contrary, As Max Weber once argued that the heritage of Confucianism was responsible for Asia's
slow economic development, due to the Confucian culture's conservatism and lack of entrepreneurial
spirit; this remained an influential position for many years.
Ch3-12

‘Confucianism was used politically and socially as a conservative ideology concerning
the state, the economic system, and gender relationships’ 53 . Feminists in particular
have condemned Confucianism, stating that it places man above woman, creating an
‘asymmetry involving female inferiority, subordination, and vulnerability’ 54 . However,
there have been changes in Confucian-based, East Asian societies since the late 19th
century. In Japan and South Korea in the 1950s and China and Vietnam in the late
1980s, western values, via the process of modernisation resulting from international
and economic integration began to be incorporated into society. Individualism and
individual rights have been replacing communitarianism and communitarian rights. As
a result of urbanisation and movement of labour from the agricultural sector to
industrial and service sectors, extended families have been replaced by nuclear
families, family-based values have been weakened and children have become more
aware of their rights, rather than their duties. This is seen by many as a good portent
for the development of human rights. As Sen pointed out, development is freedom 55 ;
freedom is a precondition for the development of an individual’s capacity, and thus
society.
Just as the forces of modernity affect social structures, the economic structure of East
Asia has also changed radically over the last three decades. The emergence of new
economies (New Industrialised Countries, NICs, or ‘tiger’ economies) such as Japan,
South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and recently China, has presented an
historic lesson, namely that what has brought socio-economic success is their divorce
from Confucian-based, traditional values, considered ‘backward’ by some, and
incompatible with the development of industrialised society. This shows that these
East Asian societies (apart from China and Singapore) became developed and
democratic countries resulted from their adoption to western values of which the
respect for the individual’s rights and freedoms. In this sense, the respect for the
individual’s rights and freedoms is essential for the respect for the liberation of labour
force, creative capacity, and therefore, of the objective development of humankind’s
society 56 .
53
De Vos, George A. (1998), ‘A Japanese legacy of Confucian thought’ in Slote and De Vos, op. cit., pp.
105–117, at. 110.
54
Sugiyama, Slebra Takie (1998), Confucian gender role and personal fulfilment for Japanese women,
in Slote & De Vos, op. cit., pp. 209–227, at 211.
55
See Sen, Amartya (2001), Development as Freedom (Oxford University Press).
56
As early as the mid-19th century, Japan began a process of reform (especially political and legal) based
on the Western model, and the ideas of human rights and individual’s rights were introduced. Without
such a dramatic move away from Asian values, it is unlikely that Japan could have become a democracy,
Ch3-13

By contrast, China retained its conservative Confucian ideology, which is one of the
reasons that it is behind western civilisation in terms of science and technology. Many
Chinese scholars and elites looked to Japan as a good model for modernising their
society, and partly as a result of its influence, China has adopted some western
concepts of human rights. Among those was Sun Yat-sen 57 who developed the theory
of Three People’s Principles, or collectively San-min Doctrine. This identified three
basic necessities, namely rights, life, and literacy. He proposed a program to make
China a free, prosperous, and powerful nation58 . Ho Chi Minh 59 criticised Vietnamese
traditional values and proposed a new path to gain the rights to life, to freedom and to
pursue happiness 60 . The reforms of Japan’s Meiji and China’s Sun Yat-sen have
provided Asian nations with useful models, showing how traditional Asian values can
be renewed in the context of the contemporary world. It seems clear that if a similar
model is not followed, Asian values are likely to impede development and integration
into the modern world.
Asian traditional values continue to be criticised both by western scholars and present-
day Asians, such as Francis Fukuyama and Amartya Sen. Fukuyama argues that there
are no inherent obstacles to democracy in modem Confucian states based on traditional,
cultural principles. He does not agree with the link between Confucianism and
authoritarianism; rather, he sees the potential for the philosophy to rein in excessive
individualism manifested by the liberal democratic system. 61
The differences between western and eastern perspectives of human rights might be
explained by an ontological approach. The majority of western thinkers conceptualise
and the world’s second economic superpower. Japan was the only Asian country not occupied by
foreign invaders and the only empire that advanced into European territory. Although it then went
through an imperialist and fascist phase, its adapting to modern values, including human rights, has been
a remarkable example of how a country can adapt to forces of globalisation.
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/civil_n2/histscript6_n2/meiji.html (accessed 25.10.06)
57
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), he was the great contemporary Chinese thinker and leader who led the
country to overthrown the Ching Dynasty and founded the Chinese National Party, and the Republic of
China in 1912. See also at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen (accessed 25.10.06)
58
Sun Yat-sen’s Three People’s Principles, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Principles_of_the_People
(accessed 25.10.06)
59
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): Vietnamese thinker, leader and founder of Vietnamese Communist Party,
and founding father of Modern Vietnamese State, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945.
60
See Ho Chi Minh (1919), The Revolutionary Path (Duong Cach Menh), and Ho Chi Minh (1945),
‘The Declaration of Independence’ in Ho Chi Minh Collected Works (Hanoi: National Publishing House,
1993).
61
Fukuyama, Francis (1995), ‘Confucianism and Democracy’, Journal of Democracy 6 No.2 (April
1995) 20-33.
Ch3-14

the human individual as a natural being, whereas their eastern counterparts think of the
individual as a social being. The West often emphasises human beings as autonomous
beings, whereas the East sees them as members of a family, group and society who are
inseparable and dependable.
Not only western scholars, but also their Asian counterparts, have tried to point out that
there is no notion of human rights and equality in pre-industrial and Asian societies,
especially those societies based on Confucianism. For example, Kwok states that the
Chinese recognised only the ‘right of the prince, right of the patriarch, right of the ruler
(jun quan, fu quan, zhi quan) - and such rights as those of the people, son and self-rule
(min quan, zi quan, zizhi quan) are not encountered in past historical pages’62 . He
admits that between individuals, ‘there is no completely equal position, whether in
relation to the law or in relation to a father or ruler’ 63 , as there is no concept of the
individual, only social beings in complex social relationships. As such, ‘rights’ cannot
be accorded to everyone, but rather, society is governed by rites (li): ‘Confucian and
Mencian interpretations of human efficacy in terms of rites (li), with its web of human
connectedness, won out over the specificities of legal definitions of prescribed human
conduct’ 64 .
In contrast, Asian scholar, Nuyen, insists that within Confucianism there exists the
inequality of rights. However, this is not inherent in the philosophy, but a social
inequality which necessarily arises when striving for an overall equality. As he said,
‘social differences are the inevitable outcome of putting the idea of equality to work,
[…] they are just another dimension of equality’ 65 , and that there ‘is social inequality in
the Confucian society, particularly of rights, but this is due to an ontology of the person
as a social being’ 66 . Thus, according to most Asian scholars, in Confucianism and
Confucian-based Asian societies human rights and equality are defined not in terms of
Western liberalism, but rather seen through the lens of the inseparability of the natural,
individualistic being and the social, collective being.
62
Kwoy, D.W.Y. (1998), ‘On the rites and rights of being human’ in De Bary & Tu Weiming (eds),
op.cit., pp. 83–93, at 90.
63
Ibid, at 89.
64
Ibid, at 85.
65
A T Nuyen (2001), ‘Confucianism and the Idea of Equality’, Asian Philosophy, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2001,
(pp 61-71), at 61.
66
Ibid, at 61.
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4. Economic, social and cultural rights: the traditional Asian view
From the traditional Asian perspective, economic, social, and cultural rights take
priority over civil and political rights. The Confucian doctrine points out ‘one can only
learn if one is fed’: being provided with a basic standard of material conditions is of
greatest importance to the citizen, and a precondition of other rights. If one is hungry,
one cannot fulfil one’s rights to vote, to an education, or to take part in public life. This
perspective has had a great influence on Asian scholars, politicians and individuals
alike, and has negatively affected the realisation of human rights in Asian societies,
especially those influenced by Confucianism.
Bell points out that in East Asian societies, the duty of children to care for their parents
is profound and to be forsaken only in the most exceptional circumstances. In political
practice, governments in the region strive to ensure the social and economic conditions
to facilitate the realisation of this duty 67 . Xiaorong Li criticised this approach as
leading to a ‘a false dilemma’ 68 and that ‘political-civil rights and social-economic-
cultural rights are in many ways indivisible’ 69 . East Asian governments have often
claimed that the right to subsistence is the most important of all human rights, without
which the other rights are out of the question 70 .
Regardless of being stated clearly on international human rights instruments that human
rights are correlated, inalienable and indivisible, human rights both in discourse and
political practice are divisible and remarkably overemphasised. There are ongoing
controversies on whether civil and political rights are more important than those in the
economic, social and cultural fields71 , with the overemphasis of the latter having led to
violations of individual liberties and rights. It is thus vitally important to come back to
the basic principles enshrined in international human rights instruments: that both sets
67
See Bell, Daniel, Cross-Cultural Debates on Human Rights and Democracy: “Asian Values” and
Beyond. At: http://www.cityu.edu.hk/ccs/Newsletter/newsletter6/contribution03.htm (accessed
24/01/2005)
68
In her Asian Values" and the Universality of Human Rights, she argued that in "Asian view," that
economic development rights have a priority over political and civil rights’’. See Xiaorong Li, Asian
Values" and the Universality of Human Rights, Ibid.
69
Ibid.
70
See Li, Xiaorong (1998), ‘A Question of Priorities: Human Rights, Development, and "Asian
Values"’, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy (Maryland University),
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/winter98/a_question_of_priorities.htm (accessed 25/10/2005).
71
See Li, Xiaorong (1996), "Asian Values" and the Universality of Human Right, report from the
Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Volume 16, No. 2, Spring 1996.
Ch3-16

of rights correlate, indivisible and interdependent and when one set is overemphasised,
the other will become vulnerable 72 .
5. Human dignity as the foundation of human rights

The origins of human rights go well beyond western traditions 73 , and universal human
rights as embodied in international law have diverse origins. Whilst some authors
claim that the universality of human rights is based on an inherent universal human
nature, rather than on convention, consensus or legal authority 74 , others claim that this
universality is based on inherent human dignity. The Asian values perspective – of
which Lee Kwan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad are champions - emphasises human
dignity as the foundation of human rights.
The non-western tradition of human rights argues that ‘the conceptions of human
dignity elaborated in Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity
remain relevant (despite various contrary and irreconcilable values) to the
conceptualization of human rights 75 . According to this analysis, human rights can be
defined according to notions of common humanity, the worth of the person, the sanctity
of human life, justice, equality, compassion, and other virtues and moral principles. In
this sense, Asia has had a long tradition of the ideas of human rights 76 . As Kim Dae
Jung concludes, ‘there were no ideas which advocate democracy more fundamentally
than the doctrines of Confucianism, of Buddhism and Toonghak. Asia’s democratic
philosophies were undeniably just as profound as those of the West.’ 77
72
Sen emphasizes that political and civil rights give people the opportunity to draw attention forcefully
to general needs and to demand appropriate public action. See Sen, Amartya (1997), Human rights and
Asia Values (lecture), op.cit.
73
See. Senger (1993), Ibid, p. 292.
74
James, Stephen Andrew (2005), The Origins of Universal Human Rights: An Evaluation, PhD thesis
(Princeton University), p.4. Available at http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertation/preview_all/31544515
(accessed 16/08/2005)
75
Ibid, p. 17.
76
See Inada, Kenneth (2005), A Buddhist Response to the Nature of Human Rights. At
www.jbe.gold.ac.uk/2/inada1.html (accessed on 04/10/2005); Keown, Damien (1995), ‘Are There
“Human Rights” in Buddhism?’, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 2 1995. at
http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/2/keown2.html (accessed on 25/10/2005) and; An-Naim, Abdullahi Ahmed (1992):
"Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining International Standards of Human Rights" in An-Naim
Abdullahi (ed.) (1992), Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press); and de Bary, Wm. Theodore and Tu Weiming (ed.) (1997), Confucianism and
Human Rights (New York: Columbia University Press). Also see Tai Van Ta (2004), Buddhism and
human rights in traditional Vietnam.
http://www.hmongstudies.org/TaVanTaiBUDDHISM_AND_HUMAN_RIGHTS.pdf (accessed
16/07/2005)
77
Kim Dae Jung, ‘‘Is culture destiny? The myth of Asia’s Anti-Democratic Values – A
Response to Lee Kwan Yew’’, In Foreign Affairs, 1994, 73(6): 189–194 (also in Zeit-Punkte, op.
cit., pp. 22–24), p.191.
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If human rights derive from human dignity, ethics and values, they are thus a common
heritage of humankind, 78 shaping a common value of diversities and enhancing a code
of the universal. However, in practice, human rights have proved incompatible with
several traditional practices (such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, and non-
participation in public life of women). A transcendent code of human rights can, and
ought to, reshape communities and societies critically, in accordance with the respect
owed equally to every person.
According to Sen, ‘the claim of uniqueness [of human rights] has come from western
particularists’ 79 , citing ‘Samuel Huntington’s insistence that the “West was West long
before it was modern,” and his claim that “a sense of individualism and a tradition of
individual rights and liberties” are “unique among civilized societies”’ 80 . Similarly,
Himmelfarb has argued that ‘ideas of justice, rights, reason and love of humanity are
predominantly, perhaps even uniquely, Western values.’ 81 Western tradition also
points out the correlation between human rights and humanity, as suggested in the
preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 82 . In fact, in the debate
between universalism and relativism, the relationship between human rights and human
dignity is the key. The western perspective has played a significant role in human
rights discourse; the question is now how they are understood and interpreted from a
non-western perspective 83 .
Though Asia has a prolonged tradition of thought on human dignity, tolerance, and
compassion, the reality of human rights is still far from the minimum standards of
international commitments. However, according to the Asian perspective, human
rights are an expression and a facet of culture; in the same way that culture is not static,
78
. For example, Bielefieldt has argued that "human rights do rely on the idea of human dignity which
can also be found in various cultural and religious traditions". See Bielefeldt, Heiner (1995), ‘Muslim
Voices in the Human Rights Debate’, Human Rights Quarterly, 17.4 (1995), p. 501.
79
Sen, Amartya (2004), ‘Elements of a Theory of Human Rights’ in Philosophy and Public Affairs 32,
no.4, (pp.316-356), at 351.
80
Huntington, Samuel P. (1996), The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New
York: Simon and Schuster), p.71
81
Himmelfarb, Gertrude (1996), ‘The Illusions of Cosmopolitanism’ in Joshua Cohen (ed.) (1996), For
Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism / Martha Nussbaum with Respondents (Boston:
Beacon Press), pp. 74–75.
82
The concept of human dignity as a source of rights long pre-dates the drafting of the Universal
Declaration. The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant believed rights to be an inherent part of
human dignity. See: Feinberg, Joel (1979), Rights, Justice, and the Bounds of Liberty: Essays in Social
Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press), p. 185.
83
See Donnelly, Jack (2006), The Relative Universality of Human Rights. University of Denver: Working
Paper No.33. available at http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/working/2006/33-donnelly-2006.pdf (accessed
10.06.06)
Ch3-18

but rather changes with socio-economic conditions, human rights standards, viewed
through the lens of culture, sooner or later are also likely to fluctuate. Many western
thinkers also identify the fact that a changing society affects how people think, and
Marxists also point out that the people’s thought results from the societal environment
in which they live. So modernity, as a socio-economic condition, gives rise to certain
practical conditions – the dislocation and breakdown of family, but at the same time
people communicating ideas and therefore making new groupings – which affect how
people communicate; thus their world view changes; thus ideas evolve and become
more appropriate to the times. Socio-economic conditions have influenced the way in
which individuals claim their rights, and thus contributed to the evolution of human
rights. Marx, Weber, contemporary thinkers such as Fukuyama 84 , Harrison 85 , and
Huntington 86 , and recent other scholars such as Bell 87 and Inglehart 88 , emphasise that
the rise of industrial society is closely linked to cultural change, which in turn
relativises the traditional value system. In fact, the huge development of Asian
economies has led to massive changes to its societies and culture. The more
industrialised, the greater democracy the Asian countries embrace; the less influence of
Confucianism the greater human rights their people enjoy. The models of Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan are prime examples. ASEAN countries - Vietnam’s neighbours -
such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, have also been veering towards more
westernised values, in which the individual, human rights, rule of law, good
governance and democracy are all embraced. Since the doi moi process (1986),
Vietnam herself began embracing modernity, and integrating into regional and
international economy. This has led to miraculous economic development, social
progress and change in the views around individual’s rights and freedoms. However,
the process of change of its values from a traditional standpoint to a modern and
globalised perspective has been taken place slowly but surely. In those countries which
have been gone through the pre-industrial societies, their adaptive trends towards a
84
Fukuyama, Francis (2003), Konfuzius und Marktwrtschaft. Der Konklikt der Kuluren, Munich 1997.
Cited in Gerd Langguth (2003),‘Asian Values revisited’, Asia Europe Journal (2003) (1:25-42), p. 39
85
Harrison, Lawrence (1997), The Pan-American Dream: Do Latin-America’s Cultural Values
Discourage True Partnership? New York 1997.
86
Huntington, Samuel P. (1993), ‘The Clash of civilizations?’, Foreign Affairs, LXXII, pp 22-49. In this
article, Huntington criticised that non-Western civilizations claimed that what are called ‘Asian values’
are irreconcilable with the western liberal tradition.
87
Bell, Daniel A (2000), East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia (Princeton:
Princeton University Press)
88
Inglehart, Ronald (1990), Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton: Princeton
University Press)
Ch3-19

Western-style democracy and international human rights regime are much better and
more ineffective than those which are under pre-modernised and industrised.
6. Correlation between rights and duties

The idea that rights and duties are correlated—that every right entails duties—is
expressed by leaders such as Lee and Mahathir, and is a focal point of Asian values 89 .
Again, differentiation must be made between traditional and modernised societies.
Donnelly claims that in traditional society the individual is never fully differentiated
from the group, whereas the modern economy, with its complex division of labour and
extensive role-segmentation, necessarily produces economically (and therefore
socially) distinct individuals. 90
Asian scholar Guoxiang asserts that,

A balance of duties and rights has been widely accepted as being essential. Without an input to
the aggregate, one cannot expect an output. Social responsibility lies on the shoulder of each. It
is regarded as ideal realization of personal value to be the first to offer and the last to enjoy and
to be ready to die for justice 91 .
Gouxiang also states that ‘in Oriental tradition, frugality is regarded as a virtue and
extravagance a shame. The high saving rate among the Asian population constitutes an
important factor to building a prosperous society’ 92 . These values were once
predominant in Christianity too. Generallly, they no longer inform Christian or western
culture due to modernisation and the globalisation of capitalism, which have changed
these values from duties-based approach to individualism and a rights-based approach.
The younger generation in particular have become more radical, whereas the older
generation are still more likely to adhere to traditional values, even though modern
society gives them leave to behave otherwise. The same situation can be seen in
cultures that could be said to be ‘in transition’ - for example, China, India, and
Vietnam. Economic liberalisation, with its resultant modern influences has rapidly
exposed a traditional culture to western ‘liberties’. The speed at which this happens is
significant - society has little time to ponder, internalise, decide what is appropriate and
what is not, what to adopt or reject.
89
See Mohathir Mohamed cited in Langlois, Anthony J. (2001), The Politics of Justice and Human
Rights: SouthEast Asia and Universalist Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p.14
90
Donnelly, Jack (1989), Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Ithaca and London: Cornell
University Press), p. 145.
91
Fan Guoxiang (2003), Human Rights: On East Asian Values, at
http://www.chinaembassy.org.np/humanrights/text/on_east_asian_values.htm (accessed 10.10.06)
92
Ibid.
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Most Asian writers believe that Asia has a tradition of democracy and human rights
enshrined in its major religions, notably Buddhism and Confucianism. Kim Dae Jung 93
comes to the conclusion that ‘no ideas advocate democracy more fundamentally than
the doctrines of Confucianism, Buddhism and Tonghak’, and that ‘Asia’s democratic
philosophies were undeniably just as profound as those of the west’ 94 . However these
ideas on democracy have not been a prominent tradition of Asian societies.
Whilst Asian scholars and elites have defended a perspective of human rights largely
based on Confucianism, opponents have strongly criticised it. Chan, for example,
argued that it places emphasis on duties arising from social roles, especially in what are
considered the five basic human relationships (father-son, husband-wife, elder brother-
younger brother, ruler-ruled, and friend-friend), on the virtues of respect for the elderly
and filial piety, and on mutual trust between family members. Individuals are thus not
only encouraged not to challenge the state, but they must also obey and sacrifice for the
state’s interests. As Chan observes,
Individual freedom and welfare of the wife and children could easily be sacrificed to satisfy
the father’s unreasonable wants. In this situation, the Confucian ideal of ren (humanity),
and the mutual concern and reciprocity between family members, would surely be difficult
to realize 95 .
Some scholars have argued that Confucianism’s emphasis on duties rather than rights
in general, means that its role in the modern development of human rights theory is
highly significant. The overemphasis on rights has made it necessary to build a rights-
based virtue theory or a virtue-based rights theory. As Chan suggests,
…a theory of rights is not capable of standing on its own. A culture based on Confucianism
instils in people such virtues as filial piety, fraternal love, loyalty, and sincerity, and
reminds them that rights are only a last resort for protecting their interests 96 .
Chan pointed out that the state's primary duty is to enforce basic individual rights. In
determining the scope of rights and enforcing them, there are limits on the state.
93
In Spring of 1983, in his talk at Princeton University, Kim Dae Jung said that "that security cannot be
attained without the guarantee of human rights. I submit to you that human rights are a precondition for
stability, which is a precondition for security." Cited in UNDP: Human Rights in China in Historical
Perspective United Nations Development Program Irene Bloom.
http://www.undp.org/rbap/rights/china.htm (accessed 14.07.06)
94
Kim Dae Jung, ‘‘Is culture destiny? The myth of Asia’s Anti-Democratic Values – A
Response to Lee Kwan Yew’’, In: Foreign Affairs, 1994, 73(6): 189–194), at 191.
95
Chan, Joseph (1995) The Task for Asians: To Discover their Own Political Morality for Human
Rights. Carnegie Council. Available at:
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/viewMedia.php/prmTemplateID/8/prmID/521
96
Ibid.
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Specifically, the state may restrict individual rights only on the grounds of preventing
harm and offence to others. The state must remain neutral among competing
conceptions of the good life (the neutrality or anti-perfectionism principle); it must not
restrict an individual's liberty for his or her own good (the anti-paternalism principle);
and it must not enforce society's morals by means of the law (the anti-moralism
principle). Chan also claimed that one of the fundamental differences between Asian
values and those of America is that ‘American political morality […] excludes
perfectionism, paternalism, and moralism as grounds for state intervention. In other
words, it excludes the pursuit of the good life from the business of the state - what I call
‘exclusionary liberalism’ 97 .
Traditionally, both eastern and western societies recognised the correlation between
rights and duties, and that an individual’s rights entail an obligation towards the respect
of other’s 98 . However, most traditional societies lay particular emphasis on this
relationship, with rights and duties being understood as interlinked and inseparable 99 .
This was also the attitude in feudal European countries. Marx concluded that feudal
societies could not embrace the emancipation of the individual or society because the
socio-economic conditions were not supportive for the development of personal
capacity. In this sense the dichotomy is not between East and West but between
tradition and modernity, between the development of socio-economic conditions and
the backwardness of traditional, feudal or agricultural societies.
7. Emphasis on national sovereignty

In terms of the relationship between human rights and national sovereignty, most
proponents of Asian values believe that no human right can be exerted over that of the
national sovereign; human rights are subordinate to national jurisdiction. It is
significant that the majority of Asian and African countries were at some point invaded
by Europeans, championing the particularity of human rights. Understandably, most
former colonised nations have found it hard to adopt a similar perspective, when it
brought not democracy or freedom, but weapons and oppression. This overemphasis
97
Ibid.
98
Dworkin pointed out that there would not be any right that exists as an absolute right and beyond the
mutual relationships between individuals in society. He emphasizes that the right to free speech can’t
lead to the violation of other’s rights. For example, in a theatre one can’t use the right to free speech in
order to shout ‘fire’. See Dworkin, Ronald (1997), Taking Rights Seriously (Cambridge, Massachusetts :
Harvard University Press), p. 204
99
In fact, not only does Asian perspective emphasize the link between rights and duties, but also Western
tradition does. See Feinberg, Joel (1979), Rights, Justice, and the Bounds of Liberty: Essays in Social
Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Ch3-22

on national sovereignty however has led to the denial of international human rights law
and the attendant mechanisms that protect the individual’s rights and civil liberties. A
number of governments invoke the supremacy of national sovereignty to justify
breaches of their international human rights obligations. For them, it is national law,
not universal human rights standards or international law, that grants the highest
protection of the individual and group rights 100 . This has its roots in the notion of
collective rights as human rights, and in the emphasis of communitarian rights over
individual rights.
Conclusion
This paper has established that Asian values (and the resulting perspective of human
rights) actually emerged from East Asia, are based on Confucian values, and have been
advocated by many East Asian scholars and politicians. However, these values can be
found in many other cultures, including those of eastern European and African
countries, and within many western philosophies and human rights theories, such as
ancient Greek and Roman philosophies, Marxism, positivism and feminism. They
include respect for human dignity, and a sense of humanity and compassion. In this
sense, so-called Asian values also contribute to the universal human rights perspective
and enrich global values of human rights. Analysis has shown that on the one hand,
Asian values reflect the particularity of universal human rights 101 , similar to what
Donnelly called ‘the relative universality of internationally recognised human rights’ 102 .
At the same time, they are not unique to Asian cultures and therefore should not be
invoked to justify the under development of human rights practices.
So-called Asian values are based on Confucianism, and do not represent the region’s
rich, diverse religions and cultures. Furthermore, they are neither static nor monolithic,
but rather changeable and adaptive to real conditions of life.
It is unarguable that traditions and practices that are antithetical to the respect for
human dignity and universal ethics should be abolished and replaced by the ones that
100
See Anghie, Anthony (1999), ‘Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth-
Century International Law’, 40 HARV. INT’L L.J. 1, 2, 10 (1999).
101
See Sen, Amartya (2004), ‘Elements of A Theory of Human Rights’, Philosophy and Public Affairs
Journal (Blackwell Publishing), No.31, pp. 315-356. Also see Donnelly, Jack (1998), ‘Human Rights: A
New Standard of Civilisation’, International Affairs Journal, No. 74, I (1998), pp 1-24; and Donnelly,
Jack (2006), The Relative Universality of Human Rights, Working paper No.33 (University of Denver), at
http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/working/2006/33-donnelly-2006.pdf (accessed 10.06.06)
102
Donnelly, Jack (2003), Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (2nd edn., Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press), p.107.
Ch3-23

are undeniably universal values. Clearly, it is unacceptable to invoke cultural
relativism to justify human rights violations, such as so-called honour killings, or
female genital mutilation 103 , practices widely present in African and Asian cultures.
The aim of societies worldwide should be to absorb universal values of human rights,
whilst maintaining regional identities and particularities 104 . Human rights are in fact
both universal and relative, as human existence is natural and social, personal and
social, individual and communitarian. Arguments of relativism or universalism should
thus not be used to impose one’s own values upon others, but to widen open debate
around which values should be absorbed and which abolished 105 .
As socio-economic conditions change over time, so too do the value systems of all
cultures. As historical materialism indicates, concepts and ideologies are nothing but
the product of socio-economic conditions. Asian values, like others, have inevitably
changed. The dominant factors of communitarianism and family values 106 , are now
being replaced by individualism 107 . The emergence of Asian values in relation to
understanding human rights has not only challenged the theory of universality, it has
also added diversity to the cultural inheritance of human rights thought, and therefore
to the universal recognition of human rights.
The following questions are put in place. Firstly, whether Vietnam, in which Asian
values are embedded, has a tradition of human rights, in both its theoretical and
practical aspects. Secondly, whether it has protected these rights. Thirdly, in the
context of the Vietnamese legal culture and system, whether Asian values still play a
role in measuring the challenge that makes cultural relativism against universalism or
the compromise between them 108 .
103
BBC News, Rise in Pakistan ‘honour killings’ gave a figure provided by the Pakistan Human Rights
Commission indicated that at lEast 461 women were killed by family members in Pakistan in 2002. at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2567077.stm (accessed 15.10.05). Also see BBC ‘Women’s rights
in spotlight in Pakistan. At http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-
bin/search/results.pl?q=violations+of+Women%27s+rights++in+Pakistan&scope=all&tab=av&recipe=al
l (accessed 26.10.05)
104
CEDAW, for example, condemns the application of cultural relativism to women and children’s
rights; its provisions are resoundingly universalist. Steiner, Henry J. & Alston, Phillip (2000):
International human rights in context- text and materials: law, politics, morals (Oxford : Oxford
University Press), pp: 166-225
105
See Bell, Daniel (1999), Ibid.
106
Godwin Chu and Yanan Ju (1993), The Great Wall in ruins: Communication and Cultural Change in
China (Albany: University of New York Press), p. 222.
107
See Lee Cheuk Yin (2003), ‘Do traditional values still exist in modern Chinese societies? the case of
Singapore and China’, Asia Europe Journal (2003) 1:43-59, at 47.
108
As recently, Donnelly has recognised that human rights should not only be understood as universal,
but also as relative. See Donnelly, Jack (2006), The Relative Universality of Human Right, Working
Ch3-24

Undoubtedly, Confucianism-based Asian cultures have not only advocated
communitarianism and collective rights, but have also contained the elements that
support the individual’s rights for a progressive society. Collectivism has however
been invoked selectively by Asian leaders, politicians and scholars, to justify the
neglect of human rights in practice. Confucian culture once reflected the slow
development of socio-economic system, but has recently become more radical.
Nevertheless, its traditional influence is still being felt in modern, East Asian societies,
particularly in agriculture-based economies, and rural areas where people live in
relatively closed communities. Though Confucianism is likely to have less influence
on people who live in urban areas, especially young people who have integrated into an
industrialised society and are less likely to support tradition values 109 , it has been
considerably influential on Asian transitional countries such as China and Vietnam.
The resultant legal culture has affected the way in which international human rights law
has been incorporated and implemented in these countries. To create a human rights
culture is to help human beings adapt to changes in human experience, knowledge in
particular, and human history in general. As it is for developed countries, so it is for
developing countries: the way to deal with changes to tradition and culture is to present
the possibility of human perfection. As Donnelly states, ‘one of the things that make us
human is our capacity to create and change our culture’ 110 . Asian values will, sooner or
later, be changed by the societies that have depended upon them. Whilts human rights
have, as enshrined in the UN major human rights instruments, been widely regarded as
universal, inanienable, indivisible and interdependent, the champion of the ‘Asian
values’ perspective has brought a great challenge to the existing international human
rights regime, especially its applicability not only in the countries which oppose the
idea of universal human rights, but also in those countries which champion another
form of cultural relativism or particularism. More importantly, the rise of all forms of
relativism in the late 20th and early 21th Centuries has been questioning the dominance
of universalism of human rights and demanding a further development of modern
international law and international human rights.
paper No.33. University of Denver. At http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/working/2006/33-donnelly-

2006.pdf (accessed 10.06.06)
109
Dalton, Russell J. & T. Ong, Nhu-Ngoc (2003), Authority Orientations and Democratic Attitudes in
East Asia: A Test of the ‘Asian Values’ Hypothesis (Irwin: University of California, at:
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ (accessed 04.10.06)
110
Donnelly (2003), op. cit., p.123.
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The ‘Asian Values’ Perspective of Human Rights:

A Challenge to Universal Human Rights

Hoang Van Nghia *

"What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others"

‘Asian values’ are enshrined in doctrines such as Confucianism. Confucianism protects

The Eastern tradition views human rights as belonging to members of a community,

It should be remembered, therefore, that discussion around so-called Asian values

1. Relativity of human rights

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He also defended the Asian perspective of human rights, by asserting that:

Lee has claimed that in choosing whether to incorporate Western-style democracy

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The majority of Vietnamese people classify themselves as non-religious, although they

Writings. Hanoi: Su That (The Truth) Publishing House, at 25-52.

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In defending particularity over universality, relativists criticise the dysfunction of

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3. Family as the core value of society

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5. Human dignity as the foundation of human rights

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6. Correlation between rights and duties

Asian scholar Guoxiang asserts that,

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7. Emphasis on national sovereignty

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paper No.33. University of Denver. At http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/working/2006/33-donnelly-

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An-Naim, Abdullahi Ahmed (1992), "Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining

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IV. E- Journals and E- Newspapers

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VI. Other Online Sources

Asiaweek, 31 October 1997 <http://www.singapore-window.org/1O31 mal.htm>, accessed 25

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