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The Future of the UDHR: Building on the Past and the Present

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Book cover Asia and the Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Abstract

Dialogue on the UDHR has continued since 1948. An increasing number of states from developing parts of the world have participated in the dialogue and have affirmed their adherence to universal standards promulgated in the UDHR. The rights enumerated in the UDHR have gained in acceptance at key international human rights forums—Bandung (1955), Tehran (1968), and Vienna (1993)—and have been incorporated into many domestic systems in Asia, in their constitutions, in judicial decisions, and in regional mechanisms. The UDHR has provided a standard for civil society in Asia to hold their governments to account. The development of human rights education in has emerged slowly, buttressing the UDHR.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Susan Waltz, “Reclaiming and rebuilding the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” Third World Quarterly, Volume 23, Number 3, 1 June 2002, pp. 437–448(12), p. 10.

  2. 2.

    Susan Waltz (2002), p. 44.

  3. 3.

    Roland Burke, “The Compelling Dialogue of Freedom: Human Rights at the Bandung Conference,” Human Rights Quarterly, V.8, 2006, p. 947.

  4. 4.

    All citations in Burke (2006), pp. 947–9.

  5. 5.

    Burke, p. 948.

  6. 6.

    Burke (2006), p. 949.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Final Communiqué of the Asian-African conference of Bandung (24 April 1955),

  10. 10.

    Burke (2006), p. 950.

  11. 11.

    Roland Burke, “From individual rights to national development: the first UN International Conference on Human Rights , Tehran, 1968,” Journal of World History. Vol. 19, No. 3 Sept. 2008, p275.

  12. 12.

    Proclamation of Teheran, Final Act of the International Conference on Human Rights , Teheran, 22 April to 13 May 1968, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 32/41 at 3 (1968).

  13. 13.

    Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action Adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna on 25 June 1993. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Vienna.aspx

  14. 14.

    Hurst Hannum, “The Status Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights In National And International Law,” GA Journal of International & Comparative. Law, 1995–1996, Vol 25, p. 4 (pp. 287 to 397).

  15. 15.

    Hurst Hannum, “The Status Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights In National And International Law,” GA Journal of International & Comparative. Law, 1995–1996, Vol 25, p. 4 (pp. 287 to 397).

  16. 16.

    International Service for Human Rights (2013), “Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action + 20,” p. 13 https://www.ishr.ch/sites/default/files/article/files/vdpa.pdf

  17. 17.

    Jiunn-rong Yeh, “The Development of Regional Human Rights Institutions in Asia – Dialectical and functional perspectives,” in Global Constitutionalism and Multi-layered Protection of Human Rights, edited by SNU Asia-Pacific Law Institute. (Seoul: Constitutional Court of Korea, 2016).

  18. 18.

    Yeh notes that new democracies such as Mongolia , South Korea and Taiwan have not provided a privileged status for international human rights law within the domestic legal regime. Ibid.

  19. 19.

    See Manu Bhagavan (2010) “A New Hope: India , the United Nations and the Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Modern Asian Studies 44, 2 (2010) pp. 311–347.

  20. 20.

    The Constitution of India , 6 November 1949, https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf

  21. 21.

    https://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html

  22. 22.

    Yeh notes that some new democracies such as Mongolia , South Korea and Taiwan have not provided a privileged status for international human rights law within the domestic legal regime….

  23. 23.

    Hurst Hannum, “The Status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in National and International Law,” Georgia Journal International and Comparative Law, 1995–1996, Vol. 25, pp. 355–366 (289–388).

  24. 24.

    Zezen Zaenel Mutaqin, “The Strong State and Pancasila: Reflecting Human Rights in the Indonesian Democracy,” Constitutional Review, December 2016, Volume 2, Number 2, pp. 159–188.

  25. 25.

    The Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945, available at http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-ed_protect/%2D%2D-protrav/%2D%2D-ilo_aids/documents/legaldocument/wcms_174556.pdf

  26. 26.

    Yeh, p. 642.

  27. 27.

    See Hannum, p. 381 for a list of cases.

  28. 28.

    Li-Ann Thoio (2008) “Reading Rights Rightly: The UDHR and its Creeping Influence on the Development of Singapore Public Law,” Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 264–291, December 2008.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., p. 265.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., p. 290.

  32. 32.

    ASEAN (2009), Terms of Reference, of AICHR , ASEAN Secretariat.

  33. 33.

    ASEAN (2009), Terms of Reference, of AICHR , ASEAN Secretariat.

  34. 34.

    ASEAN (2012), ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. ASEAN Secretariat. For a critical assessment of the relationship between the AHRD and the UDHR, See Catherine Renshaw (2013), “The ASEAN Human Rights.

    Declaration 2012,” 13 Human Rights Law Review, 557 (2013), pp. 557–579.

  35. 35.

    E/CN.4/144, 16 June 1948.

  36. 36.

    General Assembly resolution 217D (III) of 10 December 1948.

  37. 37.

    United Nations General Assembly Resolution 66/137.

  38. 38.

    Human Rights Council , A/HRC/35/6, paras. 26, 27, 37, 38, and 49.

  39. 39.

    OHCHR website, Summary of national initiatives undertaken within the Decade for Human Rights (1995–2004), consulted on 14 June, 2017.

  40. 40.

    Asia Pacific Human Rights Information Centre (2017). Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific (Volume Seven), p. 9.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., p. 10.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., p. 11.

  43. 43.

    See Alexa Johns, “Graduate Programs on Human Rights: Mahidol University,” https://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/asia-pacific/section1/15AlexaJohns.pdf

  44. 44.

    SHAPE-SEA, Human Rights Outlook in Southeast Asia: 2016 (Bangkok: Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), 2017), p. vii.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Webster University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Robin Ramcharan

  2. Asia Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

    Robin Ramcharan

  3. Emeritus President, UPR Info, Alyth, Perthshire, UK

    Bertrand Ramcharan

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  1. Robin Ramcharan
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Ramcharan, R., Ramcharan, B. (2019). The Future of the UDHR: Building on the Past and the Present. In: Asia and the Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2104-7_9

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