Abstract
The human rights debate has been heavily criticized ever since its inception as the key premise of the universality of all human rights. Some critics have argued that human rights are merely a Western product derived from and inherently linked to Western values, the substance of which cannot therefore be considered universally valid as legal concepts. A particular wave of this culturally specific human rights debate comes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. In these regions the argument has been propounded that human rights—as inherently Western concepts—are incompatible with “prototypical” Asian societies. Members of these societies often make the assertion that the very notion of human rights is in some way the product of the colonial and economic prerogatives of Western societies. Not only do these views simplify the issue, but ignore the Asian writings, religions, and cultural traditions from which originate the same “seeds” and inspirations for what we today call human rights.
Keywords
- Gender Equality
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Development Cooperation
- Asian State
- Canadian International Development Agency
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
An-Na’im, Abdullah. 1992. Human Rights in Cross-cultural Perspectives: Quest for Consensus. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Archer, Robert. 2006. “The Strengths of Different Traditions: What Can Be Gained and What Might Be Lost by Combining Rights and Development?” SUR International Journal on Human Rights no. 4, pp. 81–91.
Brems, Eva. 2001. Human Rights: Universality and Diversity. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Canadian International Development Agency. 2003. Questions about Culture, Gender Equality and Development Cooperation, http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUlmages/Policy/$file/Culture-Eng.pdf
Child Rights Information Network, http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_detail.asp?crinmailID=2280
Donnelly, Jack. 1999. “Human Rights and Asian Values: A Defense of ‘Western’ Universalism.” In Bauer, Joanne R. and Bell, Daniel A. eds. The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eide, Asbjørn. 2001. “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights.” In Eide, Asbjørn, Krause, Catarina, and Rosas, Allan, eds. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a Textbook. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Ensor, Jonathan. 2005. “Linking Rights and Culture—Implications for Rights-Based Approaches.” In Gready, Paul and Ensor, Jonathan eds. Reinventing Development? Translating Rights-Based Approaches from Theory into Practice. London: Zed Books.
Frostell, Katarina and Scheinin, Martin. 2001. “Women.” In Eide, Krause and Rosas eds. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a Textbook. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Gready, Paul and Ensor, Jonathan. 2005. Reinventing Development? Translating Rights-Based Approaches from Theory into Practice. London: Zed Books.
HRW. 2005. “Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements and NGOs in Disaster Relief.” Twenty-Sixth International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Geneva December 1995, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/07/07/americ11295.html.
International Court of Justice. 1969. North Sea Continental Shelf Case, Federal Republic of Germany v Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany v Netherlands. International Court of Justice Reports.
—. 1986. Case Concerning the Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua. International Court of Justice Reports.
Jones, Andrew. 2005. “The Case of CARE International in Rwanda.” In Gready, Paul and Ensor, Jonathan eds. Reinventing Development? Translating Rights-Based Approaches from Theory into Practice. London: Zed Books.
Nyamu-Musembi, Celestine. 2005. “Towards an Actor-Oriented Perspective on Human Rights.” In Kabeer, Naila ed. Inclusive Citizenship. London: Zed Books.
Organization for Economic and Cultural Development, OECD. Culture, Gender Equality and Development Cooperation, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/37/1850708.pdf
Perry, Michael. 1999. “Are Human Rights Universal? The Relativist Challenge and Related Matters.” Human Rights Quarterly vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 461–509.
Pickup, Francine; Williams, Suzanne, and Sweetman, Caroline. 2001. Ending Violence against Women, a Challenge for Development and Humanitarian Work. London: Oxfam.
Rajagopal, Balakrishnan. 2003. Internationczl Law from Below—Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sano, Hans-Otto. 2000. “Development and Human Rights: The Necessary but Partial Integration of Human Rights and Development.” Human Rights Quarterly vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 734–752.
Sengupta, Arjun. 2002. “On the Theory and Practice of the Right to Development.” Human Rights Quarterly no. 24, pp. 837–889.
Steiner, Henry and Alston, Philip. 2000. International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thirlwall, A. P. 1983. Growth and Development with Special Reference to Developing Economies. Hong Kong: Macmillan.
UNDP. 1995. Human Development Report 1995. Gender and Human Development, http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/1995/en/pdf/hdr_1995_overview.pdf
Uvin, Peter. 2004. Human Rights and Development. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.
World Conference on Cultural Policies in Mexico 1982, http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/mexico/html_eng/pagel.shtml
World Health Organization Fact Sheet, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2008 Leena Avonius and Damien Kingsbury
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Koskinen, P. (2008). “Asian Values,” Gender, and Culture-Specific Development. In: Avonius, L., Kingsbury, D. (eds) Human Rights in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230615496_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230615496_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37366-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-61549-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)