Asian Nations Rally Against U.S. Over Rights
International Herald Tribune
July 30, 1997
Michael Richardson 

Washington's vow to block a Malaysian-sponsored review of the UN human rights charter drew support Tuesday from the European Union but strong dissent from several Asian countries, including Indonesia, China and the Philippines.

The issue flared at a news conference attended by foreign ministers, or their representatives, of 18 countries and the European Union at the end of an annual meeting under the auspices of ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations.

It reopened a deep cultural and political divide between Western and Asian countries over how to balance individual and collective rights in society.

The West sees many of the arguments advanced by Asian countries in this contentious area as a ploy to defend authoritarian systems of government and abuses of power against individuals and minorities.

"The U.S. has strong views but we have equally strong views," said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian foreign minister. He added that in a multi-ethnic country such as Malaysia "sometimes if too much freedom is exercised, democracy could be destroyed."

The rights debate was rekindled after the U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, said at the meeting on Monday that America would be "relentless" in its opposition to a move, aired by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia, to review and possibly change the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights to take account of the views of developing countries.

The declaration, which sets a "common standard" of basic individual rights for all peoples and all nations, was issued in 1948, before most of the current UN members gained nationhood or independence from colonial rule.

Ali Alatas, foreign minister of Indonesia, which has faced repeated U.S. criticism for alleged abuses of human rights in East Timor, said that at least 120 countries that were now members of the United Nations had not participated in the debate that produced the declaration nearly 50 years ago.

"In the light of the passage of time," he said, "I don't think we should be so absolutist in saying that there is no place for a review to create a better balance between individual rights and the economic, cultural and social rights that are just as important."

Qian Qichen, foreign minister of China — a frequent target of Western criticism over a wide range of abuses of power — said that of the more than 60 international covenants dealing with human rights, China had acceded to 17 while the United States had acceded to only 15.

"If we need to have uniform standards on the question of human rights," he said, "then I think we have yet to have one judge capable of determining whether a country is right or wrong."

"I know that the U.S. State Department issues human rights reports on many countries," he said. "But there is an important part that is missing: We do not see a country report on the human rights situation of the United States."

The Philippines, an ally of America in Asia with a U.S.-style democratic system, also weighed into the debate on the side of its fellow ASEAN member, Malaysia.

"We would certainly support a review of the declaration," said Domingo Siazon, foreign secretary of the Philippines.

But a European Union representative at the news conference said the 15-country bloc would be "extremely reluctant" to embark on a review. He said the Union regarded the declaration as "one of the cornerstones of the international legal and political system" that served as a guide to cooperation between countries.

Stuart Eizenstat, a senior U.S. State Department official standing in for Mrs. Albright, who left Malaysia ahead of the news conference to visit Singapore, said that the United States was concerned there was now a serious effort to "dilute or undermine what are not U.S. values or Western values, but are universal values of respect for the individual."

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