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Pre-Seminar : UNHCHR Materials
Part 2 of 4 | Previous | Next
Human Rights Myths and Challenges
Text version of a Powerpoint presentation
Asian Controversies
- “Human rights are not universal, they change with every different culture,
religion, history”
- “Duties to society are more important than rights”
- “We believe society as a whole should come before individual rights”
- “Human rights are just interference by the west in internal affairs”
Myths and Challenges
- Human rights law states that everyone has responsibilities.
- Human rights are minimum and not maximum standards.
- Human rights do not dictate how a state should apply particular rights.
- Human rights celebrate differences and cultural diversity.
- The collective or group through which human rights are exercised is just as important in
human rights thinking as the right of the individual.
- The west is not the guardian of human rights.
- Implementing human rights is about cooperation, looking for ways of building the
capacity of states to protect and promote rights.
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