Southeast Asia—Human Rights
Notions of human rights are controversial in Southeast Asia, as elsewhere, because they embrace basic values reaching to the core of personal, social, and national identity, and encompass complex moral, philosophical, and cultural issues played out simultaneously at global and local levels. The search for common values is nevertheless essential to a peaceful and stable world, as communication and cooperation will otherwise remain very difficult.
Context of Human Rights in Southeast Asia
The realization of universal human rights confronts two major obstacles. The first is the idea that culture is relative to each society. Consequently, attempts to impose universal human-rights concepts are seen as Western cultural imperialism by many non-Western countries. The second asserts national sovereignty as superior to international human-rights law. Sovereignty is precious to all countries, but especially to those that have achieved it more recently, as in postcolonial Southeast Asia.
United Nations human-rights covenants and conventions provide a primary frame of reference for this article, representing the highest level of international agreement so far achieved. These texts should not be seen as fixed or infallible "tablets of stone," but as evolving in relation to changes in technology, society, and notions of human dignity.
