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Framing
human rights
Ten
years ago I first picked up a copy of Can Asians Think?
by the renowned and controversial Singaporean public
intellectual Kishore Mahbubani, just before reading,
completely coincidentally, Amartya Sen’s Human Rights
And Asian Values published in The New Republic in July
1997. Both essays, extremely engaging and well written,
are hugely germane to addressing increasing hate and
harm directed against human rights activists in our
country, as well as critiquing growing local and
international concern and condemnation over the
humanitarian situation in the Wanni and claims of
genocide.
I also
believe that both essays can help develop an endogenous
understanding of and approach to human rights, firmly
established in our own and evolving political and civil
society.
Sen,
after questioning ‘Western promoters of personal and
political freedom in the non-Western world’ goes on to
explore whether such values have deeper historical roots
in Asia, which he imagines as a region of diverse
peoples bound by some cultural, social and political
commonalities and constructs. He considers several
examples, from Ashoka to Akbar, from Buddhism to
Confucianism, from Kabir’s poetry to Kautilya’s prose.
Through characteristically rigorous exploration, he
concludes that; In the most general form, the notion of
human rights builds on our shared humanity. These rights
are not derived from citizenship in any country, or
membership in any nation. They are taken as entitlements
of every human being... The human right of a person not
to be tortured is affirmed independently of the country
of which this person is a citizen, and also irrespective
of what the government of that country — or any other
country — wants to do. (Emphasis mine)
He
goes on to note that; Since the conception of human
rights transcends local legislation and the citizenship
of the individual, the support for human rights can come
from anyone — whether or not she is a citizen of the
same country as the individual whose rights are
threatened. A foreigner does not need the permission of
a repressive government to try to help a person whose
liberties are being violated.
Years
before R2P
Tellingly, this was years before the hugely
controversial Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine,
but it also prefigures the pointed criticism directed
against it when Sen goes on to note that,
This
basic recognition does not suggest, of course, that
everyone must intervene constantly in protecting and
helping others. That may be both ineffective and
unsettling. There is no escape from the need to employ
practical reason in this field, any more than in any
other field of human action. Ubiquitous interventionism
is not particularly fruitful or attractive within a
given nation, nor is it across national boundaries... My
claim is only that the barriers of nationality and
citizenship do not preclude people from taking
legitimate interest in the rights of others and even
from assuming some duties related to them. (Emphasis
mine)
Mahbubani strikes a completely different chord. Can
Asians Think? is a timeless book and one I have returned
to for inspiration and direction on many occasions over
the past decade. Mahbubani’s polemics are as
entertaining, and no better example of this is in one
essay that looks at human rights and the freedom of the
press from an Asian perspective.
10
heresies
Mahbubani spells out 10 ‘heresies’ in this essay, that
through historical examples suggest amongst other things
that Western governments work with genocidal rulers when
it serves their interests to do so, will happily
sacrifice the human rights of Third World societies when
it suits them, cannot acknowledge that the pursuit of
‘moral’ human rights policies can have immoral
consequences and that an imperfect government that
commits some human rights violations is better than no
government, in many societies.
Pointing to the examples of Taiwan and South Korea in
the ’60s and ’70s and the authoritarian governments that
featured in both countries at the time, Mahbubani notes
that the West,
...by
allowing the authoritarian governments, which were fully
committed to economic development, to run the full
course, the West has brought about the very economic and
social changes that have paved the way for the more open
and participative societies that Taiwan and South Korea
have become.
Economic development
Mahbubani squarely and unapologetically places economic
development before social and political freedoms.
Hailing from Singapore, this can be dismissed as
misplaced nationalism, but the case made is far more
nuanced, if one takes the time to read the entire essay.
At the end of his 10 heresies, Mahbubani notes,
There
is no unified Asian view on human rights and freedom of
the press. There are Western concepts. Asians are
obliged to react to them. Predictably, there is a whole
range of reactions, ranging from those who subscribe to
these concepts in toto to those who reject them
completely... But in most Asian societies there is
little awareness let alone understanding of these
concepts. The truth is that the vast continent of
Asia, preoccupied with more immediate challenges, has not had
the time or energy to address these issues squarely.
Sen’s
and Mahbubani’s essays, written independent of each
other offer tremendous value to a constructive critique
of human rights when juxtaposed. Both do not decry human
rights, but speak to the significant challenges in
defining, establishing and strengthening them outside
liberal democracies. Tellingly, I have not seen either
essay referred to in analyses that look at the systemic
challenges to human rights in Sri Lanka and the problems
of championing a construct essentially perceived as
foreign and suspect.
Human
dignity
The
enduring urgency of and need for securing the human
dignity of minorities in Sri Lanka has sacrificed vital
critiques on the fundamental basis upon which such
protection rests and is framed by. This contestation of
the universality of human rights becomes therefore a
line of critical thinking unwelcome and shunned, because
of the real and perceived risk of such studies and
expression becoming fodder for extremism in majoritarian
policies and politics.
While
an understandable risk, this has over time resulted in
self-referential debates on human rights. On the other
hand, Sen speaks of a shared humanity that underpins
human rights. Can the rediscovery and redefinition of
shared values after war frame debates on human rights
that legitimise it through critical analysis amongst a
broader constituency?
Perhaps, but if Mahbubani is to be believed, some of us
may also have to face up to the uncomfortable scenario
that the Rajapakse regime and its exclusively defined
and violently secured policies and practices of
development and governance could well be the best
foundation for eventual social and political mobility
and empowerment.
Western values
Unlike
much of the Rajapakse regime’s rhetoric however,
Mahbubani fully acknowledges Western values behind the
spectacular advance of mankind, including the
willingness to challenge assumptions. Yet he notes that
what is important and challenging is to open up to the
‘new technologically interconnected global universe’ and
yet remain rooted in and conscious of the cultures of
ancestors in a continuous effort to define social and
national identities in a way that enhances self-esteem.
What in verbosity Mahbubani suggests is no different to
the shared humanity Sen speaks of as the foundation of
human rights.
As Sri
Lanka moves forward and tackles the good, bad and ugly
of globalisation as well as its internal policies and
practices, we need to question our own assumptions,
going as far as to openly acknowledge the limited impact
and sometimes hugely detrimental consequences of human
rights debates oriented more towards the international
community.
We may
well find that the more openly we question ourselves and
what we hold to be true, the greater awareness and
support we generate for what we all most passionately
believe in – that for any meaningful economic, political
or social development, human dignity and peace are
vital.
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