The Conceptual Challenge to the Human Rights Cause

The challenges to the human rights movement in 1993 were not limited to the terrain of repression. Some of the toughest tests emerged not under the barrel of the gun but in the confines of the conference room, particularly during the World Conference for Human Rights, the assembly of governments that met in Vienna in June, for the first time in twenty-five years, to review global progress on human rights. As human rights gained acceptance as a central element of international relations, a number of governments, mainly from Asia, tried to strike back. They included highly abusive governments, such as China, Burma and Iran, as well as governments that champion closed political systems, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. No longer credibly able to deny the significance of human rights concerns, they sought to dilute or redefine some of the most basic human rights principles.

The attack took three basic forms. These governments challenged the indivisibility of human rights, by arguing that economic development should precede respect for civil and political rights. They attacked the principle that human rights apply equally to all people, by arguing that human rights standards should vary according to a government's view of local culture. And they sought to undermine one of the most effective means of human rights enforcement-application of the duty of donor governments and institutions not to become complicit in abuse by underwriting those who engage in repression.