Are Human Rights Universal?
There is a large body of literature, mainly from âThird Worldâ scholars, that tends to put into question the universality of human rights, as defined through âWestern criteria.â3 Lesbian and gay rights cannot be excluded from such a debate.
The definition and the conception of human rights bear a western bias, whether one likes it or not, having been written under American influence, via mainly western concepts. It can be pictured as the outcome of political debates and bargaining, and was thus necessarily based on specific cultural assumptions that still influence discourses about human rights today. Many rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are specific rather than general, emerging from modern (Western) ideas: for example, freedom of marriage, right to social security benefits, right to elect political representatives (which means as a prerequisite the existence of political parties, free mass media, general literacy and so on). Not all rights are trans-historical nor trans-cultural. In this sense, human rights do bear a historicity and a topicality: they have a cultural background. In other words, human rights are culture-dependent. This may be one of the reasons why human rights (and lesbian and gay rights) found no real popular acceptance in Asia. As Chang puts it: âWhile western liberalism does have its followers in Asia, fewer Asians would defend (âŠ) the rights of homosexuals (âŠ).â4
This does not mean, of course, that Asian countries deny the universality or the ethical importance of human rights, but they stress the idea of diversity as much as the concept of universality. Stress on diversity can certainly not justify gross violation of human rights, but their universality can be harmful if used to mask the diversity of the Asian realities. One could rather consider that Asian countries and cultures are mostly just emerging from centuries of colonization and/or cultural influences. Truly âAsianâ thinking concerning these issues has not yet had the opportunity to fully develop.
In 1993, the âBangkok Declarationâ stated that âwhile human rights are universal by nature, they must be considered in the context of a dynamic and evolving process of international norm-setting, bearing in mind the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds.â
This bears, naturally, important consequences as far as the rights of homosexuals are concerned. Without following the anti-homosexual critics in Asia (voiced among others by Mahathir Mohammed in Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore), one cannot help being concerned with the ways âthe Westâ influenced, nay shaped, social, legal, and cultural aspects of the LGBT liberation movements in different parts of Asia from the 1980s on. This is a very tricky way to put it, for nobody could deny the numerous positive concrete aspects that such (âwestern-likeâ) campaigns and movements have brought to Asian homosexual communities, but at the same time nobody could deny the negative points either.
The relation to society in non-Western cultures is made of obligations and responsibilities. The language of ârightâ is a cultural construct imported from âthe West.â There is always a gap between the right and a set of beliefs, values and social relations that constitute a framework to negotiate oneâs position in society and culture. Such a set is nonreducible to mere ârights.â Nevertheless, for LGBT issues, one needs to speak a sort of âlanguage of powerâ to be accepted in the age of globalization. It seems nearly impossible, but could this not be done while trying to respect the constellation of beliefs? This is to me the important challenge that the locals have to take up in order to find âAsian ways.â
Western Influences in Asia
Since the end of the 1990s, voices have emerged, mainly from anthropologists, to denounce the âimpositionâ of Western ideas and categories concerning LGBT matters on the peoples and cultures of non-Occidental societies.5 Western influence can be directly witnessed in the âpride parades, â festivals, and mainly in the structure, activities and symbols of LGBT organizations with agendas similar to those found in the West.6 However, such an influence may not have reached individualsâ lives. Asian specificities play a major role in drawing a line, and establishing differences with (and perhaps dissociation from) Western modes.
Besides, the very existence of a âWestern modelâ is contested.7 Ways of life, political opinions, socioeconomic situations of homosexuals in Europe and the United States show a broad diversity.
The so-called western influences do not necessarily always come directly from âthe West.â Most gay activists in Asia have been influenced by Western thinking very concretely, through overseas studies. It seems that it is often during these stays that they came out of the closet. For example: Dede Oetomo8 (Indonesia), Chung To (Hong Kong), Shamshasha (Hong Kong). Likewise, Asian activist organizations themselves did not used to speak negatively about western ideas, influence, or a Western model. Times are changing though. For example, the Indonesian activist Dede Oetomo seems to me rather suspicious about âthe West, â in the sense that he considers it very important to keep the indigenous traditions concerning âhomosexuality, â as he said in July 1996 at the Vancouver International Aids Conference. Khan,9 while recognizing the progress made, is sceptical about the ways an âEnglish speaking urban eliteâ lead LGBT activities in India and sees the imposition of Western categories on Asia as partly neo-colonialist: âWhat we, as diasporic Indian âlesbianâ and âgayâ men, often do is to try to fit Indian sexual and cultural histories as well as contemporary behaviour and identities into a Western sexual discourse.â1...
