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See also the following sections of this website:

• Asian values' & human rights
• Islam & human rights

International standards:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) {over 300 languages including···français···español}

Fact sheet: The International Bill of Rights (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) {···français}

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (United Nations World Conference on Human Rights, June 1993)

Other materials:

2002:

Freedom Makes All the Difference [refers to World Summit on Sustainable Development] -...We can even question the general strategy of defining sustainable development only in terms of fulfillment of needs, rather than using the broader perspective of enhancing human freedoms on a sustainable basis... Indeed, it is not at all obvious why the enhancing of democratic freedoms should not figure among the central demands of sustainable development. Not only are these freedoms important in themselves, but they can contribute to other types of freedoms. (Amartya Sen, Master of Trinity College - Cambridge, Nobel laureate [economics], in Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2002)

2001:

Human Rights and Global Civilisation: 2nd Annual BP Lecture by Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [includes several paragraphs about business/human rights near the end of the lecture, in the section entitled: "Broadening the human rights coalition"] (Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 29 Nov. 2001)

• same speech posted on BP website: Human Rights and Global Civilisation (Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 29 Nov. 2001)

AFGHANISTAN: Annan [U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan] Describes Peacekeeping Options, Blasts Bin Laden - "Bin Laden is wrong" when he calls democracy and human rights tools rich Westerners use to justify their selfishness, Annan said. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written by thinkers from all over the world, not just from the West. Fifty years later, I think every society can identify with the declaration. So when bin Laden affirms that democracy and human rights are just Western products, I find that insulting for the people of the Third World whom he claims to defend. When a father learns that his son has been tortured, when a woman learns that her husband has been thrown in prison for no reason, their reaction is the same wherever they are. In the West or in the Third World, they shout out the same anger, they cry the same tears." (UN Wire, 5 Nov. 2001)

• {···français} Afghanistan : Annan place l'Onu «en première ligne»...Ben Laden a tort. La Déclaration universelle des Droits de l'homme a été rédigée par des penseurs venus de tous les coins du monde et non pas seulement de l'Occident... (Le Figaro [France], 5 Nov. 2001) (Le Figaro [France], 5 Nov. 2001)

Dignity and freedom are for everyone (John Shattuck, CEO of John F. Kennedy Library [ former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor and former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic], in Boston Globe, 29 Apr. 2001)

Universal Human Rights and Cultural Diversity: A review of Human Rights: New Perspectives, New Realities, edited by Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwaberger (Hilde Hey, Human Rights & Human Welfare, Apr. 2001)

Universality by Consensus: The Evolution of Universality in the Drafting of the UDHR: A review of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting & Intent, by Johannes Morsink (Amy Eckert, Human Rights & Human Welfare, Apr. 2001)

Are Human Rights Universal? The Rise of Cultural Exceptionalism (Thomas Frank, Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2001)

2000:

Antecedents of the Idea of Human Rights: A Survey of Perspectives (Polly Vizard, UNDP Human Development Report 2000: Human Rights and Human Development Background Paper, U.N. Development Programme, 2000)

1999:

Are Human Rights Universal? (Shashi Tharoor, World Policy Journal, winter 1999/2000)

Democracy and Social Justice (Amartya Sen, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, paper presented to International Development Exchange Program, Feb. 1999)

Democracy as a Universal Value (Amartya Sen, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in Journal of Democracy, 1999)

1998:

Seeking Confucian sources for rights: exercise in futility, or worse? (Susan Whitfield, China Rights Forum, spring 1998)

Confucianism and Human Rights [summary] (Wm. Theodore de Bary and Tu Weiming [eds.], Jan. 1998)

1997:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Is It Universal? (Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, Human Rights Solidarity, Asian Human Rights Commission, Dec. 1997)

Business and Human Rights: 5 Common Misconceptions (Christopher Avery, Dec. 1997)

Human Rights: Chinese & Canadian Perspectives [summary] (E.P. Mendes and A-M Traeholt [eds.], 1997)

1995:

Speaker challenges ideas of Asian values - While some Americans may believe that the terms "political freedom," "civil liberties" and "democracy" are purely Western ideals, Amartya Sen has a different perspective. (Leslie Nurse, Yale Daily News, 28 Sep. 1995)

Human Rights: Universal? Indivisible? Interdependent? (Rene V. Sarmiento, 20 June 1995)

Human Rights and Cultural Values: The Political Philosophies of the Dalai Lama and the People's Republic of China (John Powers, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1995)