Universalizing Human Rights: The ASEAN Way

The Asian Values debate sparked by highly influential former Prime Ministers Mahathir bin Mohammad of Malaysia and Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore in the 1980’s and 1990’s sought to challenge and perhaps discredit the dominant “Western” human rights discourse by providing a viable alternative to western universalism steeped in cultural relativism and regional particularism. The literature surrounding the Asian Values debate generally notes its decline in the aftermath of the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990’s and takes for granted that this strain of thought is no longer relevant without providing evidence for such a wide ranging claim. Not only have scholars and regional analyst decided to no longer focus on Asian Values but some insiders such as Villanueva have gone so far as to declare Asian Values dead. It is my argument that Asian Values is still present and can be proven by analyzing ASEAN legal texts such as the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN Human Rights Declaration and ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Terms of Reference as well as internal negotiation dynamics surrounding the AHRD. Some ASEAN states in their internal negotiations surrounding the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration demonstrated a continued discourse of "Asian Values" which while no longer being mainstream is indeed still prevalent and influential in the region.