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FORUM the enjoyment of physical and (AHRD), the signifcance of national intended to exhibit any particular point reproductive health and other medical and regional particularities and various of view of any one people or group of facilities, the AHRD specifcally historical, cultural and religious peoples or any particular political or addresses the lengthy plight of people backgrounds, must be borne in mind philosophical system. sufering communicable diseases in compliance with the UDHR and including HIV/AIDS by imposing upon Vienna Declaration and Programme of Article 29 (1) of the UDHR demon- Member States an obligation to create Action 1993. strates that human rights cannot be a positive environment in overcoming applied in a vacuum. Consequently, the issue of stigma and discrimination. Malaysia has always made it known the how human rights are to be practised observance and promotion of human depends upon the vision of human In the part on the right to development, rights must always take into account communities to govern their the right to development as enunciated and acquiesce the particularities of parameters and manifestation. in Article 35 has been streamlined and countries at the national and regional juxtaposed in relation to human rights. level. In light of cultural and religious diversity, there cannot be a standard In Articles 36 and 37, other This tendency is very much evident blanket approach, in every instance, development rights in relation to in the Bangkok (Governmental) on how to govern issues relating to human rights are provided for the frst Declaration of Human Rights, adopted human rights. time and defnitely add value. by Asian States including Malaysia in 1993, which provides: Thus, the Western model cannot The right to peace, spelt out in Article be adopted in toto, by ASEAN, 38, which is not provided in the UDHR, ‘(We) recognize that while human due to a signifcant variance in forms the basis of a meaningful rights are universal in nature, they historical backgrounds, cultures and human rights to be achievable in an must be considered in the context civilisations. As insisted by Kof Annan, environment free from insecurity, of a dynamic and evolving process shortly after he became the Secretary- instability, violence and war. of international norm-setting, General of the United Nations in bearing in mind the signifcance of 1997, that ‘no single model of human AHRD and Cultural Diversity national and regional particularities rights, Western or other, represents a and various historical, cultural and blueprint for all states’. In particular, Article 7 of the AHRD religious backgrounds.’ (Item 8, provides: Bangkok Declaration) Against this backdrop, the AHRD is a regional human rights document ‘All human rights are universal, The Vienna Declaration and Pro- beftting the ASEAN societies. indivisible, interdependent and gramme of Action of 1993 declared: interrelated. All human rights and Each regional human rights document fundamental freedoms in this ‘All human rights are universal, has its own uniqueness. The AHRD is Declaration must be treated in indivisible and interdependent no exception. a fair and equal manner, on the and inter-related. The international same footing and with the same community must treat human In a plural society such as that of the emphasis. At the same time, the rights globally in a fair and equal ASEAN society, the AHRD rests on the realisation of human rights must manner, on the same footing, fundamental values and assumptions be considered in the regional and and with the same emphasis. which mirror the character of the national context bearing in mind While the signifcance of national society at large. diferent political, economic, legal, and regional particularities and social, cultural, historical and various historical, cultural and These in turn infuence the parameters religious backgrounds.’ religious backgrounds must be of human rights as embodied in the borne in mind, it is the duty of AHRD, determining their viability and Thus, the realisation of human rights states, regardless of their political, progress. must take into account the historical, economic and cultural systems, political, social, economic, legal, to promote and protect all human The AHRD must be seen against the cultural and religious backgrounds of rights and fundamental freedoms.’ local backdrop and local setting of the a society. (emphasis added) Member States of ASEAN. It cannot be fully appreciated from the exterior, Accordingly, in determining the In any case, the UDHR 1948, as ‘a as it can from within. The ten Member parameters of human rights under common standard for achievement States of ASEAN are diverse in its the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration for all peoples and all nations’, is not political, social, cultural, legal and 6 bulletin@idfr.gov.my DIPLOMATIC VOICE 7