National versus Individual Sovereignty

​​Human rights are regarded in many instances as "western" or "European". However, former prime ministers Mahathir Mohamad (Malaysia) and Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore), for example, have claimed that these moral concepts are not consistent with Asian beliefs, and that such emphasis on the individual would be inconsistent with the great importance that Asian countries place on a sense of community, order and harmony.

Heiner Bielefeldt is not convinced by such arguments. As the Director of the German Institute for Human Rights explains, the enactment of individual human rights is a modern response to injustice and conflict. Their wording goes back to the traumas inflicted on Europe during painful wars in the 19th and 20th centuries. According to Bielefeldt, these rights arise from the enlightened realisation that every human must be granted the right to use his or her judgment freely.

Human rights have no Jewish or Christian heritage

Bielefeldt emphasises that human rights do not simply result from the Christian or Jewish religion. They are a historically young product of the development of advanced countries. Their aspiration is universal. The fact that the principles were first postulated in Europe and North America is to some extent merely a historical coincidence.

Nonetheless, many countries do not observe human rights, and this has negative consequences for development, as many experts contend. Even in 1990, the South Commission under former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere described democracy and human rights as necessary foundations for advancements in science and industry.

Democracy and prosperity are intertwined

If intellectuals and scientists flee, any given country loses the elite it needs for its development. Investments are always precarious – without predictability of legal decisions they Opinion
Is national sovereignty more important than individual sovereignty or human rights?
Please write to us... become even more risky. The success of prospering democracies shows that social peace prevails where all citizens are able to pursue their interests with legitimate means and realistic chances of success.

Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development considers the application of human rights as vital and desirable for more than just ethical reasons. The social democratic-green coalition government has adopted this view from its predecessor, but it is giving it greater emphasis in its foreign and development policy.

However, it is essential that partner countries are committed themselves. They must act autonomously.

At the GTZ's Eschborn Dialogue on Good Governance in June, the BMZ-official Adolf Kloke-Lesch explained that the implementation of human rights is normally work in progress. According to Kloke-Lesch, outside help can do no more than act as impetus and support so as to contribute to the gradual implementation of fundamental rights. Ultimately a country's sovereignty must be respected.

National versus individual Sovereignty

Such an indirect strategy encounters opposition. Human Rights Institute director Heiner Bielefeldt stressed that human rights are inalienable and thus not negotiable just as they are mutually dependent and therefore indivisible.

The philosophical principles are clear, but, from a governmental perspective, the situation is not that simple. Foreign policy makers cite North Korea as an example of how isolating a dictatorial regime does not improve the living conditions of the population.

In other cases, economic concerns and security reasons cause governments to look the other way when human rights are breached. Chechenia is a classic example, where the leading industrial nations tolerate Russia's inhumane activities.

Indeed, human rights are only effective where an independent judiciary and the local authorities observe them. It is delicate for foreign governments to become involved in these matters. For this reason, "various instruments" are applied, says BMZ Director General Ursula Schäfer-Preuss.

NGOs strengthening civil society

Churches, political foundations and non-governmental organisations can use Federal funds much more efficiently to strengthen civil society in developing countries than state-run organisations.

Experience shows that reforms prove more sustainable if a sovereign government introduces them autonomously, thereby facilitating direct intergovernmental co-operation. But even where those responsible would like to implement human rights reforms, development co-operation faces obstacles.

Many practices that infringe upon human rights are social customs. A case in point is female genital mutilation in Africa.

Progress is often slow. Mallika Dutt, from the internationally active organisation Breakthrough, reports that, in Egypt, the number of men imprisoned for violence against their wives has increased. However, the rate of violence itself has not yet dropped.

The many conventions and declarations on human rights increasingly make it possible to hold perpetrators liable, but in many places there are no means of prevention. A society will not observe human rights until it adopts them as normal, day-to-day life.

Education and raising awareness are the primary ways to prevent human rights violations; that, at least, is the stance of organisations like the German Corporation for International Development Cooperation, GTZ. Thus the GTZ is working successfully with male members of the lower courts as part of a project for law reform in Zambia.

The judges had to learn what human rights are, that they apply in the same way to all people, and which of their traditional rights breach them. It was only then that the courts took complaints from women seriously, reports GTZ expert Katrin Saage-Fain.

Human rights in accord with regional cultures

It is important to consider customary law and to interlink it with modern ideas. The experiences of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in legal development assistance show that this contributes to human rights being perceived as less foreign or "western", but as being in accord with their own culture. The organisation is affiliated to the German Social Democratic Party and active in many countries.

In Ethiopia, it arranges seminars and discussion fora to raise awareness of human rights at all national levels. It even translates Ethiopian laws into regional languages to assist general education.

However, even in countries in which human rights are supposedly anchored firmly in judiciary and society, it cannot be taken for granted that they will be protected. Horst Fischer, Professor of Law at the Ruhr University and President of the European Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice, refers to the emergence of lawless zones in democratic systems.

He cites the latest atrocities by American personnel in Iraqi prisons and threats of torture at a police station in Frankfurt. According to Fischer, we must do our utmost to resist this unfortunate development because human rights form the basis for both the rule of law and democracy.

Marie-Christine Johannes

This article was previously published in Development and Cooperation 8/2004

GTZ Annual Report on Good Governance
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