Compare the human rights situation between South Asia and West

The third world countries have been arguing that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reflect only the Western ideas.

These documents are based on principles of individualism. Therefore, human rights predicated on these values cannot be transplanted to the third world. The South Asian countries have been placing emphasis on social economic rights.

These countries strongly believe that the socio-economic rights create conditions for the realisation of civil and political rights. They are not against civil and political rights. They say that given the realities-poverty, unemployment, social in-equalities in this region, socio-economic rights should be given priority.

But the international human rights organisations which are dominated by the Western nations are sensitive to the violation of civil an ($ political rights. Socio economic rights remain unnoticed. Due to this factor the third world countries accuse the West of using the human rights as a political weapon to interfere in the third world.

Against this background, the human rights practitioners in South Asia and thirty world countries have been making attempts not only to emphasise socio-economic rights but also to promote different set of human rights suitable to their requirement. These rights include the right to development, right to peaqe, right to environment and right to communicate, right to property over common heritage of mankind. Of these new generation rights, the third world countries have been giving priority to the right to development. These rights are in a very early stage of formation. The right to development was used for the first time in 1972.

After lot of debate the General Assembly of the United Nations finally adopted a declaration on the right to development in 1986.

This right is in the form of an entitlement. Hence development must be seen as an entitlement. It guarantees a right to choose economic and social system without outside interference. The state seeking development is also entitled to demand that the other states should not take away from it, what belongs to it or should not deprive what is due to it. State is entitled to a fair share of what is common property.