Persistent discussions about whether the claim to human rights is universally valid, since they were created in a Christian Europe, led to a movement, which drew up universal basic values through dialogue with all religions and cultures, a world ethic.

The real breakthrough came from the Parliament of the World's Religions, which debated and adopted the "Declaration Towards a Global Ethic" in Chicago in 1993 following a prolonged period of  difficult preliminary negotiations. Extracts from this declaration are available on a document page.

The Parliament of the World's Religions last met in December 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa. A report on the conference and other interesting information are available on the Parliament's website at: http://www.cpwr.org.

The basis around the efforts to find values, which can be accepted and recognized by all people, has lead to the realization that across the world, in all cultures and religions, and at all times, a maxim must exist that lies at the core of all ethics - the so-called Golden Rule. The Golden Rule encompasses all known ethics and forms the basis for legitimate action by individuals, groups, states and communities of states. The Golden Rule states that each individual must behave towards others as he or she would want to be regarded. Or in the words of the "Declaration Towards a Global Ethic":

"We must treat others as we wish others to treat us."

Dispute over human rights

The Conference of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur ended in controversy on Tuesday over the issue of human rights, with US and Europe on one side and China and South East Asia on the other. The dispute flared up following a proposal from Malaysia's prime Minister, Mahathir, which motioned rewriting the Human Rights Declaration of the United Nations in the interest of the poorer nations. Both the United States and the European Union firmly rejected Mahathir's demands at the subsequent press conference. (...) Whereas the Foreign Ministers from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippians expressed the need for an examination of the situation. "Bearing in mind past events, we should not be so categorical", said Indonesia's Foreign Minister Alatas. According to Alatas, around 120 new states have come into being since the Declaration in 1948, which were not party to its wording. Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Badawi, said that the emphasis of individual freedoms were not appropriate for multiracial and multicultural third-world nations such as Malaysia. "To much freedom can destroy democracy". (...).

[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dated 30. July 1997]

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