Traditional Values No Excuse for Human Rights Abuse—UNFPA Leader

UNITED NATIONS, Geneva—Traditional values cannot be an excuse for violating human rights,” Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, said today. But, she quickly added: “Culture does have to be taken into account to effectively promote human rights.”

Ms. Obaid made her declaration in a keynote address at a forum on traditional values and human rights, in Geneva. She said: “We have found that, to internalize human rights, cultural values and beliefs must be clearly identified, contested, negotiated and eventually reconciled from within.

“Culture is created by people and people can change culture,” Ms. Obaid continued, adding that it is possible to build on the positive and transform negative aspects of cultures. “There are people within every culture who oppose harmful cultural practices and violations of human rights,” she said.

After highlighting the work of UNFPA to promote the right to sexual and reproductive health by taking a culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, human-rights based approach, Ms. Obaid concluded by saying that international actors in human rights “must be able to view the field from cross-cultural perspectives. By doing so, we are able to engage in a dialogue with cultures and mobilize cultural agents of change for development and human rights.”

The forum was opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, who lauded Ms. Obaid for raising awareness that “there is no need to have to choose between being culturally sensitive, on the one hand, and respecting human rights, on the other.”

Calling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “the greatest legacy of the United Nations,” Ms. Pillay said, “Our task, that of the 192 countries represented by the UN Charter, is to come down squarely and unequivocally, on the side of those in every society who promote and defend human rights. To those who seek to use culture or tradition to deny universal human rights, she said: “speak to my staff who work in every corner of the globe defending human rights. Ask them if, in any of the 192 Member States of this Organization any single woman, man or child has ever stood to demand the right to be tortured, summarily executed, starved or denied medical care, in the name of their culture.”

Explaining that traditions and values changed over time, Ms. Pillay said, "It is the duty of all States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Last month a new human rights resolution clarified the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and welcomed renewed commitments by states to addressing the issue.