Cultural Diversity and Human Rights
(FR. Scott Lecture)
Stephen J. Toope*
F.R. Scott was a poet, an advocate and a scholar
who cared passionately about human rights in Canada
and around the world. Building from Scott’s poem “On
Kanbawza Road”, the author extrapolates a vision of
what Western actors must do to achieve a true dialogue
on human rights that respects cultural diversity.
The shift in focus from the setting of recognized
standards to the implementation of those norms has in-
creased tensions in the area of international human
rights. The attempts to define, categorize and group
human rights have been less successful at achieving
consensus than they have been at unearthing the West-
ern philosophy at the core of the exercise. Revealing
these Western sources has only exacerbated the existing
clash-of-cultures debate. The author questions what is
meant by culture within that debate. He argues that
culture operates on the levels of form, structure and
myth, but emphasizes the need to recognize the mythic
level of human rights in the Western tradition. Two dif-
ficulties then arise. Is a society’s culture defined solely
at the structural level by the legally legitimate state, or
do other entities matter as well? However it may be
defined, is that culture then susceptible to change, or do
its values ensure some form of purity? The author ar-
gues that the answers to both inquiries are not reached
in as static a manner as clash-of-cultures proponents
would seem to believe.
Using his interpretation of “On Kanbawza Road”
as a guide, the author indicates that human-rights dis-
cussions must move beyond arguments over which
philosophy underpins whose terminology. Common
values within contrary terms and tenets must be recog-
nized. All voices within a cultural group deserve to be
heard. The Western listeners must be humble, ap-
proaching the encounter with neither an accusatory nor
condescending predisposition.
F.R Scott dtait un porte, un avocat et un profes-
seur qui avait 4 cceur ]a protection des droits de Ia per-
sonne, tant au Canada que dans le reste du monde. A
partir du po~me <
l’auteur propose un discours sur les droits de la per-
sonne qui respecte Ia diversit6 culturelle.
Le passage d’une re de creation de normes b une
&re de mise en place de ces normes a accru la tension
dans le domaine des droits de la personne. Plut6t que
de crder un consensus, les diverses tentatives visant A
dffinir, A catdgoriser et A grouper les droits de la per-
sonne ont eu pour rdsultat de rdvdler l’eurocentrisme
des valeurs vdhiculdes. La prise de conscience des ra-
cines occidentales des droits de la personne n’a fait
qu’exacerber le drbat entourant le choc des cultures.
L’auteur remet en question
la definition de
<
que Ia culture opire au niveau de Ia forme, de la struc-
ture et du mythe, et il souligue l’importance du contenu
mythique dans le discours sur les droits de la personne
k l’int~rieur de la tradition occidentale. Deux probl –
mes se posent alors. Tout d’abord, la culture doit-elle se
d~finir uniquement au niveau structurel de l’ttat lgi-
timement constitud, ou doit-on tenir compte d’autres
entitds a l’intdieur de l’ttat ? Par ailleurs, la culture
est-elle susceptible de changer et d’6voluer, ou doit elle
plutt Atre per~ue comme Ia rdalisation concrete de va-
leurs pures? La r~ponse a ces deux question ne saurait
6tre aussi statique que le laissent entendre les tenants
du choc des cultures.
l’auteur conclut qu’il est
A partir de son interprtation du po~me <
