"The compelling dialogue of freedom": Human rights at the Bandung Conference

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 28, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 947-965

  Burke, Roland ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING WORLD; HUMAN RIGHTS;

ASIA; BANDUNG; EURASIA; INDONESIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; WEST JAVA;

EID: 33751311778     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2006.0041     Document Type: Article

References (91)

1. Carlos P. Romulo, The Meaning of Bandung 54 (1956).
2. For commentary on this source and its problems, see George McT. Kahin, The Meaning of Bandung, 312 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 141, 142 (1957)(book review).
3. Romulo reflects further on Bandung in Carlos P. Romulo, Forthy Years: A Third World Soldier at the UN 137-46 (1986).
4. Extract from Les nationalismes d'outre-mer et l'avenir des peuples de couleur Encyclopédie française, pt. II, Section C, Chapter 11, 1959 reprinted in Philippe Braillard & Mohammad-Reza Djalili, The Third World and International Relations 57 (1986).
5. Two accounts of the history of Afro-Asian unity that offer detailed examination of Bandung and its legacy have been produced, see G.H. Jansen, Afro-Asia and Non-Alignment (1966)
6. David Kimche, The Afro-Asian Movement: Ideology and Foreign Policy of the Third World (1973).
7. The only detailed documentary study of Bandung to date is George McTurnan Kahin, The Asian-African Conference: Bandung, Indonesia, April 1955 (1956).
8. Paul Gordon Lauren, another specialist historian on the development of international human rights, is one of the few scholars to devote significant positive attention to Bandung. In his two texts, Lauren provides a brief discussion of the place of human rights at the conference and its implications, see Paul Gordon Lauren, the Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen 241 (2nd ed. 2003)
9. and, to a lesser extent, Paul Gordon Lauren, Power and Prejudice: The Politics and Diplomacy of Racial Discrimination 223-29 (2d ed. 1996).
10. Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 215 (2001).
11. Id. at 223.
12. Id. at 224.
13. Id. at 216. Glendon's analysis of the fate of the human rights program is essentially correct, but in locating the beginning of these trends at Bandung, she perhaps under-estimates the level of support human rights attracted at the conference.
14. Glendon's pessimism is not altogether unwarranted. Charles Malik's private appraisal of the conference is generally quite negative, and he repeatedly laments the incipient anti-democratic tendency that seems to be developing across the decolonized world. Nevertheless, this concern seems much more focused on potential problems emerging in the next decade, rather than a critique of the human rights attitudes at Bandung itself.
15. For a précis of Fath's experiences with Nasser, see Patrick Seale, L'Affaire Nasser, 39 Int'l Aff. 124, 124-25 (1963).
16. Mahmoud Aboul Fath, Letter to Bandung Delegates (13 Apr. 1955). (The Personal Papers of Charles Malik, Box 130, Folder 7, Manuscript Reading Room, Library of Congress, Wash. D.C.)
17. Some delegations chose to distribute their opening addresses as printed texts in lieu of a speech to permit more time for the substantive program.
18. Fuad Hassan, Collected Documents from the Asian-African Conference: April 18-24, 1955 (1983).
19. All opening and closing addresses verified by cross-reference to original conference record Asian-African Conference, Bandung, Indonesia, 18th-24th April 1955: Speeches and Communiqués, (Jakarta, Ministry of Information, Republic of Indonesia, May 1955). Contemporary photo. reprint, copy supplied by Merle C. Ricklefs, University of Melbourne.
20. Closing Address of Afghanistan, supra note 13, at 149.
21. Closing Address of Egypt, supra note 13, at 154.
22. Closing Address of Pakistan, supra note 13, at 173.
23. See Hassan, opening speeches from Egypt, Iran, and Japan, supra note 13, at 50, 59, 67.
24. Opening Address of Thailand, supra note 13, at 109.
25. Drawn from Press Release, Conference Secretariat, see Asian-African Conference: Speeches and Communiqués, supra note 13.
26. Jansen, supra note 3, at 198.
27. Chronology of UN membership, available at http://www.un.org/Overview/ growth.htm.
28. Communist China, Indonesia, Ghana, Cambodia, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.
29. A copy of the UDHR is among the extensive handwritten notes, minutes and appointment cards copy in Malik's Bandung Conference folder. It seems reasonable to speculate that it was used to explain the content of the UDHR to those unfamiliar with it, though no direct evidence exists in the papers to prove this. See The Personal Papers of Charles Malik, Box 130, Folder 4, supra note 11.
30. Charles Malik, American Broadcast Corporation (ABC) Sunday Radio Program Transcript: Guest of Honour Charles Malik (5 May 1955). (Australian National Archives (NAA), A1838/278. 3002/1 Pr 5 at 2.)
31. Roderick W. Parkes, Communiqué: Some Impressions of the Bandung Conference, Jakarta: British Foreign Office (28 Apr. 1955). (British Public Records Office, FO371/116983, 40, 1071/242/55, D2231/319, at 2.);
32. Djalal Abdoh, Communiqué: The Bandung Conference. An Appreciation, Tehran: British Foreign Office (3 May 1955). (FO 371/116984, 1071/55/55, D2231/336, at 1.)
33. Charles Malik, Talk Given by Dr. Charles Malik at Luncheon, Canberra: Department of External Affairs Australia (28 Apr. 1955). (File No. 156/3/ 3, A1838/278, 3002/1 Pr 5 at 2.)
34. Malik, supra note 24.
35. See Johannes Morsink, The Universal Declaration or Human Rights: Origins, Drafting and Intent (1999);
36. Mary Ann Glendon, The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal Human Rights Idea, 16 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 27, 27-40 (2003). The division over economic and social rights can be overstated - clearly many Western states did have considerable sympathy for the concept, and the conflict on this question was relatively modest during the drafting of the UDHR.
37. Romulo, supra note 1, at 14.
38. Malik, supra note 26.
39. Keith C.O. Shann, Report on Asian-African Conference - Bandung, Canberra: Department of External Affairs, United Nations Branch, Australia (11 May 1955); (NAA A4311/1, Item 94/28, at 5.)
40. Malik, supra note 26.
41. Romulo, supra note 1, at 14.
42. Id.
43. Abdoh, supra note 25, at 1.
44. Final Communiqué of the Asian-African Conference 24 Apr. 1955, supra note 3, at 80.
45. See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess. (Resolutions, pt. 1), at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948),
46. reprinted in 43 Am. J. Int'l L. 127 (Supp. 1949).
47. Malik, supra note 26.
48. Id.
49. Record of interview between Charles Malik of Lebanon and Mr. Chou En-Lai, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, (25 Apr. 1955). (Copy of transcript of interview between Chou En-Lai and Charles Malik, 6:30-8:30pm, Monday, 25 Apr. 1955, Bandung, Indonesia. Transcript is a carbon copy of that presented to John Forster Dulles, 5 May 1955, sent to Chou En-Lai, 6 May 1955, transmitted through Swedish Ambassador. Personal Papers of Charles Malik, Manuscript Reading Room, supra note 11.)
50. See John Kotelawala, An Asian Prime Minister's Story 186-87 (1956).
51. Id.
52. Jansen, supra note 3, at 202-07, 214-15
53. Kahin, supra note 3, at 18-21, 30-31
54. Kimche, supra note 3, at 68-70.
55. Jawaharlal Nehru, Problems of Dependent Peoples, address to the closed session of the Political Committee, 22 Apr. 1955 (File SI/162/9/64-MEA) in 29 New Delhi, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru 103 (2d ser. 1984).
56. Malik, supra note 24.
57. Romulo, supra note 1, at 33-45.
58. See Romulo, supra note 1, at 66.
59. Id. at 67.
60. Id.
61. Id. at 68.
62. Carlos P. Romulo, I Walked With Heroes 164 (1961).
63. Romulo, supra note 1, at 75.
64. Id.
65. Id at 75-76.
66. John P. Humphrey, Human Rights & the United Nations : A Great Adventure 203 (1984).
67. ANC Freedom Charter June 26 1955, available at http://www.anc.org.za/ ancdocs/history/charter.html.
68. See Hassan, supra note 13, at 70.
69. Id. at 132.
70. These debates occurred in the UN Third Committee in October and November 1950. Consult the summary records for further detail.
71. For Cassin's role in the drafting of the UDHR, see Morsink, supra note 28
72. Glendon, supra note 5.
73. U.N. GAOR Third Committee, 5th sess. 38, U.N. Doc. A/C.3/SR.294 (1950).
74. U.N. GAOR Third Committee, 5, U.N. Doc. A/C.3/SR.292 (1950).
75. U.N. GAOR Third Committee, 25, U.N. Doc A/C.3/SR.295 (1950).
76. U.N. GAOR Third Committee, 6, U.N. Doc. A/C.3/SR.296 (1950).
77. Id. 81;
78. see also Susan Waltz, Universal Human Rights: The Contribution of Muslim States, 26 Hum. Rts. Q. 799 (2004), for more detail on the work of Afnan and Azmi Bey in the drafting of the covenants.
79. U.N. GAOR Third Committee, surpra note 63, 169.
80. Brian Bunting, Moses Kotane: South African Revolutionary 206-13 (1975).
81. Press Statement by Representatives of the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress, 16 Apr. 1955, in The Asian-African Conference: Views and News 35-36 (c.1985).
82. See Bunting, supra note 66, at 117
83. Moses Kotane, Isithwalandiwe Rests in Peace, 12 Sechaba 51, 56 (1978)
84. 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter, available at http:// www.sahistory.org.za/pages/specialprojects/june26/graphics/ Freedom%20Charter-reduced.pdf.
85. Bethwell A. Ogot, Mau Mau and Nationhood: The Untold Story, in Mau Mau and Nationhood: Arms, Authority & Narration 8, 23-24 (E.S. Atieno Odhiambo & John Lonsdale eds. 2003).
86. For an example of this strategy, see Makau Mutua, Human Rights: A Political and Cultural Critique 19 (2002).
87. Though Romulo's support for human rights faded dramatically in later decades, a decline epitomized by his defense of the Marcos regime.
88. Glendon, supra note 5.
89. Romulo, supra note 1, at 54.
90. Romulo, supra note 1, at 36
91. see also Romulo, supra note 1, at 68-69.