African Values and the Human Rights Debate: An African Perspective

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate among scholars over whether or not the concept of human rights is entirely Western.' Questions that have been raised include the following: Can we really expect non-Western peoples to embrace the international human rights instruments which are by and large Western in character? 2 If non-Western cultures do not possess the Western conception of human rights, do they have other approaches to the enhancement of human dignity? 3 It is perhaps in the nature of such a discussion that these questions will never be satisfactorily answered. There seems to be some consensus, however, that the concept of human rights as generally understood is historically a Western concept. The more troubling questions facing Westerners and non-Westerners alike pertain to whether contemporary international human rights instruments, given their Western biases, can be said to apply to peoples from non-Western cultures. Despite an increase in the discussion of human rights in Africa, very little exists in the form of literature that approaches the idea of human rights from

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