Diversity, human rights and peace.

• Author: Singh, Anita Inder
• Position: Culture Watch

If globalization is a fact of life, so is human diversity. The management of national, cultural and religious diversity is a high priority for the United Nations and national policy makers in the twenty-first century. As more and more people are brought together; voluntarily and involuntarily, by the integration of markets in the wake of globalization and the continual advances in telecommunications and transportation, many individuals encountered confusion and conflict in adjusting to a multicultural experience that for them is new. Whether people are enriched or disoriented by their contacts with the "multiculturalism of globalization" depends to a considerable extent on how their fears are addressed, what is done to make them feel less vulnerable to forces over which they have little or no control. Inspired by the UN Charter--or perhaps the inspiration behind it--human rights are of significance in helping the international community deal with the dilemmas arising from a real or imagined clash of cultures and protecting "the dignity and worth of the human person".

In practice, this means the crafting of policies that will help individuals face the radical economic and social changes that at times seem to threaten their very identity. Most problems cannot be solved entirely at the national, regional or global level; the age of globalization is simultaneously an age of interdependence. No "political command" can ensure that decisions at any level will be implemented by administrative fiat. Leaders must motivate ordinary people to participate in plans "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite ... to maintain international peace and security". This is a major challenge to international policy makers. A concomitant challenge is how to give individuals a sense of involvement in shaping and controlling the course of events that affect their lives, through democratic--or good--governance, by promoting the rule of law, an independent judiciary, fr ee and fair periodic elections, political and intellectual pluralism, and respect for human and minority rights. States are a long-term fixture, and human rights are about protecting the individuals who make up States.

Democracy cannot guarantee human rights, but human rights cannot be protected without it. The UN Commission on Human Rights affirms "the indissoluble links"...