Asian convention on human rights?

As an occasional reader of The Jakarta Post, I noticed an article on Sept. 17, 1997 entitled Rights declaration needs revision.

The article states that the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 needs to be revised seen with Asian eyes, it being a Western creation not recognizing economic, social and cultural rights as human rights.

I must admit that the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights probably should be revised, although the Vienna Declaration of 1933 is a form of updating.

In my opinion, it is, for instance, a human right not to be exposed to pollution (smoke) and corruption.

The American, African and European continents have their own human rights respectively: the American Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and People's rights, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom.

Drafts of the Arab Charter for Human Rights were prepared in 1986 and 1994, but consensus has not been reached as yet.

It would be a positive contribution to the universal human rights if Asia, like the other countries, introduced its own convention.

ERIK BLOCH

Dragor, Denmark