International Cooperation and Global Human Rights Governance 

It is generally referred to as "human rights," but it can be classified as universal human rights and relative human rights. The two do not collide with each other, but are in harmony with each other.

We must also fully consider and respect relative standards, while building on universal standards for human rights. For such reasonable and rational global human rights governance, international cooperation is very important so as not to be too biased toward human rights views in a specific region or country.

1. Human society and human rights

Human rights are fundamental rights that everyone has since birth. Human rights exist to protect human dignity and values, and to ensure that humans can live freely and happily. In addition, human rights apply equally to everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, nationality, or social status.

Meanwhile, can there exist human rights concepts such as "all-parasite" that are always equally applicable to all countries and regions on the planet with the same standards and principles? There seems to be conflicting arguments about this. In this regard, I think that there are things that should be applied absolutely the same, but relatively individual special situations should also be considered. The former is "universal human rights" and the latter is "relative human rights."

Universal human rights are the natural rights of everyone. These rights apply to everyone, regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender, or other characteristics. Universal human rights include the right to life, freedom, equality, safety, and welfare. The most famous example of universal human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948.

Relative human rights are special rights that are considered particularly important in a specific culture or society. Relative human rights include religious freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association. The most famous example of relative human rights is the African Charter of Human Rights, adopted in 1981.

The issue of human rights is not a simple issue. For example, if a powerful country imposes its own principles on another country that has developed in a culture and environment different from its own, focusing on its own perspectives and standards, it can lead to division, confrontation, and conflict in the international community. Therefore, in order for countries around the world in different environments to develop peacefully, the two concepts must develop in harmony while respecting relative human rights based on universal human rights. To this end, mutual understanding and cooperation of the international community based on an open mind are essential.

2. International Cooperation and Global Human Rights Governance

In addition to the universal view of human rights, countries around the world should fully recognize and respect relative human rights views that have different characteristics from them. Nevertheless, looking back on human history, there are many cases in which some countries have forced their own perspectives and standards on other countries in the name of human rights. This is a selfish and dangerous attitude that breaks the well-being of the international community by violating the sovereignty of other countries. Nevertheless, this phenomenon still occurs today when awareness of human rights is increasing. Even today, some countries apply economic, military, and political pressure on other countries under the guise of human rights. In order to prevent this phenomenon and strengthen global human rights governance, international cooperation in at least two aspects is necessary.

First, the international community should jointly pay close attention and actively cooperate in necessary measures so that each country protects the universal human rights of mankind. To this end, it is imperative to strengthen human rights governance, an international system for protecting and promoting human rights.

Next, it is also urgent to strengthen international cooperation to cope with unfair interference and infringement of sovereignty against other countries under the guise of human rights of some countries. Countries around the world should actively cooperate with other governments and international organizations to ensure that the two concepts of human rights are harmoniously observed and developed.

Finally, it is also necessary to consider the reorganization and reform of the systems of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations Supreme Human Rights Office, UNESCO, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, which are representative human rights-related governance organizations in the international community. This is because in order for these organizations to promote human rights of the two concepts more harmoniously and persuasively, they need to be upgraded and updated to suit the current era.

Considering all this, countries around the world need to gather wisdom and power to ensure that global human rights governance functions better and more efficiently with more countries and organizations' sympathy and support in the international community.

Excerpt from Sukeun Woo's Speech at the "Forum on Global Human Rights Governance".

(Sukeun Woo is Chairman of the Korea-China Global Association)