The Asian Contribution to the Development of International Law: Focusing on the ReCAAP

Although international law is universally applied, it has been criticised on account that it was established by Western States based on Western values.1 Aside from the validity of such criticism, it is undeniable that most rules of international law originate from European values and experiences. A testament to this is the fact that most provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a universal human rights treaty, are similar to those of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which was adopted in Europe almost fifteen years before the universal treaty.2 Furthermore, international criminal law, particularly the crime of genocide, was developed from the European experience of the Holocaust.3 Meanwhile, compared to Europe, other regions have only provided a limited contribution to the development of international law. In particular, in the case of Asia, there seem to be two grounds on which such insufficient contribution originates. First, since it is challenging to define Asia and determine which states belong to it,4 the Asian region seems to entail both vagueness and variety. Therefore, it is difficult to perceive Asian regional contributions, aside from contributions by some Asian States or experts. Second, as sovereignty plays a more critical role in Asian States,5 the rules of international law that by