Reinterpreting East-Asian Culture and Human Rights: The Case of Traditional Vietnamese Legal Culture

This paper’s overall goal is to search for human dignity and tolerance, as cross-cultural values of human rights and a contribution of East Asian Culture to the Evolution of Universal Human Rights through examining the traditional Vietnamese legal culture and its influences on modern Vietnam. The paper explores Vietnam’s traditional values of humanism, humanitarianism and human rights which were exposed through the lenses of Feudalism and flowered from the presence of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Vietnamese belief (animism) from 10th century onwards, until 1858 at which Vietnam began to fall into the French rule while still remained semi-Feudalism. By looking at the Vietnamese Imperial dynasties, especially from the Ly, Tran, Le and Nguyen, the paper seeks for solid proofs demonstrating traditional Vietnamese legal culture did exist the ideas of human rights as enshrined in international human rights treaties and that the East Asian Culture, embraced by Confucianism, by which Vietnamese legal culture had received, significantly contributed to the evolution of universal human rights. The paper is also based on the argument that Vietnamese traditional culture, as well as the East Asian Culture, is embraced by both negative and positive elements that affect, either sides, the evolution of human rights in Vietnam and East Asia, as well as to the emergence of universal human rights. The transcendent values constituting that culture are human dignity, tolerance and endless compassion; they were rich in Vietnamese traditional the legal culture and Vietnamese traditional society still significantly influencing on present-day Vietnam. The arguments brought to some key conclusions that as part of East Asian Culture, regardless of containing some conservative viewpoints negatively affecting the ways in which the individuals’ human rights have been respected, protected and fulfilled, such as women’s rights, Vietnamese culture embraces a lot of values supportive for humanity and humanitarianism and entirely compatible with universal human rights.