Gaza Tragedy Shows Need for Practical Dialogue among Civilizations: Armenian MP
Rustam Bakoyan, the head of the Armenia parliament’s rights commission, made the remark in an address to the first international conference on “Human Rights in the Eastern Perspective”, which kicked off in Tehran on Monday, April 28, 2025.
“Despite the complexity of our region, we must not allow relative humanism. The tragedy of Gaza shows that the dialogue of civilizations is not enough on the theoretical level but needs practical work,” he said.
He hoped that the holding of the conference will promote understanding and continue constructive dialogue.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Bakoyan said the main focus of today’s discussion is the fundamental view of human rights in different cultural contexts, adding that although human rights are based on universal values, they are understood differently in different cultural, social and religious contexts.
He said Western legal systems during the Enlightenment focused heavily on rights and freedoms, an approach that, while admired, sometimes led to the oblivion of collective identity.
He added that in contrast to Western thought, it is traditional societies that consider human rights in the context of society and in their attitude to nature has a special place.
One of the basic principles in Eastern thought is the need of man for social responsibility and the fact that man thinks of collective good, and these principles in Eastern culture have high values that lead to public welfare, the Armenian lawmaker stated.
Bakoyan went on to say that the views on human rights in Western and Eastern cultures should not be seen as contradictory, but complementary, adding that they can move towards the creation of a comprehensive system.
“While one cannot talk about human rights without paying attention to the real challenges facing humanity, all of these insights should also be seen as a shared vision of human rights. It creates bilateral dialogues, it creates dialogues between civilizations, and it creates interaction between East and West.”
The first international conference on “Human Rights in the Eastern Perspective” has been organized by the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization in cooperation with the Baqir al-Olum University.
The three-day event is aimed at reevaluating contemporary human rights discourse by drawing from the philosophical, cultural, and civilizational traditions of the East.
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With participation of 40 international scholars representing 22 countries, the event seeks to foster critical dialogue and scholarly exchange on how non-Western civilizations and religious traditions can contribute to redefining the foundations of human rights. Organizers hope to establish a network of Eastern scholars and practitioners, laying the groundwork for drafting a human rights framework rooted in cultural diversity, spiritual traditions, and collective identity.
Among the key conceptual pillars of the conference is a critique of the dominant Western-centric model of human rights.
The Eastern perspective emphasizes a communitarian view of human dignity, cultural rights, social responsibility, and moral agency.
Topics of discussion will include solidarity rights, the need to de-centralize human rights institutions from the Global North, and redefining the role of civil society actors beyond state-centric models. Organizers stress that a genuine and pluralistic discourse on human rights must recognize the legitimacy of different moral and epistemological systems and resist efforts to universalize Western liberal norms.
The conference is positioned as part of a broader initiative to establish a sustainable intellectual framework that integrates religious, cultural, and philosophical insights from the East into the global human rights conversation.
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