UN General Assembly
1996

culture over many centuries, and it has perhaps given us a certain sense of complacency in this area. But we have come to appreciate that the worldwide collective effort to confront human rights issues both strengthens our own society and affords us an opportunity to participate in helping others. 6 Despite the inevitable impact of increased contacts with modern Western society, the most important aspects and values of our traditional cultures remain strong, because they are appropriate to our circumstances. We continue to adhere to the concept of the extended family, for example, and many of the principles that are inherent in that system have long ensured a respect in our society for basic human rights. Changing times, however, inevitably challenge old traditions, and the maintenance of our traditional human rights standards becomes a process of adaptation to our increasingly mobile and homogeneous society, in which legal and governmental institutions must now also play a central role. Here we stand to benefit by involvement and participation in the international human rights movement,