Dalai Lama hails universal principles

THE DALAI LAMA said yesterday that human rights were truly universal and not in conflict with so-called "Asian values".

He was speaking at the opening of a two-day summit in Paris of "human rights defenders", part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, said he saw "no contradiction between the need for economic development" in Asia and the Third World and the paramount need to respect the dignity and rights of human beings. Although some Asian leaders suggested that the values enshrined in the declaration of human rights were "Western values", which should not be exported to Asia or the developing world, "I do not share this opinion", he said.

The Dalai Lama went on to a lunch for Nobel prize winners at the Elysee Palace, from which his supporters say he was originally excluded to avoid upsetting Peking. China has duly complained to France about his presence in Paris for the official and unofficial human rights celebrations.

None the less, the exiled Tibetan leader said yesterday that he was "optimistic" that there could be progress in his country towards autonomy, not independence.

The 350 delegates to the Human Rights Defenders' Summit, uniting rights activists from around the globe, passed a resolution calling on the Government to extradite General Augusto Pinochet to Spain.