The relationship between culture, psychology and human rights remains relatively unexplored. Analyses of human rights violations and challenges to its implementation in non-Western cultures usually involve socioeconomic and political analyses but rarely bring in psychological cultural differences as a lens through which to understand these phenomena. A cross-cultural psychological approach can yield fruitful and interesting perspectives. Specifically, it can shed some light on the treatment of mental illness in former colonies and non-Western cultures, and on whether the conceptualization of human rights is universal across cultures. The authors explore these issues in two parts of the world, Africa and Asia. The first section provides a historical framework of the legacy of colonization and its impact on the treatment of mental health in Africa, as well as attempts by African countries to incorporate African cultural values into their human rights frameworks. The second section looks at human rights paradoxes in the treatment of mental illness in Asia and utilizes cross-cultural and Indigenous psychology to delve deeper into cultural differences in the conceptualization of human rights, which is seen as arising out of a Western cultural context.