National Human Rights Institutions (nhris) in asean

Abstract

This paper analyses and compares the protection capacity of National Human Rights Institutions (nhris) in the Philippines and Thailand, as well as the impact of governmental action on their performances. Here, protection capacity means the extent to which the law authorizes the nhris to carry out protective functions in dealing with human rights violations. This comparison evidences that the Philippines’ nhri has greater protection capacity and much more stable mandates than the Thai nhri. Moreover, although the two nhris share the same core mandates to receive complaints of human rights violations, to investigate them, recommendation of remedial measures to the concerned parties, and referral to legal channels, the ways in which these mandates are carried out in the two countries differ. Also the legal and political means by which the governments of both countries have impacted the nhris’ performances, differ considerably.

Revisiting international human rights treaties: comparing Asian and Western efforts to improve human rights

“…Government has significantly cut the CHRP’s budget and crippled CHRP’s interaction with international human rights system. On top of that, the government withdrew the Philippines from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, successfully cut off the vast network of cooperation of local and international organization to support the protection of human rights in the country (Netipatalachoochote et al 2020 ).…”

“…Meanwhile in Thailand, the government utilizes legal means to impede the performance National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT). The government withdrew protective mandates NHRCT used to hold and officials are unresponsive in answering NHRIs requests or recommendations (Netipatalachoochote et al 2020 ). Thus, although NHRIs in Southeast Asia may have mandates to receive complaints or to give recommendation of remedial to concerned parties, government may employ legal and political action to get in the way of the implementation.…”