The ASEAN Human Rights System: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

This article offers a critical analysis of the human rights system established by ASEAN. It first investigates concrete evidence of the system’s ineffectiveness by comparing the cases of Myanmar and Thailand, which illustrate ASEAN’s failure to address human rights violations both before and after the creation of the ASEAN system. It then examines the substantive and procedural limitations of the ASEAN human rights instruments and mechanisms. Specifically, while restrictions on rights and freedoms contained in the instruments undermine the universality of human rights, ASEAN’s mechanisms lack independence and offer only weak protection mandates to address rights violations. In addition, the absence of a judicial body to hear complaints and issue binding remedies makes the system incomplete. The article recommends the creation of an ASEAN court of human rights and suggests changes to the existing instruments and mechanisms that might accommodate the new court.

The Regional Institutional Development of Human Rights in Southeast Asia

“…It is an ASEAN landmark document, which sets the framework for further promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the region (Davies, 2014). The AHRD represents the aspirations and determination of ASEAN Member States and their populaces for a people-oriented ASEAN Community (Bui, 2016).…”

“…Many scholars have commented on AICHR's weakness, its lack of a powerful judicial system and the general regressiveness of ASEAN human rights (Bui, 2016;Thio, 1999). Yet, the argument advanced in this chapter is that the AICHR represents an effort to help institutionalize human rights in the region.…”

Constructing an Inadequate Human Rights Regime: Indonesia and the Deliberate Weakening of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Authority

“…For several countries, the human rights violations have reached a pivotal point, with characteristics of being mass in scale and systemic in nature. As seen in the context of Myanmar, in which a systemic human rights violations aimed towards the minorities of Rohingya, have led to hundreds and thousands of individuals forced to flee neighboring states in Brunei, India, Indonesia, and other states in Southeast Asian and South Asian regions (Arendshorst, 2009;BUI, 2016). Furthermore, the extrajudicial killings currently taking place as a form of Duterte's 'war on drugs' have contributed to the killings of hundreds and thousands of innocent individuals in the Philippines.…”

The struggle to uphold a regional human rights regime: the winding role of ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)

“…Indonesian human rights activist Rafendy Djamin and the current Indonesian representative to the AICHR Yuyun Wahyuningrum see the organization as promising, and expect that it will continually improve both its mandate and actions. 2 Petcharamesree, a former Thailand representative at AICHR said that in the long run, ASEAN might redesign the AICHR's current ToR with the participation of all human rights stakeholders (Petcharamesree 2013). Wahyuningrum mentioned that the AICHR could be developed to ensure that governments do their duty to protect people's rights.…”