THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations has attracted a great deal of public attention with its new commitment to enhance regional cooperation on human rights with the establishment of an Asean human rights body. These articles are intended to provide some background information that could enable interested readers to develop a better understanding of this significant initiative. A good starting point is in 1993.
The six Asean member states (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) took an active part at the Regional Meeting for Asia of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Bangkok in April 1993, as well as at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, in June 1993. Subsequently, in the Joint Communique at the 26th Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Singapore, in July 1993, foreign ministers of these six member states announced the following collective view about human rights - which remain valid and relevant today:
The foreign ministers welcomed the international consensus achieved during the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna and reaffirmed Asean's commitment to, and respect for, human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in the Vienna Declaration of June 1993. They stressed that human rights are interrelated and indivisible, comprising civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. These rights are of equal importance. They should be addressed in a balanced and integrated manner and protected and promoted with due regard for specific cultural, social, economic and political circumstances. They emphasised that the promotion and protection of human rights should not be politicised.
The foreign ministers agreed that Asean should coordinate a common approach on human rights and actively participate and contribute to the application, promotion and protection of human rights. They noted that the UN Charter had placed the question of universal observance and promotion of human rights within the context of international cooperation. They stressed that development is an inalienable right and that the use of human rights as a condition for economic cooperation and development assistance is detrimental to international cooperation and could undermine an international consensus on human rights. They emphasised that the protection and promotion of human rights in the international community should take cognizance of the principles of respect for national sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. They were convinced that freedom, progress and national stability are promoted by a balance between the rights of the individual and those of the community, through which many individual rights are realised, as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The foreign ministers reviewed with satisfaction the considerable and continuing progress of Asean in freeing its peoples from fear and want, enabling them to live in dignity. They stressed that the violations of basic human rights must be redressed and should not be tolerated under any pretext. They further stressed the importance of strengthening international cooperation on all aspects of human rights and that all governments should uphold humane standards and respect human dignity. In this regard and in support of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of June 1993, they agreed that Asean should also consider the establishment of an appropriate regional mechanism on human rights.
The process to consider the establishment of this regional mechanism slowed down after 1995, partly because of increased political diversity following the arrival of four new members: Vietnam joined Asean in 1995; Laos and Myanmar in 1997; and Cambodia in 1999. Moreover, the East Asian financial crisis, which broke out first in Thailand in 1997, created new and serious challenges, forcing Asean to concentrate on addressing new and more urgent priorities. One of them was how to narrow the development gaps within the Asean membership.
Asean's strategic response to new challenges in the 21st century was to embark on community-building in 2003. Asean adopted in 2004 the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP), which was the first 7-year master plan for building the Asean Community on three pillars: political-security, economic-finance, and socio-cultural.
Cooperation on human rights appeared as part of political development in the Asean political-security community. Measures to be undertaken included: establishing a network of cooperation among existing national human rights mechanisms (in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand); promoting education and public awareness on human rights; elaborating on an Asean instrument for the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers; and establishing an Asean commission on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children.
It is now commonly accepted in Asean that human rights are comprehensive, indivisible and cross-cultural in nature; they encompass all dimensions of human life. Therefore, they should be addressed holistically, not selectively. In Asean, promotion and protection of human rights has already been undertaken through functional cooperation to promote and protect the rights of women, children and migrant workers.
At the 12th Asean Summit in Cebu, the Philippines, in January 2007, the heads of state/government of the 10 Asean member states signed the Asean Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. The Asean leaders tasked the secretary-general of Asean to submit an annual report on the progress of implementation of their Declaration.
Subsequently, the Asean Committee on the Implementation of the Cebu Declaration was established in July 2007, during the 41st AMM in Singapore. The committee is composed of one senior representative from each of the 10 Asean member states, as well as a representative from the Asean Secretariat. The committee reports to the Senior Labour Officials Meeting (SLOM). One important task of the committee is to develop an Asean legal instrument for the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers. Within Asean, the Philippines is so far the only country that has ratified the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Asean Committee on Women and the Asean Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development are undertaking ground work for establishing the Asean Commission On The Promotion And Protection Of The Rights Of Women And Children. A multi-disciplinary working group will soon be established to start drafting the terms for the proposed commission in the first quarter of 2009.
Cooperation on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children in Asean has the advantage of the shared platform of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which all 10 Asean member states are parties.
TERMSAK CHALERMPALANUPAP is special assistant to the Asean secretary-general.
This is the first part of a two-part series.
Sources and Relevant Links:
The Nation Asean is working to promote and protect human rights 18 December 2008
Bangkok Post Asean must move on Human Rights 20 July 2008
Think Centre ASEAN to create toothless human rights body 22 November 2007
Channel NewsAsia Singaporeans can demonstrate at Speakers' Corner from 1 Sep 200825 August 2008
AHRC HRS A More Open Singapore under New PM? 04 Oct 2004
Think Centre Singapore: Governed by Law and Rights? 19 May 2001
