AICHR Forms Drafting
Group for Human Rights Declaration
During its Sixth Meeting in Vientiane, Lao P.D.R, the
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)
set up a group to formulate draft of the ASEAN Human Rights
Declaration (AHRD) to be submitted to it for deliberation
and negotiation.
Recognizing the importance of prioritizing the development
of a human rights declaration for the region, the AICHR
representatives decided in its September 2010 meeting
to create a Drafting Group, whose Terms of Reference were
adopted in April 2011. The establishment of this Drafting
Group is pursuant to one of the mandates of AICHR, “to
develop an ASEAN Human Rights Declaration with a view
to establishing a framework for human rights cooperation
through various ASEAN conventions and other instruments
dealing with human rights.”
The Drafting Group, which also had its first meeting
on 01 July 2011, is composed of officials and experts
from the ten ASEAN countries who possess a background
on human rights and knowledge on the ASEAN Charter and
ASEAN processes. They will be working on the draft AHRD
based on a two-tiered process. The first phase will entail
the preparation of a draft AHRD, taking into account the
balance of rights and responsibilities. International
human rights standards as stated in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights as well as other human rights instruments
ASEAN Member-States are parties to shall be upheld by
and incorporated into the draft. Once the draft has been
completed, it will be submitted to the AICHR Representatives
for the second phase of the process, where the AICHR Representatives
will discuss and deliberate on the draft.
The AICHR expects the draft Human Rights Declaration
by December 2011 and hopes to adopt it in 2012.
