Discussion on NHRAPs in ASEAN

The Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism together with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines wrapped up its Workshop on Developing National Human Rights Action Plans (NHRAPs) in ASEAN held in Manila from 11-12 November 2010 with participants agreeing to follow-up activities to further explore the possibility of developing and enhancing NHRAPs in ASEAN.

With participants from ministries of foreign affairs, relevant government agencies handling human rights issues, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations coming from ASEAN, the two-day forum did not just provide a venue for dialogue among the government and civil society participants, it also informed them of the importance, process of developing, and strengths and weaknesses of having a national human rights action plan.

Dr. Homayoun Alizadeh, Regional Representative for Southeast Asia of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, discussed the human rights systems of protection which elicited much interest and inquiries from the participants. He emphasized that all countries who are signatory to the 1993 Vienna Declaration on Human Rights should carry out its commitments including drawing up a national human rights action plan to improve the promotion and protection of human rights. Some of the concerns raised include how to ensure that the implementation of the mechanism’s mandate is unbiased and how to guarantee that the people within the system are independent and not involved in power politics.

The participants also displayed interest on the experiences shared by Indonesia and the Philippines in developing and implementing their respective NHRAPs. The discussions looked into the planning, development and implementation stages of a NHRAP. At the onset, some of the challenges they faced in developing a NHRAP is the lack of information on the human rights situation to some government line agencies, insufficient understanding from the public on human rights, and the lack of adequate resources. However, the development of a NHRAP paved the way for greater awareness of human rights and its situation among the key stakeholders, as observed from the Philippines’ experience.

At the end of the two-day forum, the participants were keen in having a follow-up activity or more capacity-building activities to better understand human rights action planning and also better equip the government in preparing one.

The Workshop on Developing National Human Rights Action Plans is part of a series of forums of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. The workshop is a move not only in support of the Tehran Framework, which identified national plans of action as part of its regional priorities, but more so in recognizing the primary responsibility of the ASEAN Member States in human rights promotion and protection.