15th AICOHR: Human Rights Advocates Discuss Opportunities for ASEAN Human Rights Body

 

WG Secretary-General Carlos Medina Jr. (right most) gave a background on the beginings on the push for an ASEAN human rights mechansim. He is joined by Dr. Jawhar Hassan of ASEAN-ISIS and Assistant Secretary Marilyn Alarilla of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines.

Despite having varying views on the newly-adopted Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), human rights advocates want to see how they can push the Charter's provision on human rights further. One of the early venues for discussion was the Colloquium on Human Rights (AICOHR), a conference organized by ASEAN-ISIS on the most pertinent human rights issues facing the region each year. Held in Manila, the Philippines from 1-2 May 2008, this year's AICOHR focused on the opportunities for the ASEAN human rights body, the establishment of which is called for in the Charter.

Among those present in AICOHR were experts from human rights mechanisms in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. They presented the evolution and dynamics of their respective systems from which their counterparts in Southeast Asia can draw lessons from. Holger Haibach, vice chairman of the German Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, highlighted that ASEAN must have the political will to proceed with the creation of the human rights body as there will be many challenges ahead. He added that, once the human rights body is in place, ASEAN will have to re-look its current policy of non interference if it really wishes to "protect and promote" the human rights of people in the region.

Speakers from the region discussed other challenges and the corresponding opportunities that are facing the human rights body. One of the most contentious issues is ASEAN's practice of deciding by consensus. Some participants fear that ASEAN will be unable to detail the full potential of the human rights body if it is too accommodating to the differing views of ASEAN governments. Others, however, note that a consensus vote will encourage some ASEAN governments to be as open as others to a human rights body which will meet all international human rights standards.

Another challenge, says Executive Director Rizal Sukma of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies of Indonesia, is the absence of sanctions in the Charter. Participants expressed their concerns that, while the Charter is legally-binding, there was a danger for it to be ineffective because the Charter does not identify reparations for when an ASEAN Member-State does not abide by it. A window of opportunity to address this has opened now that ASEAN has started the process of creating a terms of reference (TOR) for the human rights body. Participants emphasized the importance of input from human rights experts from the academe and civil society into the TOR, which will define the human rights body's structure, mandate, and powers. All agreed that the TOR must clearly state that the human rights body must be composed of independent human rights experts and not government officials.

Carlos Medina Jr., secretary-general of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (Working Group), said that another important opportunity that must be taken advantage of is the growing (albeit different levels of) interest among ASEAN governments in the human rights body. He related that there were more human rights advocates and supporters to be found in governments now than there were in 1993, when ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to consider an appropriate regional human rights mechanism, as contained in their 1993 Joint Communiqué. Since the best hope for the creation of an ideal human rights body for the region is a change of mindsets of ASEAN leaders, Medina recommended the strengthening of linkages with these allies in government.

By defining the different approaches to tackling the challenges and opportunities for the ASEAN human rights body, participants of the AICOHR- hailing from governments, the academe, think tanks, and civil society groups- acknowledged that they all had different roles to play in pushing for the advocacy. "The Human rights advocacy, after all, requires a broad constituency and a complimentary approach," said Professor Ed Garcia, senior policy advisor to International Alert, "We have to learn to work with each other and not duplicate efforts. Coming from all sides, we can push the advocacy for the creation of an ASEAN human rights body to the limit".

The ASEAN-ISIS is a network of independent think tanks in the region which focuses on human rights and security issues. A key partner of the Working Group, it holds regular dialogues with ASEAN senior officials and, as one of its goals, strives to narrow the gap between governments and civil society. The AICOHR is one of the three flagship projects of ASEAN-ISIS, the other two being the ASEAN Peoples Assembly and the Asia-Pacific Roundtable. The first AICOHR took place in 1993 and was one of the earliest forums in the region where human rights could be openly discussed.