Senior Officials to Endorse a Meeting Between Panel which will Draft the ASEAN Human Rights Body and the Working Group

The Working Group (left) and ASEAN Senior Officials (right) get down to business.

The High Level Panel on the Drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Body (HLP) may have first convened on July 21, 2008 but discussions on the ASEAN human rights body had taken place throughout the course of the 41ST ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). One of the most notable was the dialogue between ASEAN Senior Officials and the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (Working Group) on July 19, 2008.

The Working Group reiterated its call for a realistic timeline for the drafting of the terms of reference (ToR) which will define the structure and mandate of the ASEAN human rights body. In addition, they discussed specific recommendations for this that was culled from civil society and government agency representatives during the 7th Workshop on the ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights.

Taking up the Working Group’s offer to share further advice and expertise, the Senior Officials said that they would push for a meeting between the HLP and the Working Group.

“We are bureaucrats and it is in our nature to be cautious; this is why it is important for us to dialogue with groups with ambition for new institutions that are about to be created such as the ASEAN human rights body. We will give a strong recommendation to the HLP to listen to the Working Group’s ambition,” said Singapore Senior Official Peter Ho.

Since draft ToRs have already been made by other concerned organizations, the Senior Officials advised the Working Group to present to the HLP a list of the possible powers for the ASEAN human rights body and strong arguments that would support each.

They also told the Working Group to keep the following guidelines in mind as they give their recommendations: (1) all ASEAN member-states must be in agreement with the ToR, (2) the push for the human rights agenda in ASEAN is best achieved through an evolutionary approach, and (3) to be careful with artificial deadlines which cannot be met.

The Working Group said that it was looking forward to supporting the HLP process from the ground- and from the inside. Working Group Co-Chair Vitit Muntarbhorn, in his capacity as professor of the Faculty of Law of Chulalongkorn University, will be the alternate HLP member representing Thailand.

ASEAN Senior Officials and the Working Group annually dialogue on human rights issues in the region during AMMs. The outcome of their most recent dialogue is mentioned in the Joint Communiqué of the 41st AMM.