Towards an ASEAN Human Rights
Mechanism --
A Concept Paper
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was
founded in 1967 by the ASEAN Declaration (“Bangkok
Declaration”). Its original members were Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Brunei
joined in 1984. Vietnam became a member in 1995, while Laos
and Myanmar/Burma became members in 1997. In 1998, Cambodia
joined ASEAN.
The original aims and purposes of ASEAN were laid down
in the 1967 Bangkok Declaration. They included the acceleration
of economic growth, social progress, cultural development
and the promotion of regional peace and stability, coupled
with respect for justice and the rule of law. Intriguingly,
the words “politics” and “human rights”
did not appear in the text, even though the issues mentioned
in the Bangkok Declaration, such as justice and law, would
have some bearing on politics and human rights, and vice
versa.
Ironically perhaps, until the 1990s, the success of ASEAN
was mainly in the political field. Amidst the turmoil of
the Vietnam war and the critical changes of government in
Indochina in the wake of the withdrawal of United States
troops from Vietnam in 1975, the original members of ASEAN
could take comfort in the fact that their political systems
survived and that they retained their independence against
many odds, including ideological conflicts. In the 1980s,
their joint political clout was highlighted by the fact
that they succeeded in mobilising global support for the
Cambodian government in exile under (the then) Prince Sihanouk
as the legitimate representative of Cambodia in the United
Nations General Assembly, as opposed to the Vietnam-backed
regime which was physically in power in Cambodia.
The 1991 Cambodian Peace Accord, backed by the United Nations
and guaranteed by ASEAN and other powers, paved the way
for elections and return of peace in that country. It also
helped to settle a longstanding obstacle to rapprochement
between ASEAN and the three Indochina neighbours - Vietnam,
Laos and Cambodia. It opened the door for the latter trio
to become members of ASEAN.
On another front, it should be noted that there has been
much more progress on regional economic cooperation since
the 1992 ASEAN Summit of Heads of Government in Singapore
which introduced the idea of an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
Basically, AFTA sets dual tracks - fast track and ordinary
track - for effective tariff cuts as Common Effective Preferential
Tariffs, beginning in 1993, with the aim of lowering tariffs
to 0-5% by 2003.
The Singapore Summit also initiated the idea of “functional
cooperation”, such as in regard to children, women,
anti-drug trafficking and environmental protection, which
would broaden the avenues of ASEAN programming to encompass
social and other concerns beyond politics and economics.
These were further concretised in the 1995 Bangkok Summit
which led to the agreement that ASEAN leaders would meet
informally every year, in addition to the periodic formal
summits. The first informal summit took place in Jakarta
in 1996 and the second was convened in Kuala Lumpur at the
end of 1997.
