Human rights in Southeast Asia: regional approaches to international challenges

Abstract

Asia is the only region without any form of region-wide mechanisms directed towards the promotion and protection of human rights. Review of official proposals and UN documents suggests that the course of setting up a regional arrangement for Asia is complicated by the diversity of the countries which form the region. This includes the different historical background and levels of political stability, economic prosperity, and social development. In light of this complexity and varied approaches to human rights commitment, this paper focuses on subregional initiatives as measures towards effective regional arrangement. It evaluates the prospect of promoting human rights in conjunction with a regional inter-governmental organization known as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Given that Asia lacks a political structure comparable to the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, or the Organization of African Unity, the possibility of associating a regional or subregional human rights system with ASEAN represents an uncertain prospect. On the one hand, ASEAN's established framework of interstate relations, particularly in economic cooperation, may be used to facilitate dialogues in regional social and political concerns. On the other hand, ASEAN states' ambivalence towards international human rights norms and their position on traditional notion of sovereignty generate concern that a subregional arrangement may serve as a means of deflecting international pressure, forwarding entrenched interests of dominant elites, and lowering international norms. Close examination of ASEAN's human rights position, ASEAN's institutional politics, and constraints of international human rights regime, demonstrate however that appeals to sovereignty and political alignment now provide less insulation for ASEAN states. Heightened awarenesses among regional countries of transnational issues that threaten regional stability (found in effects of the Asian financial crisis and socio-political unrest in countries like Indonesia and Burma), support subregional cooperation in comprehensive and cooperative security matters including human rights. In consequence, it is believed that there is a cause for cautious optimism that subregional efforts may contribute to an ongoing process of institutionalize human rights protection at the regional level.