HRWG Calls for AICHR to Adopt Human Rights on the Internet

Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) calls for ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to adopt the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet access in ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). HRWG has sent the submission to H.E. Om Yentieng, Chairperson of AICHR on July 27, 2012 […]

ASEAN: Ensure Declaration Meets Rights Standards

Genuine Consultation Needed with Civil Society Groups

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should make a public commitment to ensure that the forthcoming ASEAN Human Rights Declaration will fully comply with international human rights standards. The foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on July 8, 2012, with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights in Phnom Penh and receive a draft declaration for their consideration […]

ASEAN Opens Up After Rights Pact Secrecy Outcry

Asean said on Sunday it would release ‘key elements’ of a proposed human rights declaration after international rights watchdogs slammed secrecy surrounding the document.

The decision was reached after Association of South-east Asian Nations foreign ministers met with members of the bloc’s human rights commission, which is drafting the declaration […]

Letter to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting from International NGOs on the Draft ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

The International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Dignity International, and Article 19, write to you today to express our grave concerns regarding the process of drafting the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). We understand that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) will be transmitting to you a draft of the Declaration during your meeting with them on 8 July 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia […]

Open Letter to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

We, the undersigned organizations, welcome the important initiative of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) in drafting the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) and the determination that the Declaration will not be lower than international human rights norms and standards, as expressed in AICHR’s first official consultation meeting with civil society organizations on 22 June 2012 in Kuala Lumpur. We understand that the draft prepared by the AICHR will be presented at the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) on 9 July 2010. As such, we appeal to you to take into considerations our following concerns in discussing the draft of the AHRD at the AMM […]

Civil Society Organisations Meet ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, Call for Universal Standards to be Upheld

Representatives of Civil society organisations (CSOs) have today met the AICHR for the first time for a consultation on the drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. The organisations have welcomed the Consultation as a positive step in the right direction. They also welcome the constructive and friendly atmosphere in which the Consultation was held, and the openness of AICHR representatives to the comments and suggestions by CSO representatives.

We nevertheless regret that the Consultation was short, late, without a draft to comment on and with civil society only partially represented and some organizations rejected […]

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration Draft Ignores Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) express deep regret that there was no specific reference concerning the collective rights of the Indigenous Peoples as enshrined in the UNDRIP in the drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) draft during the national consultation held at Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations in Kuala Lumpur on June 12, 2012 […]

Parallel Battles for Burma and Asean’s Human Rights Commission

The Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) will meet in Rangoon starting this Sunday to finalize the draft of the long-awaited Asean Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). Held in a country that has for the past year made headlines in the international media for its reforms, this event might be seen by some as evidence of a “new” Asean and a “new” Burma. However, looking at it as an Asean citizen and a longtime activist for democracy and human rights in Burma, I see something entirely different.

While the AICHR will be discussing a human rights document that is supposed to protect our fundamental rights, I will be thinking of my Kachin brothers and sisters. For the past year, they’ve seen their villages burnt, fathers and brothers tortured or killed, and had mothers, sisters and daughters raped by Burma Army soldiers.

I will also be thinking of my colleagues still languishing in prisons for the simple reason that they decided to speak up for people’s rights and for a better Burma. There are still hundreds of them behind bars, forgotten by the international community.

That Burma is changing is hard to deny, but for activists, ethnic people or myself, Burma is still a long way from being a country where people’s human rights can be respected and protected […]

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration Cannot Move Forward Without Genuine Consultation of Civil Society

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) today called on ASEAN to delay the putting of its draft declaration on human rights before the foreign ministers of members states next month pending a fully inclusive, meaningful and transparent consultation of civil society and other stakeholders […]

High Commissioner For Human Rights Urges ASEAN to Set the Bar High with Its Regional Human Rights Declaration

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday offered her encouragement to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in drafting a regional human rights declaration, but called for a meaningful consultation […]