Pritchard, Sarah --- "Asia-Pacific and Human Rights: Recent Discussions on Regional Arrangements" [1996] HRightsDef 16; (1996) Human Rights Defender

Asia-Pacific and Human Rights: Recent Discussions of Regional Arrangements

By Sarah Pritchard

A fourth UN Workshop for the Asian and Pacific Region on Human Rights was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 26-28 February 1996. The Asia-Pacific region continues to be the only region without regional machinery for the promotion and protection of human rights. Factors sometimes said to impede the establishment of regional human rights machinery include historical, cultural and religious heterogeneity within the region, different levels of economic and social development, a prioritisation of economic growth over individual human rights, the absence of a regional political system such as the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States or the Organisation of African Unity. There are also differences of opinion as to the desirability of pursuing regional or sub-regional machinery. Whilst Asia" constitutes one of five geo-political regions at the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Pacific (with or excluding Australia and New Zealand), North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia have been variously proposed as groupings of States for the purposes of regional human rights machinery. Finally, there is a not unfounded mistrust within the region of the selective invocation of human rights in the foreign policy of some countries.

Governmental Initiatives

The establishment of a human rights mechanism for the Asia-Pacific region was first taken up at a UN-sponsored seminar on National, Local and Regional Arrangements for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, held in Colombo in 1982. The subject was again considered at the first UN Workshop for the Asian and Pacific Region on Human Rights, organised by the UNs Centre for Human Rights, held in Manila in May 1990. In January 1993, a second UN Workshop for the Asian and Pacific Region on Human Rights Issues was held in Jakarta.

From 29 March to 2 April 1993, a Regional Meeting for Asia was held in Bangkok in preparation for the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. The regional preparatory meeting was attended by represent-atives of over 40 States in the region. The meeting adopted the Bangkok Declaration which affirmed the need to explore the possibilities of establishing regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights in Asia.Ó The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, subsequently adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, states that: The World Conference on Human Rights reiterates the need to consider the possibility of establishing regional and subregional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights where they do not already exist.Ó (para 37)

In July 1994, a third UN Workshop for the Asian and Pacific Region on Human Rights Issues was held in Seoul. The Workshop was attended by representatives of the governments of Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu and Vietnam. The Workshop expressed a preference for the development of a regional human rights arrangement: through a step-by-step approach, referred to in ... discussions as the evolutionary model. This building block approach recognises that there are different speeds in the region.Ó

The Seoul Workshop welcomed a proposal to convene a human rights forum for the Asian and Pacific region on a regular basis to facilitate the exchange of ideas and inform-ation on matters of common interest in the field of human rights. The Workshop recognised the importance of continued UN involvement in such meetings and endorsed a proposal that the meetings be guided by the central objectives outlined in the report of the Jakarta workshop:

(a) To increase awareness among countries of the region of international human rights standards and procedures;

(b) To inform participants of mechanisms available to assist States in fulfilling their obligations under international human rights instr-uments;

(c) To foster the development of national institutions in the region;

(d) To provide a forum for discussion of questions relating to the establishment of regional arr-angements for protection and promotion of human rights.

The fourth UN Asia-Pacific Workshop, held recently in Kathmandu, Nepal sought to build upon the common understandings, agreements and achievementsÓ of the three prior workshops. With respect to the establishment of a regional arrangement, the Workshop: stressed the importance of initiating such a process on a step-by-step basis with the sharing of information and experiences, and building national capacities for the protection and promotion of human rights helping accelerate the process towards a regional arrangement.Ó

The Óstep-by-stepÓ process should include:

[yen] human rights education, development of national programs on human rights education, including in the context of the UN Decade for human rights education;

• ratification of human rights instr-uments;
• development of national action plans on human rights;
• development of national instit-utions and more extensive cooperation between existing national inst-itutions.

NGO Initiatives

There have also been a number of NGO initiatives in the area of regional human rights protection. The first of these was undertaken by Lawasia, based upon the experience of the Geneva based International Commission of Jurists which resulted in the adoption in 1981 of the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. In 1985, Lawasia convened a meeting in Fiji, attended by 63 government and NGO delegates, to commence discussion of a human rights instrument for the Pacific region. After various working party meetings, a draft Pacific Charter of Human Rights was adopted in Apia, Western Samoa in 1989. The Lawasia draft is modelled closely on the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and provides for civil and political, economic, social and cultural, as well as peoples rights. It foresees the establishment of a Commission to supervise im-plementation. Lawasia is working with South Pacific governments towards securing adoption of a human rights treaty for the Pacific region.

A second NGO initiative has been undertaken by the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission. The AHRC has prepared a draft Asian Charter of Human Rights as a basis for discussion throughout Asia on issues relating to the concept of human rights, as well as problems relating to enforcement The AHRC draft seeks to reflect closely aspects of human rights violations taking place in Asian countries. More than 100 NGOs responded to a request for contributions to be included in the proposed draft. Three sub-regional consultations have been held in order to generate further input: South Asian (January 1995), South-East Asian (February 1995), East Asian (January 1996). The present draft is being revised by a team including Professor Yash Ghai and Justice PN Bhagwati. A final draft is expected to be distributed for comments by the middle of 1996.

The draft Asian Charter of Human Rights departs from existing models of human rights instruments. It contains a long preamble, a section of general principles, as well as sections on womens rights, childrens rights, indigenous peoples rights, rights of minorities, workers rights, rights of refugees and internally displaced communities, rights of older persons, rights of disabled persons, rights of students, rights of peasants and fisher-folk, rights of persons with HIV/AIDS, rights of prisoners and political prisoners, and the rights of human rights defenders.

The AHRC and similar initiatives are of particular value in affirming the importance of human rights within the region, as a catalyst of discussion among NGOs and governments and as a vehicle for human rights education.

Concluding Observations

The relationship between UN and regional systems is complex. In the area of human rights, the value of regional machinery lies in its capacity to contextualise international standards and to enhance their cross-cultural appeal and applicability. Regional machinery can concretise and fill in gaps in open-ended international norms, and address human rights issues of particular concern amongst countries of a region. In the process of developing an instrument/instr-uments rooted in regional experiences, it will be important to guard against the dilution of existing international standards in an effort to secure a lowest common denom-inator of acceptance. Any regional human rights mechanism must reaffirm, and use as a point of departure, existing international standards.

One has to be cynical about the professed commitment of some governments in the Asia-Pacific region to improving the protection and promotion human rights. One needs also to be mindful that regional human rights talk-festsÓ can consume scarce resources without doing much to ameliorate egregious human rights violations. Progress towards the adoption of regional/sub-regional human rights machinery is likely to be painstakingly slow. However, through the efforts of regional NGOs, as well as the pressure of international bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights, human rights have been placed on the regional agenda. Regional workshops such as those in Kathmandu help foster a human rights culture and increase mutual understanding about human rights concepts, issues and implementation.

For further information on the AHRC Draft Asian Charter on Human Rights:

Asian Human Rights Commission
Flat E, 3rd Floor, Kadak Building
171 Sai Yee Street
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

For further information on the Draft Pacific Charter on Human Rights:

Lawasia Human Rights Committee
School of Law, Ateneo de Manila University
130 HV de la Costa Street
Salcedo Village, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines 1227
Fax: [phone]