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n the spirit of the Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10, it seems timely to take a look at how far the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states promote and defend human rights in the region.

First and foremost, let’s keep in mind that the first principle of the ASEAN Charter is “respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all ASEAN member states”. Regardless of any interpretation, the bottom line is that a state’s political-territorial cohesiveness prevails over collectivism, or regionalism, as many call it.

Only after “committing to state cohesiveness” and seven other principles, the ASEAN Charter goes on to adhere to “respect for fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of human rights, and the promotion of social justice”.

Furthermore, after going through a few chapters, the ASEAN Charter confirms its commitment to the establishment of an ASEAN human rights body (Article 14).

This human rights body was formed in 2009 under the official name of ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Nevertheless, up until now, given the slow and incremental progress of human rights practices in Southeast Asia, the Commission’s achievements have been questioned.

Optimists would say that ASEAN has achieved a milestone in terms of human rights agreements, as proven by the brand-new ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that was signed by all member states during the 21st ASEAN Meeting in Phnom Penh last November.

On the other hand, critics, mostly civil society groups, have yet to acknowledge this declaration as an achievement. State integrity, or what could be seen from another point of view as the “member states’ half-hearted transformation”, and regional stability remain on the priority list.

Many are concerned that the declaration could potentially degrade and limit the fulfillment of human rights protection based on a universal standard.

Such a skeptical voice creates worry, which ASEAN has to admit, simply because human rights are too important to be neglected. Civil society cannot surrender to the incompatibility of the state (or the elite?) in trying to comprehend the inalienable rights of their people to live decently and to speak their minds without fear.

In a broader context, the effort to protect and promote human rights in Southeast Asia also cannot be
detached with the current tendency to undermine “freedom” over “development” in the name of economic growth.

Our Asian epoch of development is not far from pursuing ASEAN member state’s competitive advantage in line with state capitalism prescriptions and decisive state-control in the public sphere for the sake of gaining economic prosperity.

In that sense, it is difficult to share the optimism that ASEAN member states, both at the national and regional level, will eagerly respect and promote human rights, both in terms of socio-politics and economy. However, the opposite will prevail if civil society throughout Southeast Asia strengthens its network and solidarity among them.

Over the past two years, Myanmar has changed its political system in an incremental way. A national multiparty election was held in 2010, and later Aung San Suu Kyi was released.

The international community appreciated the military junta’s effort to create opportunity for the people to participate in elections, no matter how limited it was.

Until recently, violence erupted in Rakhine, involving state’s paramilitary and minority groups. The national government stated that the minority (Muslim Rohingya) is not, and will never be, a part of Myanmar. This event signals a grey future about the prospect of human rights in Southeast Asia and capability of AICHR to settle human rights abuses cases in the region — even though we know for sure that AICHR has limitations to do so.

Human rights in Indonesia are also facing a complex and uncertain environment.

In the middle of economic growth, the government has often failed to protect minority groups from discrimination and violence.

Based on the National Commission on Human Rights database, the number of human rights violations in Indonesia has increased.

In 2011, reports of public complaint filed with the commission reached 1,839, up from 1,503 in 2010 and 1,420 in 2009. The National Police was the most-reported perpetrator of violence in 2011, mostly for undertaking discriminatory investigation processes (1,215 reports), misconduct in capture and detention (168), shooting and violence (157), torture (64), and other violations such as domestic violence, land dispute, and so on (235).

In that sense, could we share equal optimism, as confidently stated by Hsien-Li Tan (2011) that “once [human rights mechanism] set in motion, societal and political change will occur in ASEAN societies so as to be procure, in due course, a bettering of human rights standards”?

The answer does not lie within the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights per se, but instead depends on how seriously each member country is committed to the application of its principles.

We are aware that achieving a prosperous, secure and integrated ASEAN is our common goal, but such efforts need to go hand-in-hand with ways to advance human rights promotion in Southeast Asia.

At the end of the day, an affluent community does not only thrive on material well-being, but also dignity, respect and freedoms that are guaranteed by the state.


Muhamad Haripin works at the Research Center for Politics at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2P-LIPI). Mutiara Arumsari works for the International Organization for Migration. The opinions expressed are his/her own.