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coalition of Indonesian civil society organizations (CSOs) has urged ASEAN’s human rights body to be more open and proactive, as Indonesia and six other member states are currently selecting their representatives for the 2019-2021 period.

Rachel Arinii from FORUM-ASIA said while the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) had made some progress on disability rights and human trafficking last year, as well as improving relations with CSOs, there were still significant concerns over the issues that can be discussed.

“Interviews with the CSOs showed that there is a feeling of apprehension over their interactions with the AICHR, particularly on sensitive human rights issues,” Rachel told a media briefing on Sunday on the launch of an annual report on the performance of the ASEAN human rights mechanism in 2017.

The coalition consisted of representatives from, among others, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.

Rachel said out of the 12 activities AICHR had carried out in 2017, most of them were on education and cooperation, focusing on issues like the environment and climate change, as well as the rights of women, children and the disabled.

“Almost 50 percent of AICHR activities are in the form of workshops. Workshops might be good, but there has to be a follow up on what participants can get out of them, specifically on standard setting at the ASEAN level,” she said, adding that Thailand was the most active, followed by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

She said the AICHR’s “utter silence and zero action” over the military crackdown in Rakhine, Myanmar and the “war on drugs” in the Philippines, “dwarfs any achievement the commission may boast of in its promotional activities”.

With its mandate, the AICHR should be able to, among others, immediately express concern, conduct investigations and consult with the United Nations human rights body over the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, as military actions had prompted more than 700,000 Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh.

The Foreign Ministry is currently selecting applications for Indonesia’s representative, of which the current representative Dinna Wisnu is applying for her second term. Other applicants are Patricia Rinwigati from the University of Indonesia’s (UI) School of Law, former National Commission on Human Rights member Roichatul Aswidah and Yuyun Wahyuningrum from the HRWG.

The applicants will be interviewed on Thursday.

Dinna said she had resolved most of the preexisting administrative issues and reduced tensions among representatives in the commission. Should she be elected for a second time, she wanted to increase the number of CSOs with consultative status, establish more engagement with universities and think tanks and establish more networks among stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Patricia said the AICHR’s ultimate vision was to be the main body responsible for human rights issues in the region, which could be achieved when a more binding mechanism was established.

Roichatul said Indonesia should be the leading force to strengthen the AICHR because of the country’s track record on human rights.

“Our national mechanism on human rights is in place, at least system-wise,” she said.

Yuyun said Indonesia was not only the natural leader, but also the “intellectual leader” of ASEAN, referring to the term coined by former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa.

“Indonesia has to take the initiative over issues and situations in ASEAN, which means Indonesia must always be aware of the latest developments,” she said, adding that AICHR Indonesia had to take a more strategic role over decision making processes in the commission.