Discussion Report Talking ASEAN

Transcription

1 No.26 / September 2016 Discussion Report Talking ASEAN Towards the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN: Reviewing AICHR s Past Achievements and Future Challenges in Promoting Human Rights

2 Introduction: The Habibie Center (THC) held its 27 th Talking ASEAN dialogue titled Towards the 50 th Anniversary of ASEAN: Reviewing AICHR s Past Achievements and Future Challenges in Promoting Human Rights at The Habibie Center Building in Jakarta. This Talking ASEAN featured Mr. Edmund Bon (Representative of Malaysia, ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights) and Ms. Yuyun Wahyuningrum (Senior Advisor, Human Rights Working Group), with Wirya Adiwena, THC s Head of International Relations, moderating. The objective of the dialogue was to: (a) discuss the AICHR s progress thus far in fulfilling its mandate, (b) explore the problems hindering the AICHR s effectiveness, particularly the transparency of its complaint addressing mechanism, and (c) identify policies which can improve the AICHR. Despite the various successes of the AICHR, there are still many criticisms towards the AICHR, particularly its perceived ineffectiveness and its lack of transparency. The expert panelists discussed the AICHR s achievements and the improvements the AICHR can make in the future. Recommendations: Among the key recommendations that emerged from the Talking ASEAN public dialogue were: In its effort to promote and protect human rights, the AICHR should become a standard-setter of human rights implementation, The AICHR should become a transparent post-office of human rights complaints in the ASEAN region, and The AICHR must clarify to governments specifically their obligations towards protecting human rights and help in the technicalities of human rights implementations in the region. 27 Tuesday, September Introduction & Recommendations - Discussion Report Talking ASEAN

3 WHAT AICHR SHOULD BE DOING IS TO BE A STANDARD-SETTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION AND PROMOTION SHOULD BE DONE IN ASEAN. Edmund Bon Representative of Malaysia for the AICHR

4 Edmund Bon was the first person to speak. He started his speech by saying that Myanmar s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi did not know what exactly the AICHR does, but continued to say that AICHR must be very aggressive, presumably in order to be effective in achieving AICHR s mandate. As such, Mr. Bon seemed to agree that this is what AICHR must do. Mr. Bon, as a representative of one of ASEAN s democratic countries, explained that some AICHR representatives consider themselves first and foremost as government appointees, rather than considering themselves as country representatives. That being said, he explained that the Malaysian government was very supportive of what he himself does and does not interfere with his work in AICHR. Each ASEAN member state, he said, has taken it upon themselves to at least work on one project that AICHR is currently overseeing. He admitted that although some countries are very committed to AICHR and moves quickly in terms of how AICHR does its work, some other countries do not. One of the more surprising things Mr. Bon said during the discussion was that although some countries are fully committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and are very active in AICHR meetings, some other countries have representatives in AICHR solely to block AICHR agreements that would progressively affect human rights. In response to the many criticisms of AICHR and particularly the ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights (ADHR), Mr. Bon generally defended AICHR s current work but admitted that there were still many things AICHR can do to improve their effectiveness. Regarding the criticism that the ADHR was redundant given that there already exists the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN, Mr. Bon said that the ADHR did not deviate from the UN s declaration, but rather only elaborated the more general provisions of the UN s declaration. In particular, Mr. Bon said that Articles 11 to 25 and Articles 27 to 34 of the ADHR were not sufficiently exhaustive elaborations of the UN s declaration, and suggested that it should be elaborated further. Finally, Mr. Bon opined that what AICHR should be doing was to be a standardsetter of how human rights protection and promotion should be done in ASEAN. To do this, he gave many suggestions which included the suggestion that AICHR should have a more extensive interface with civil society organizations (CSOs) and by institutionalizing AICHR s modalities in protecting human rights in the region. 3 Speaker s Presentation - Discussion Report Talking ASEAN

5 AICHR HAS NOT RESPONDED ADEQUATELY TO VARIOUS REQUESTS BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) REGARDING ISSUES WITH EDUCATION AND HIV TESTS FOR MIGRANT WORKERS Yuyun Wahyuningrum Senior Advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights, Human Rights Working Group

6 Ms. Wahyuningrum was the second speaker in the dialogue. As a representative of a human rights advocacy group, she supported the work of AICHR but criticized it for not doing enough to achieve its mandate. She questioned whether AICHR s output thus far has reached its goal and also said that AICHR has done an insufficiently effective job so as to make most people forget just what exactly the AICHR actually produces. That said, Ms. Wahyuningrum admits that, partly because of the work by AICHR, there have been improvements in how ASEAN Leaders see and approach human rights issues. She criticized AICHR for not responding adequately to various requests by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) regarding issues with education and HIV tests for migrant workers. She then commented that the ASEAN Secretariat seems to be the main hindrance to AICHR s job. Ms. Wahyuningrum also challenged Mr. Bon by saying that there were many articles in the ADHR that has not yet been implemented, particularly articles 4.7 to 4.10 in the ADHR. She commented that one of the main challenge for AICHR was that it does not have the institutional capacity to condemn human rights violations. Regarding how AICHR can improve itself in the future, she agreed with Mr. Bon that AICHR should become the standard-setting body for human rights issues in the ASEAN region. She further elaborated that this means that AICHR should explain to member states with technical issues concerning the implementation of human rights protection and that the AICHR should also clarify what are the obligations of the government in protecting human rights. 5 Speaker s Presentation - Discussion Report Talking ASEAN

7 Question and Answer Are AICHR representatives well-versed in human rights issues? Are substantive issues talked about in AICHR meetings? If not, how would CSOs navigate that? EB: Not necessarily. All are government appointees and sometimes the representatives just do their bidding. Some representatives are very wellversed and want to move fast, some others do not want to move at all. EB: Not very much. AICHR tries to be pragmatic. Sometimes what we want to do academically is different to what we can do practically. YW: Some representatives aren t even very serious about human rights issues. Representatives are either very senior state appointees who aren t willing to change their minds on substantive issues, some others are very junior appointees who don t have any influence whatsoever. There will always be tensions between national interests and regional goals. But when it comes to human rights issues, that might be a problem. Regarding economic integration issues, there are talks that ASEAN does not have to agree on everything unanimously and we can have an ASEAN minus X type of agreements. Is it possible for AICHR to have that? EB: I don t think it s going to happen. But AICHR can try to parcel out certain positions that doesn t need unanimity. Unless there are very strong objections, it would be better if concept notes were just passed. Wirya Adiwena Head of International Relations, The Habibie Center YW: Some representatives aren t very serious about human rights issues Question and Answer - Discussion Report Talking ASEAN 6

8 ABOUT ASEAN STUDIES PROGRAM The ASEAN Studies Program was established on February 24, 2010, to become a center of excellence on ASEAN related issues, which can assist in the development of the ASEAN Community by The Habibie Center through its ASEAN Studies Program, alongside other institutions working towards the same goal, hopes to contribute to the realization of a more people-oriented ASEAN that puts a high value on democracy and human rights. The objective of the ASEAN Studies Program is not merely only to conduct research and discussion within academic and government circles, but also to strengthen public awareness by forming a strong network of civil society in the region that will be able to help spread the ASEAN message. With the establishment of ASEAN Studies Program, The Habibie Center aims to play its part within our capabilities to the ASEAN regional development. ABOUT TALKING ASEAN Talking ASEAN is a monthly public dialogue held at The Habibie Center in Jakarta. Covering a wide array of issues related to ASEAN, Talking ASEAN addresses topics of: Economic Integration, Socio-cultural, & Democracy, human rights and regional peace, among others. Featuring local and visiting experts, Talking ASEAN is one of a series of twelve dialogues regularly held each month and open to a target audience consisting of ASEAN officials, foreign ambassadors & diplomats, academics, university students, businesses, and the media. PROJECT SUPERVISOR: Rahimah Abdulrahim (Executive Director) & Hadi Kuntjara (Deputy Director for Operations) HEAD OF ASEAN STUDIES PROGRAM: A. Ibrahim Almuttaqi RESEARCHERS: Fina Astriana, Muhamad Arif, Askabea Fadhilla, Agustha Lumban Tobing FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION: Mila Oktaviani LAYOUT & DESIGN: Rahma Simamora ASEAN Studies Program - The Habibie Center The Habibie Center Building - Jl. Kemang Selatan No.98, Jakarta Tel: Fax: thc@habibiecenter.or.id