The Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN (HRRCA) has launched a study to analyze the legal framework supporting human rights in ASEAN. The study will include country reports on all ten ASEAN Member States and is the Centre’s first research project. Researchers from at least eight of the ten ASEAN Member States will contribute to the study.
Adherence to good governance and rule of law as well as the promotion and protection of human rights are core principles contained in the ASEAN Charter. The HRRCA’s study will survey key issues associated with the rule of law and good governance as they relate to the protection and promotion of human rights in ASEAN member states. As a first step, researchers will gather in early October to finalize the survey to be used to develop the country reports. The country reports will be finalized in early 2011 and a regional summary will be prepared thereafter. The complete report will be presented at an ASEAN-wide human rights conference planned for March 2011.
The lead author of the complete report will be Mahdev Mohan, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Asian Peace-building & Human Rights Programme at the Singapore Management University, and Co-Founder of Access to Justice Asia LLP. Project oversight is provided by Marzuki Darusman, former Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia and founding Chairman/Director of the HRRCA.
“Strengthening rule of law is vital to the further development of human rights in ASEAN. Assisting ASEAN Member States in identifying potential gaps in their implementation of the rule of law is critical for establishing systems for protecting and promoting human rights,” said Marzuki Darusman.
“With the benefit of expert researchers who understand each ASEAN country’s human rights framework, this study seeks to identify paths towards achieving greater coherence regarding the commitment in the ASEAN Charter to promote and protect human rights,” added Mahdev Mohan.
Headquartered at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, the HRRCA is an independent network of academic and civil society institutions that seek to complement and support the work of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and provide a strong regional focus on human rights research, capacity building, training and teaching.