Asia-Pacific

In this section, you will find the following topics:

Introduction
Country-Specific crises: Burma and Sri Lanka
Regional Bodies as Possible Entry Points
Civil Society Events in Asia

I. Introduction 

The debates taking shape in the Asia-Pacific region on human rights are momentous. Indeed for many decades, the voices of the people living under authoritarian and military dictatorships – and even those political systems with democratic façades – were silenced and suppressed. Today, throughout the region, calls for justice, human security, peace, development, and equality are being
heard. However, despite past atrocities committed in the region, such as during the genocide in Cambodia and crimes against humanity in East Timor, there still remain no provisions to respond to even the most heinous of crimes—that being genocide, ethnic cleansing
and crimes against humanity. Apart from ASEAN in Southeast Asia, there is a question of whether there are any effective regional mechanisms in Asia where R2P could be invoked and implemented at this stage.

II. Regional Bodies 

Human rights are growing in importance by many Asian nations, and there is a need for regional mechanisms to reflect this evolution. Ensuring the capacity and will to implement RtoP should be part of a comprehensive strategy to promote human security, including through the advancement of democracy, protection of human rights, good governance and economic stability. The following regional mechanisms are possibly entry points for RtoP:

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967 and consisting of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam aims (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and
cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

ASEAN Charter
ASEAN adopted its landmark charter in November 2007. The drafting of the Charter initially was tasked to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG)22 in December 2005, who produced a report with recommendations in December 2006. In January 2007, however, a new High-Level Task Force was selected to draft the Charter, which they produced in a short 10-month period. By October 2008, 10 member states of ASEAN had signed the Charter. However some countries, like Indonesia, signed with reservations.

While a great achievement of the Charter is the creation of an ASEAN Human Rights Body, the Charter remains without provisions for enforcing compliance with human rights standards and does not remove the strict policy of non-interference in internal affairs. Despite NGO lobbying efforts to ensure that the ASEAN Charter 1) define the responsibilities of the State to protect, promote and fulfill its obligations to respect the rights of its citizens and 2) include R2P concepts as suggested in the Eminent Persons Group Report, the final draft of the ASEAN Charter fell short of including R2P language.

ASEAN Human Rights Body
Article 14 of the ASEAN Charter sets a marker for the establishment of a human rights body, however the exact provisions for how this body will function remains to be seen. The High Level Panel (HLP) on the establishment of an ASEAN human rights
body has recommended the formation of an ASEAN Human Rights Body (AHRB) that will not have any monitoring and sanctioning powers. ASEAN is apparently divided, with most members adhering to traditional norms of non-interference objecting to a human rights body that has sanctioning powers. According to experts in the region, the proposed
AHRB will focus more on promotion and less on protection of human rights in the region. This leaves the protection of human rights to governments, however only four of 10 ASEAN members have national human rights commissions. Civil society
groups in the region are pushing for a stronger human rights protection body.

ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
The ARF is the principal forum for security dialogue in Asia and complements the various bilateral alliances and dialogues in the region. Comprised of 27 participants, it provides a setting in which members can discuss current regional security issues and develop cooperative measures to enhance peace and security in the region. The ARF’s agenda aims to evolve in three broad stages, namely the promotion of confidence building, development of preventive diplomacy and elaboration of approaches to conflicts. However, the ARF has been criticized for being unable to deal with hard questions related to preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution. Much of this stems from the fact that ASEAN wants to control the agenda of the ARF, it being an ASEANinitiated forum. While the ARF has not yet opened space for the promotion of the R2P at the regional level, it is possible however that intercessional groups may be established where this idea, couched in with humanitarian law and humanitarian crisis prevention terms, may be discussed. Still, most of the ASEAN members that are opposed to intervention, along with China, may not allow this to happen.

III. Country-Specific crises:

1. Burma  
The crisis in Burma has recently caught the attention of the world, after the governments violent crackdown on monks and other peaceful protesters in September 2007 and as the government obstructed international aid in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in May 2008. The Burmese government has a long history of gross violations of human rights and violent suppression of ethnic minority communities in Burma which have led civil socity to label Burma as an RtoP situation. Many countries have denounced the junta and are calling for an end to government-perpetrated human rights abuses. An increasing amounts of reports, analysis and calls have emerged denouncing the junta for its violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, based on the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect.  See our page: Crisis in Burma

2. Sri Lanka
Burma is not the only troubled country in the region; the April-May 2009 escalation of violence in Sri Lanka has raised alarming concerns about the failure of the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to protect civilians from serious crimes under international law. On the part of the LTTE, reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch detail LTTE forces preventing civilians from fleeing the conflict zone, putting civilians at unnecessary risk, displacing civilians and forcibly recruiting child soldiers. According to the UN, the LTTE used civilians as a buffer against government forces, forcibly recruiting civilians and holding men, women and children as hostages and human shields. The government was reportedly using heavy artillery in indiscriminate attacks on civilians as well as against civilian infrastructure such as hospitals. Moreover, the government has denied access to trapped civilians humanitarian agencies and aid workers. UN officials, a number of member states, have called on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to make protecting civilians a priority and to take all necessary measures to halt the escalating humanitarian disaster, and civil society groups openly labeled the situation an RtoP situation. However, according to HRW, “the Sri Lankan government has responded to broad international concerns with indignation and denials instead of action to address the humanitarian crisis”.  See our page: Crisis in Sri Lanka

IV. Civil Society Events in Asia

Garnering support for R2P in Asia relies on a multilevel, multi-track approach to norm building and policy development. For Northeast and South Asia, there are currently no regional commitments, agendas or institutions related to the protection of populations from large scale human rights violations. In this regard, advocacy must focus on how to move individual states toward supporting R2P and to ultimately build champions of R2P within the region.  Civil society is supportive of discussing and mainstreaming R2P into relevant networks, including Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy, Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition, Asian Circle 1325, ASEAN People’s Assembly, Burma Partnership, World Forum for Democratization in Asia and others.

We have welcomed the launch of the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect on 20 February 2008 in Bangkok during the conference "Preventing Mass Atrocities: Asian Perspectives on R2P". You may also find the outcomes of the civil society roundtable, co-organized by WFM-IGP (host of the ICRtoP Secretariat) held the next day on February 21 here.

See the outcomes of all global roundtables in our January 2009 publication Civil Society Perspectives and Recommendations for Action.

For more events organized by civil society in Asia-Pacific, see related documents tab (Civil Society) above.