In Human Rights and Participatory Politics in Southeast Asia, Catherine Renshaw recounts an extraordinary period of human rights institution-building in Southeast Asia. She begins her account in 2007, when the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the ASEAN charter, committing members for the first time to principles of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. In 2009, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights was established with a mandate to uphold internationally recognized human rights standards. In 2013, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration was adopted as a framework for human rights cooperation in the region and a mechanisim for ASEAN community building. Renshaw explains why these developments emerged when they did and assesses the impact of these institutions in the first decade of their existence. In her examination of ASEAN, Renshaw asks how human rights can be implemented in and between states that are politically diverse—Vietnam and Laos are Communist; Brunei Darussalam is an Islamic sultanate; Myanmar is in transition from a military dictatorship; the Philippines and Indonesia are established multiparty democracies; while the remaining members are less easily defined. Renshaw cautions that ASEAN is limited in its ability to shape the practices of its members because it lacks a preponderance of democratic states. However, she concludes that, in the absence of a global legalized human rights order, the most significant practical advancements in the promotion of human rights have emerged from regional institutions such as the ASEAN.

The divide between the West and Southeast Asia seems to be nowhere more apparent than in debates about human rights. Within these diverse geographical, political and cultural climates, human rights seem to have become relative, and the quest for absolutes seems unattainable. In this new book Philip J Eldridge seeks to question this stalemate. He argues that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' inclusion in United Nations' human rights treaties could be the common ground that bridges the gap between East and West. Eldridge uses topical case studies and primary research from Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor and Australia, to compare the effectiveness of United Nations' human rights directives on local democracies. This study presents insightful research into a hotly debated topic. As such it will be a thought-provoking resource for students of human rights, politics and international relations.

This book proposes a selective approach for states with more advanced human rights protection to establish a human rights court for Southeast Asia. It argues the inclusive approach currently employed by ASEAN to set up a human rights body covering all member states cannot produce a strong regional human rights mechanism. The mosaic of Southeast Asia reveals great diversity and high complexity in political regimes, human rights practice and participation by regional states in the global legal human rights framework. Cooperation among ASEAN members to protect and promote human rights remains limited. The time-honored principle of non-interference and the “ASEAN Way” still predominate in relations within ASEAN. These factors combine to explain why the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights is unlikely to be strong and effective in changing and promoting regional human rights protection. This book suggests a selective approach to establish a human rights court for Southeast Asia. It posits that a group of nations within Southeast Asia may be more willing to consider the possibility of a stronger human rights mechanism. It investigates the challenges to and the feasibility of such a proposal. Furthermore, it examines the design of the three existing regional human rights courts in Europe, the Americas, and Africa, and compares the rationales for those institutional designs with the specific context of Southeast Asia. A human rights court for all ASEAN members may not be possible at this time, but a court for some nations in the region is feasible and worth exploring. The path towards this goal is never an easy one; however, the region possesses the necessary conditions to gradually translate that goal into reality.

The Asian Values Discourse

'Southeast Asia has become a more authoritarian place in the last decade, so why do regional elites continue to use the rhetoric of democracy and human rights? Why have non-democratic states even worked to establish human rights institutions? Avery Poole's book is an insightful, accessible and illuminating account that answers these questions. It's a timely and very valuable piece of scholarship.' -David Capie, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 'This book is very interesting and does an excellent job of addressing its core concern: why has ASEAN evoked the rhetoric of democracy and human rights and what does this rhetoric mean in practice? The author has put forward a clear and defensible thesis: the ASEAN states have adopted this rhetoric because it legitimizes their organization in the eyes of the Western world' -Shaun Narine, St Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada Southeast Asia is a vast, populous and diverse region. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) promotes democracy and human rights as central to regional order and cooperation, but most members are not democratic and have poor or questionable human rights records. This book explores why Southeast Asian countries have collectively adopted the rhetoric of democracy and human rights, and argues that they are motivated by their concerns about external regional legitimacy. It analyses ASEAN's references to democracy and the reality of backsliding in several countries; examines the adoption of human rights rhetoric; and considers the implications for how we understand regional cooperation. The book is relevant for students and analysts who are interested in regionalism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere - particularly given growing global concerns about liberal democracy and the gaps between rhetoric and political realities. Avery D.H. Poole is Senior Fellow at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. She was previously Assistant Director of the Melbourne School of Government at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Critically examines ASEAN's human rights system in the context of Southeast Asian political-legal developments and the global human rights discourse

Regional inter-governmental human rights organizations have been in operation for sometime in Europe, the Americas and Africa. These regional human rights mechanisms have proven to be useful and effective in comparison to the global human rights mechanisms available at the United Nations. The purpose of this study, first published in 2004, is to investigate the possibility of establishing a regional inter-governmental human rights mechanism in East Asia, with a focus on the contributions of nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) to such a development.