Expert Roundtable Discussion on the "Road to Ratification and Implication of ASEAN Charter" organized by the ASEAN Studies Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and the Habibie Center, Indonesia, on 17 July 2008 in Jakarta.

With the completion of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN needs to fully appreciate and work out the issues connected with its implementation. It is also important for ASEAN and its business sector to understand and implement the two newly completed key integration instruments (the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement 2009) and the business enhancing initiatives envisaged under them. Both areas of work have taken on added urgency in view of ASEAN's goal of putting in place an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. This is the first book which examines both the above issues, the problems related to them and possible solutions. "Mr Tiwari is a legal authority on ASEAN. This book is an important contribution to ASEAN law." - Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at- Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore. "The ASEAN Charter, and the economic integration of the ASEAN nations that the Charter will support, are essential to grow the competitiveness of the region. Mr Tiwari provides keen insights into the development of this emerging framework and of the challenges that remain." - Phillip Overmyer, Chief Executive, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. "I have known Mr Tiwari as a legal authority and a friend for over twenty years. I would like to congratulate him for having chosen to share his knowledge on ASEAN law through this book. Knowledge of the ASEAN Charter and the instruments underpinning ASEAN integration would be of immense benefit to people in the business sector as ASEAN moves towards forming an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015." - Jennie Chua, Chairperson, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.

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.

In this booklet, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies has put together some ideas for the proposed ASEAN Charter. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had endorsed the concept of a charter for the association on the conviction that such a document would help in making ASEAN a more robust force for peace and stability, a more deeply integrated and more competitive economic community, a more effective instrument for regional cooperation, and a worthier vessel for the hopes of Southeast Asia's people. The ideas in the booklet are meant for the use, as they see fit, of those who may be involved in the drafting of the charter, including the Eminent Persons Group that has been formed to advise the leaders.