Who we are

The Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism’s (Working Group) primary goal is to establish an intergovernmental human rights commission for ASEAN. It is a coalition of national working groups from ASEAN states which are composed of representatives of government institutions, parliamentary human rights committees, the academe, and NGOs. Working Group follows a step-by-step, constructive and consultative approach when it engages governments and other key players in the region.

Our work

The Working Group is recommends several options in proposing for a human rights mechanism. The mechanism may include:

• A declaration of principles
• A commission with monitoring, promotional, and recommendatory functions. It may also receive complaints from states and/or individuals. It may cover all rights, or initially, be issue-specific where it focuses only on the rights of migrants or other vulnerable groups. Another option is having human rights commissions in all ASEAN countries. A mechanism can be born when they begin coordinating efforts.
• A court which could render binding decisions.

Among these options, the Working Group strongly recommended the establishment of an intergovernmental human rights commission. In fact in 2009, during the ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights or AICHR was inaugurated and launched in Cha-am Hua Hin, Thailand.