Page 7 - รายงานการศึกษาวิจัย เรื่อง พันธกรณีด้านสิทธิมนุษยชนของประชาคมอาเซียน

Executive Summary

The primary objectives of the Office of the National Human Rights Commission of

Thailand in commissioning this study are to compile and analyze legally binding instruments
(Hard Law) related to human rights adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).

The research has shown that ASEAN currently adopts only one legally binding human
rights instrument, namely the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, especially

Women and Children, which was adopted at the 27 ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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in November 2015. Owing to its recent adoption, the convention is not included in the ASEAN
database for this study. There are nonetheless other instruments that pertain to or have

implications on human rights. These can be categorized into two groups. The first group consists
of four conventions: the ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism (ACCT), the Agreement on the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources 1985 (yet to be adopted), the ASEAN Agreement

on Transboundary Haze Pollution 2002, and the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management
and Emergency Response 2005. Instruments that form the second group are those that seek to
establish organizations designated to work on issues that potentially affect human rights in ASEAN;

for example, the Establishment Agreement for the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the
Establishment Agreement for the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA).

The study moreover finds that the majority of human rights-related instruments are
in the form of political declarations (and as such they are not included in the legal instrument
database of ASEAN). Despite imposing no legal commitment, these instruments represent

manifestation of the political will of the member states to promote and protect human rights in
the region and many have been further developed into legally binding commitments. Among the

political instruments, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration is the most influential and important
human rights instrument in ASEAN. The Declaration not only institutionalizes the rights enshrined
in Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also extensively incorporates other ‘newer’ human

rights such as right to development, right to peace, right to privacy, and right to sustainable
environment.
The study also shows the key development of human rights in the region, particularly

on the following subjects;
1. The ASEAN Charter that became effective in 2008 provides the recognition of ASEAN’s
legal personality. Even though it is not a human rights instrument per se, the Charter establishes

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