Institutionalizing Human Rights in South-East Asia: The birth of ASEAN’s Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. An interview with Param Cumaraswamy

Abstract

Param Cumaraswamy is a Malaysian member of the Regional Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. He is also the former UN Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. Together with his colleagues in the Regional Working Group, he worked on proposals and recommendations on the design of the projected human rights body, its principles, composition and powers. The Working Group describes itself as a coalition of national working groups from ASEAN states which are composed of representatives of government institutions, parliamentary human rights committees, academia and NGOs. The interview consists of two parts: a first part was conducted in summer 2009 while the deliberation and negotiation on mandate and power of a to-be institutionalized human rights body was still in process. On October 23, 2009 in Cha-am & Hua Hin, Thailand, the ASEAN heads of states and governments concluded an agreement, i.e. the Terms of References and respectively inaugurated the so-called ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). This latter part of the interview therefore deals with the final outcome of this strongly politicized process.