Securing the Future of the Community: Child Protection in ASEAN

2008

Child labour is one of the severe problems faced by developed and developing economies. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990. Nevertheless the challenges faced by the children remained the same. In some of the African and Asian countries children are exposed to vulnerable conditions due to various economic, social, cultural and political problems. This paper provides a general overview of the impact of poverty on child labour and child soldier. An attempt is made in this article to highlight and critically examine the problems of children in many developing countries. An attempt is also made to highlight what may be termed as tentative children issues and lessons emerging from Africa and India.

Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond

This year marks thirty years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) entered into force and ten years since the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (the Guidelines) were adopted. The term ‘alternative care’ refers to the placing of children in the care of someone other than a parent. Although the seven South Asian countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – have ratified the Convention, each of the jurisdictions has reflected the Convention and Guidelines through domestic law in different ways and to different degrees. This article examines the extent to which two key child rights principles enshrined in the Convention have been incorporated into the domestic law of these countries: (a) the obligation to undertake active measures to prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families and (b) the placing of a child in alternative care as a measure of last resort. While progress has been made a...

Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights, 2012

ISEAS Publishing eBooks, 2015

, heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter "ASEAN") met in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and adopted the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (hereinafter "the Declaration"). 1 The adoption represents an important stage in the development of the ASEAN human rights system first envisaged by ASEAN foreign ministers in 1993. During the 14 years from 1993 to 2007, the system developed slowly, but since the adoption of the ASEAN Charter in 2007, the pace has picked up significantly. An institutionally and normatively-plural system now exists and the adoption of the Declaration adds momentum to the process and offers insights into the current thinking of ASEAN leaders. As Steiner, Alston and Goodman argue, regional human rights systems have been encouraged by the United Nations since the late 1960s, especially in General Assembly Resolution 32/127 of 1977, 2 and the systems have an important role to play in the international promotion and protection of human rights in a tiered and mutually-dependent structure of national, regional and global institutions. The ASEAN human rights system is the fourth regional human rights system and the first to be established since 1981 globally; it followed the establishment of European, Inter-American and African systems from 1950, 1969 and 1981 respectively. 3 Through an exploration of the Declaration and the wider regional system of which it is now a part, this article seeks to contribute to the debate about regional human rights systems and the conditions under which they emerge and evolve in

Indonesia Law Review, 2011

2016

In the global instruments, the rights of the child are so important because of its relevance to children life. The present paper attempts to determine the development and progress of the human rights instruments in international law regarding the rights of the child, as well as processes and standards existing in the instruments of international law to protect children. These processes seen as international framework for development of the human rights instruments related to children's rights which provided the analysis of the rights of the child and its properties. In the present study, the development of the global human rights instruments on the rights of the child are made between different instruments in international law because these instruments can be adapted to cultural and social situations in all States, increasing its ease of implementation. The result reflects an exhaustive and efficient way to explore the status of the children's rights and the enormous improvements in the rights of the child in global human rights instruments.

Asia-Pacific - Annual Research Journal of Far East & South East Asia

Since its inception, ASEAN has constantly faced criticism from western countries and international human rights organizations. This paper particularly focuses on ASEAN human rights and non-interference policy. ASEAN has established two new commissions: Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission and Protection of Women and Children. This study focuses on the current state of human rights in ASEAN and addresses the following key questions: how ASEAN deals with human rights problems? Why ASEAN response to human rights has been considered as insufficient to handle/tackle human rights problems effectively? Hence, a qualitative approach was applied to this study using secondary sources of data. This study is based on thorough literature review and critical analysis of ASEAN human rights situation, by reviewing the relevant studies on human rights challenges in ASEAN, and its strategies in tackling this challenge. This study concludes that although the problem of human rights is recognized ...

Journal of Human Rights, 2021

This piece introduces a collection of essays that examine various aspects of the ASEAN human rights regime, as we recognize decadal anniversaries for its two key foundational institutions: the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (ACIHR), established in 2009, and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), promulgated in 2012. This introduction considers the aspiration of the regime to promote and protect human rights and the performance of the regime in practice over the decade since its establishment, and reviews the principle themes taken up by the contributors to this special issue of the Journal of Human Rights. We resolve to consolidate our Community, building upon and deepening the integration process to realise a rules-based, people-oriented, people-centred ASEAN Community, where our peoples enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms, higher quality of life and the benefits of community building, reinforcing our sense of togetherness and common identity, guided by the purposes and principles of the ASEAN Charter.-ASEAN Community Vision 2025 All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated … (Art. 7). … The exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others, and to meet the just requirements of national security, public order, public health, public safety, public morality, as well as the general welfare of the peoples in a democratic society (Art. 8)-ASEAN Human Rights Declaration A decade ago, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made a radical pivot on human rights: from-variously-rejection, abuse, denial, and indifference, to institutional embrace and rhetorical enthusiasm. In 2009, ASEAN inaugurated the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) (Tan 2011); shortly afterward, in 2012, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration was promulgated (Renshaw 2013). The international human rights regime, long absent a regional counterpart in Asia, could now look to a subregional institutional framework covering the 10 ASEAN states: Indonesia,