The ASEAN Human Rights System: A Critical Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hien BUI
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
System A ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Creation

AbstractThis article offers a critical analysis of the human rights system established by ASEAN. It first investigates concrete evidence of the system’s ineffectiveness by comparing the cases of Myanmar and Thailand, which illustrate ASEAN’s failure to address human rights violations both before and after the creation of the ASEAN system. It then examines the substantive and procedural limitations of the ASEAN human rights instruments and mechanisms. Specifically, while restrictions on rights and freedoms contained in the instruments undermine the universality of human rights, ASEAN’s mechanisms lack independence and offer only weak protection mandates to address rights violations. In addition, the absence of a judicial body to hear complaints and issue binding remedies makes the system incomplete. The article recommends the creation of an ASEAN court of human rights and suggests changes to the existing instruments and mechanisms that might accommodate the new court.

scholarly journals The ICC’s Appeals Chamber Judgments in the Jordan Case Regarding Al Bashir and Ntaganda Case: Victories for the Fights against Impunity and Immunity for Serious Crimes

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 150-156
Author(s):  
Aghem Hanson Ekori
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The United Nations

The creation of the ICC was a turning point in the fights against impunity for serious international crimes affecting mankind. Accordingly, the ICC does not recognise any form of immunities before its jurisdiction. Consequently, individuals and senior state officials cannot rely on any form of immunities if accused of any of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. In the Jordan case regarding Al Bashir’s immunity, the ICC’s Appeals Chamber held that by ratifying the Rome Statute, states parties have consented to waive the immunity of their officials regarding proceedings before the Court. As a result of this, there is no immunity between the Court and states parties and between states parties themselves, and Sudan was bound by the Statute of the Court based on the United Nations Resolution 1593. In the Ntaganda case, the Court held there is no impunity for serious international crimes before its jurisdiction. This article examines both cases and concludes that while in the Jordan case there is victory for serious international crimes and the fights against human rights violations over immunity before the ICC, there is also victory for serious international crimes over impunity before the Court as seen in the Ntaganda case.

Namibia and Blanket Amnesties: Challenging the Namibian Blanket Amnesties on the basis of International Law in the Namibian Courts

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atilla Kisla
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Before And After

Amnesty laws issued by Administrator General Pienaar in 1989 and 1990 still show their effect by preventing prosecutions and investigations of situations that occurred before Namibia’s independence. Unlike South Africa, Namibia did not establish a truth-finding body such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The result is a situation of silence, oblivion and impunity without any kind of accountability. On this basis, crimes such as international crimes or serious human rights violations have never been prosecuted or even investigated. As this article argues, the amnesty laws from 1989 and 1990 qualify as blanket amnesties. Up until today, Namibians as well as the members of the South African Defence Force benefit from those amnesties. Against this backdrop, the question of whether the Namibian blanket amnesties apply in relation to international crimes and grave human rights violations will be addressed. This article argues that based on international law, the application of the Namibian blanket amnesties can be challenged in a potential criminal case that deals with international crimes or grave human rights violations in the Namibian courts. Therefore, this article illustrates how international law applies in the Namibian legal system. In this context, Namibia follows a monist approach which makes it quite receptive of international law and international standards. On this basis, this article points out binding international law at the time before and after Namibia’s independence as well as examining Namibia’s binding treaty obligations which arise under the Geneva Conventions, Torture Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In the next section, an examination of domestic and international jurisprudence lays the foundation for the argument that the Namibian blanket amnesties can be challenged in a Namibian court when the crimes in question constitute international crimes, such as crimes against humanity or war crimes.

scholarly journals THE CREATION STORY OF KASHMIRI PEOPLE: THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Fozia N Lone
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Creation Story ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

If a group wishes to exercise the right to self-determination, they need to establish that they are a “people” within the international law definition, thereby triggering the ability to claim this right.  Thus, the definition of the term “people” is the key in cases of self-determination and always posits difficult challenges.  This article aims to determine whether the “Kashmiri people” could be identified as a group that fits within the contemporary non-exhaustive definition of people.  Having ascended from the level of subjects of an autocratic rule to victims of human rights violations, are Kashmiris now in a position to exercise a right to self-determination?  

Disrobed and dissenting bodies of the Meira Paibi: Postcolonial counterpublic activism

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-252
Author(s):  
Minu Basnet
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Northeast Region ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Creation

In this essay, I explore Manipur-based women’s group called Meira Paibi as a postcolonial counterpublic. I suggest that when we use the lens offered by counterpublic studies and postcolonial studies, we can trace activism that delivers a sharp critique on the politics of a democracy. The current research on Meira Paibi’s activism has specifically focused on their naked protest of 2004 and their peacebuilding activities in the northeast region in India. While scholarship on the Meira Paibi offers critiques on their activism in the face of human rights violations and the postcolonial condition of the state, their impact in relation to the Indian democracy is lacking. Therefore, in this essay, I focus on the creation of the Meira Paibi postcolonial counterpublic that not only seeks to maintain order in the midst of chaos but also challenges the Indian democracy and poses a threat to its neoliberal aspirations in Southeast Asia.

Social representations of human rights violations: Further evidence

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Clémence ◽  
Thierry Devos ◽  
Willem Doise
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Questionnaire Study ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
High Tolerance ◽  
Individual Actions

Social representations of human rights violations were investigated in a questionnaire study conducted in five countries (Costa Rica, France, Italy, Romania, and Switzerland) (N = 1239 young people). We were able to show that respondents organize their understanding of human rights violations in similar ways across nations. At the same time, systematic variations characterized opinions about human rights violations, and the structure of these variations was similar across national contexts. Differences in definitions of human rights violations were identified by a cluster analysis. A broader definition was related to critical attitudes toward governmental and institutional abuses of power, whereas a more restricted definition was rooted in a fatalistic conception of social reality, approval of social regulations, and greater tolerance for institutional infringements of privacy. An atypical definition was anchored either in a strong rejection of social regulations or in a strong condemnation of immoral individual actions linked with a high tolerance for governmental interference. These findings support the idea that contrasting definitions of human rights coexist and that these definitions are underpinned by a set of beliefs regarding the relationships between individuals and institutions.

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