On Human Rights Day this year, we remind all governments that almost sixty years ago in 1948, world governments adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which articulated and codified the rights f all individuals, with the fundamental message that every person is born free and equal with inalienable human rights, simply because he or she is a human being.
Despite this universal recognition decades ago, people continue to suffer from the denial of basic rights throughout the world. We, as human rights defenders in Asia, are particularly concerned about the deteriorating state of human rights in the region, as well as disappearances, extrajudicial killings and persecution of human rights defenders, aggravated by the prevailing culture of impunity for human rights violators and renewed emphasis by Asian governments on “cultural specificities” to justify human rights violations.
( Statement on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2006 by FORUM-ASIA, in cooperation with Migrant Forum in Asia and nternational Women's Action Watch: Asia-Pacific)
On Human Rights Day this year, we remind all governments that almost sixty years ago in 1948, world governments adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which articulated and codified the rights f all individuals, with the fundamental message that every person is born free and equal with inalienable human rights, simply because he or she is a human being.
Despite this universal recognition decades ago, people continue to suffer from the denial of basic rights throughout the world. We, as human rights defenders in Asia, are particularly concerned about the deteriorating state of human rights in the region, as well as disappearances, extrajudicial killings and persecution of human rights defenders, aggravated by the prevailing culture of impunity for human rights violators and renewed emphasis by Asian governments on “cultural specificities” to justify human rights violations.
In addition, we remain concerned about the lack of progress towards a regional intergovernmental human rights instrument, leaving Asia without adequate human rights protection mechanisms both at the domestic and regional levels.
Against this backdrop, we urge all Asian governments to:
1) RATIFY the core international human rights treaties and their optional protocols, the Rome
Statute of International Criminal Court and other relevant human rights conventions to which they are not already a party. We believe that ratification is the first step for each government to demonstrate its commitment to promote and protect human rights by assuming legal obligations to protect against, prevent, and remedy human rights violations.
As highlighted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Asia suffers from low levels of ratification.1 The lack of ratification of core international human rights treaties in Asia allows overnments to escape accountability and sidestep their obligations to promote and protect the basic universal rights of all individuals.
Singapore, Burma, Malaysia, Brunei and Bhutan worst in Asia
Singapore, Burma, Malaysia, Brunei and Bhutan have the worst ratification records in Asia, all having ratified only two treaties—the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (see Annex II, “Ranking of Asian Governments’ Ratification Record”).
These governments have not even accepted the two basic covenants on civil and political rights (ICCPR) and economic, social and cultural rights (ICESCR). Without acceptance of these core treaties, there are little legal guarantees to ensure that the fundamental rights of all individuals are respected, promoted and protected. We therefore specifically urge these governments, in particular Malaysia, as a member of the Human Rights Council, to ratify all the core international human rights treaties.
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Asian governments adverse to individual complaint procedures
As evident from the attached chart on the status of ratified treaties in Asia (Annex V), we are alarmed by the fact that our governments have not accepted procedures which allow individuals to submit complaints of human rights violations directly to the international committee of experts.
There are currently four individual complaints procedures under the treaty body system. These are:
- First optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which allows individuals to submit cases of violations relating to any civil or political right;
- Optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
- Women (CEDAW), which allows individuals to submit cases of violations of women’s rights;
- Declaration under Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which allows individuals to submit cases of any discrimination based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin;
- Declaration under Article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which allows individuals to submit any cases of physical or mental acts of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Given the lack of a regional human rights mechanism in Asia, coupled with inadequate domestic guarantees, international complaints procedures are particularly important to ensure the effective delivery of justice to human rights victims.
Hence, we urge Asian governments to ratify the optional protocols listed above, and to make the
necessary declarations under ICERD and CAT.
Asian candidates to UN Human Rights Council must ratify pledged treaties
We remind Asian states that have pledged to ratify human rights treaties prior to the Human Rights Council election in May 2006 to do so as soon as possible. They are:
- China: pledged to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
- Pakistan: pledged to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and Convention Against Torture (CAT)
- Indonesia: pledged to ratify optional protocol to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), optional protocol to CAT, Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict, optional protocol to CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
- Philippines: pledged to ratify the optional protocol to CAT
- Thailand: pledged to ratify CAT.
Human Rights Council members must urgently demonstrate that they deserve to be part of the Council, and to earn the right to protect human rights elsewhere. We call upon Asian Council members to lead through example, and act upon the pledges they have submitted.
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However, we emphasise that ratification itself is not enough. Upon ratification, many governments have entered reservations to these treaties, which allow governments to be only partially bound by the provisions of the treaties. As a result, the full implementation of the rights enshrined in the treaties is hampered.
Hence as a second step, we call upon Asian governments to:
2) REMOVE reservations entered to the international human rights treaties and their optional
protocols. The high number of reservations entered by Asian governments nullifies the purpose and effect of ratifying treaties in the first place
.
Malaysia and Singapore have lowest ratifications and highest number of reservations
We remain concerned that Malaysia and Singapore have the lowest ratification record in Asia having only accepted two treaties, yet they have also entered the highest numbers of reservations (see Annex III).2
In addition to these countries, China, Brunei, Bangladesh, Thailand and Maldives are also at the bottom of the list with the highest numbers of reservations in the region.
We urge all Asian governments to remove ALL reservations unconditionally to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the treaties are fully realised for every individual.
However, ratifying treaties and removing reservations is insufficient to ensure that the rights guaranteed under the treaties are actually promoted and protected in practice. For the system to be effective, Asian governments must also submit their reports on time, so that the treaty bodies, or committees of independent international experts, can regularly review the implementation of the treaties in each country.
Thus in addition to ratifying and removing reservations, we call upon all Asian governments to:
3) REPORT on time to the treaty bodies. Without the submission of State Party reports, the treaty bodies cannot, except for a few exceptional circumstances, objectively assess the compliance of the State Party to its treaty obligations.
As such, while we welcome the fact that countries such as Timor Leste, Philippines and Cambodia have one of the highest ratification records in Asia, we are deeply concerned that they have the highest numbers of overdue reports to the treaty bodies (see Annex IV). Timor Leste has ten reports that are overdue, while the Philippines and Cambodia have sixteen and seventeen overdue reports respectively.
On Human Rights Day, we reiterate once again the importance of submitting regular reports to the treaty bodies for ratification to have any significant meaning, and call upon all Asian governments to submit their overdue reports as soon as possible.
Full participation and consultation with civil society and National Human Rights Institutions in the preparation of these reports is also essential.
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We remind governments that they have at their disposal full assistance of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare the reports to the treaty bodies. We urge governments to avail themselves of these resources.
Finally, even if a government has ratified all the treaties with no reservations in place and reports regularly to the treaty bodies, it still does not ensure that fundamental rights are guaranteed in practice. Although no country in Asia satisfies these criteria, we are concerned that governments in the region merely pay lip service to their human rights obligations. Implementation of human rights provisions at the national level remains dismal in Asia.
Thus, we urge all governments to:
4) REMEDY human rights violations. We remind Asian governments that ratification and reporting is not enough to ensure the enjoyment of all human rights by all. Concrete actions to improve the situation of human rights and to remedy violations are essential. Moreover, Asian governments have the responsibility to ensure that the concluding observations by the treaty bodies are implemented substantively at the national level.
Again, governments have at their disposal full assistance of the UN and international expert groups to assist in the implementation of recommendations of concluding observations. We urge governments to avail themselves of these means of technical assistance.
We reiterate that these four components—ratifying the core international human rights treaties and their optional protocols, removing reservations, submitting reports on time, and remedying violations—must all be acted upon as a whole to ensure the effective enjoyment of all human rights by all.
Joining the UN Secretary General’s call to make 2008 the 10th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the 60th anniversary of the UDHR more meaningful, we sincerely hope that Asia achieves a new milestone in human rights
improvement by adopting these recommendations.
Special Contributions by:
Community Trust Fund
Centre for Human Rights and Development
The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence
People's Watch – Tamil Nadu
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines
Maldivian Detainee Network
Informal Sector Service Centre
Think Centre
Cambodia League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights
1 High Commissioner’s Strategic Management Plan 2006- 2007, p.39 (available online at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/docs/strategic.pdf)
2 Please note that the number of reservations includes all the sub-articles and sub-paragraphs of each article. For xample, if a government has entered a reservation to Article 1 of ICCPR, the reservation would be counted as three, s there are three sub-paragraphs. This methodology ensures that all reservations are counted fairly and equally, as a overnment with a reservation to one sub-article would still be counted as having one reservation.
