Institutionalizing Human Rights in Southeast Asia

In 2009 and 2010, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) established two new human rights bodies: an inter-governmental human rights commission and a commission for the protection of the rights of women and children. This article examines the process leading to their creation, focusing on the normative and political debates that made creating an ASEAN human rights mechanism a long and challenging process. It then analyzes the commissions’ institutional features and shows how their design constrains their present capacity to promote and protect human rights. Finally, the article discusses the possibilities for near-term institutional evolution.