Vitit Muntarbhorn is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and the Co-Chair of the Civil Society Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. 

From 1990 to 1994 he was the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and is currently the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea.

Professor Muntarbhorn is a tireless campaigner for human rights and, since 2003, has been a member of the APF’s Advisory Council of Jurists.

The ASEAN Charter, signed by member states in November 2007, calls for the creation of a regional human rights institution.

Speaking prior to the 7th Workshop on the ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights, held in Singapore earlier this month, Professor Muntarbhorn said people in ASEAN countries who suffer from human rights violations would have better access to justice if there was a regional human rights body they could turn to "first, because the United Nations is so far away and, second, the national setting may at times be not so accessible in terms of justice.”

According to Prof Muntarbhorn, although ASEAN is essentially a political organisation driven by economics, it could still address human rights issues in a “creative, innovative and meaningful manner”.

In recent years he has been a leading contributor to discussions on the establishment of a regional human rights body, including preparing seminal background papers such as A Roadmap for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism in 2003. 

Last year, in a speech to mark 40 years of ASEAN, Prof Muntarbhorn outlined the possible role, function and mandate of such a body.

“Whatever body is established ultimately, it should be guided by the need to abide by international law and international human rights standards, especially the instruments to which ASEAN countries already agree," he said.

“While it is probably premature to advocate a body with broad-ranging powers along the lines of those mechanisms found in other regions of the world, the future ASEAN human rights body should at least be targeted to promoting and protecting human rights in a comprehensive manner, covering civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

“It should provide a value-added component to complement national systems which are currently comprised of formal checks and balances, such as courts and/or national human rights commissions, and informal elements, such as media and civil society activism.

“Preferably, it should have the power to advise and make recommendations to states on effective preventive and remedial measures and the required follow-up.

“Its composition should follow UN principles in regard to the need to be independent and pluralistic. It could also help in drafting an ASEAN instrument, such as a comprehensive Declaration or Convention on Human Rights, if required.

“On another front, there may be additional space to influence other organs of ASEAN whose work may have impact on human rights. This may be done by means of various parallel civil society forums which can provide input for the deliberations of those ASEAN organs, such as a People's Track.

“In the final analysis, there remains a basic aspiration behind ASEAN’s progression towards the future: the key is the effective implementation of human rights, side by side with democracy, peace and sustainable development, at the national level, for which no regional body, organ or instrument can be a substitute. “

The next stage in the ASEAN process will be the selection of a high level panel to draft terms of reference for the proposed regional human rights body.  It is expected that ASEAN will appoint the panel at its meeting in Singapore next month.

Find out more

The future of human rights in ASEAN; speech to the delivered at the International Workshop on Forty Years of ASEAN, organised by the Institute of Security and International Studies, Bangkok, 28 August 2007.

Roadmap for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, (2003)