Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region: Towards Institution Building

286 Pages·2013·2.125 MB·English

by  Hitoshi Nasu, Ben Saul

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Human Rights in the
Asia-Pacific Region
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y The Asia-Pacific is known for having the least developed regional mechanisms for
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ua protecting human rights. This edited collection makes a timely and distinctive
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b contribution to contemporary debates about building institutions for human rights
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F protection in the Asia-Pacific region, in the wake of ASEAN’s establishment in
2 2009 of a sub-regional human rights commission.
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8 Drawing together leading scholarly voices, the book focuses on the systemic issue
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: of institutionalizing human rights protection in the Asia-Pacific. It critically
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0 examines the prospects for deepening and widening human rights institutions in
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a the region, challenging the orthodox scepticism about whether the Asia-Pacific is

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ol ‘ready’ for stronger human rights institutions and exploring the variety of possible
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p forms that regional and sub-regional institutions might take. The volume also
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e analyses the impediments to new institutions, whilst questioning the justifications
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i for them. The collection provides a range of perspectives on the issues and many
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f of the chapters bring interdisciplinary insights to bear. As such, the collection will
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y be of interest to scholarly, practitioner and student audiences in law, as well as to
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i readers in international relations, political science, Asian studies and human rights.
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ni Hitoshi Nasu is a lecturer in law at the Australian National University and a
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deputy director of the Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL). He is the
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y author of International Law on Peacekeeping(Martinus Nijhoff, 2009).
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de Ben Saul is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Sydney Centre for
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o International Law at the Faculty of Law, The University of Sydney, and a barrister
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n specializing in human rights law. He is the author ofDefining Terrorism in International
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o Law(Oxford, 2006).
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Routledge Research in Human Rights Law
Available titles in this series include: Forthcoming titles in this series include:
7 The Right to Development in The European Court of Human
1 International Law Rights in the Post-Cold War Era
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2 The Case of Pakistan Universality in Transition
y Khurshid Iqbal James A. Sweeney
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u Global Health and Human Rights Children and International Human
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b Legal and philosophical perspectives Rights Law
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F John Harrington and Maria Stuttaford The Right of the Child to be Heard
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0 The Right to Religious Freedom in Aisling Parkes
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0 International Law Ensuring and Enforcing Economic,
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8 Between group rights and individual rights Social and Cultural Rights
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t Anat Scolnicov The Jurisprudence of the UN Committee
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ol] Emerging Areas of Human Rights in oMna Ercoc oOndoemlloi ca,n dS oFcriaanlc easncod SCeautzltuural Rights
o the 21st Century
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r The role of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Monitoring
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v Human Rights Mechanisms of the Council of
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L Marco Odello and SofiaCavandoli Europe
of Gauthier de Beco
y The Human Right to Water and its
t Application in the Occupied The EU as a ‘Global Player’ in
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r Palestinian Territories Human Rights?
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v Amanda Cahill Jan Wetzel
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U International Human Rights Law Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights
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y and Domestic Violence International Standards and Comparative
b The effectiveness of international human Experiences
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e rights law Paul O’Connell
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oa Ronagh McQuigg Corporate Human Rights Violations
nl Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Overcoming Regulatory Hurdles
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Region Surya Deva
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D Towards institution building
Jurisdiction, Immunity and
Hitoshi Nasu and Ben Saul
Transnational Human Rights
Litigation
Xiaodong Yang
The Positive Obligations of the State
under the European Convention of
Human Rights
Dimitris Xenos
Human Rights in the
Asia-Pacific Region
Towards institution building
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y Edited by Hitoshi Nasu
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First published 2011
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
byRoutledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
©2011 editorial matter and selection: Hitoshi Nasu and Ben Saul,
individual chapters: the contributors.
7 The right of Hitoshi Nasu and Ben Saul to be identified as the authors of
1 the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
0 been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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y Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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a All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
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r or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
b now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
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F or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
2 writing from the publishers.
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8 Trademark notice:Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
0 registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
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8 explanation without intent to infringe.
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t British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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] Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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o Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
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p Human rights in the Asia-Pacificregion : towards institution building /
er [edited by] Hitoshi Nasu, Ben Saul.
v p. cm. –— (Routledge research in human rights law)
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L ISBN 978-0-415-60254-9 (hardback)
f 1. Human rights—Asia. 2. Human rights—Pacific Area. 3. National
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y human rights institutions—Asia. 4. National human rights institutions—
t Pacific Area. I. Nasu, Hitoshi. II. Saul, Ben.
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s KM572.H86 2011
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e 341.4'8095--dc22 2011003142
v
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U ISBN13: 978-0-415-60254-9 (hbk)
[ ISBN13: 978-0-203-81572-4 (ebk)
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d Typeset in Baskerville
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Contents
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y Acknowledgements ix
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u Abbreviations xi
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b Treaties and other international instruments xiii
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Notes on contributors xvii
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: Introduction: regional integration and human
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0 rights monitoring institution 1
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er PART I
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i International institutions 15
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y 1. The engagement of Asia-Pacific states with the UN
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si Human Rights Committee: reporting and individual
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e petitions 17
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n IVAN SHEARER AND NAOMI HART
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b 2. Human rights monitoring institutions and
d multiculturalism 37
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a NISUKE ANDO
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w 3. Challenges to a human rights mechanism in the
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D Asia-Pacific region: the experience of the Universal
Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council 49
SHIGEKI SAKAMOTO
vi Contents
4. Innovations in institution-building and fresh challenges:
the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture
and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities 64
SARAH MCCOSKER
5. Chinese practice in UN treaty monitoring bodies:
principled sovereignty and slow appreciation 87
WIM MULLER
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2 PART II
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r Regional institutions: evolving mechanisms 105
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e 6. Resistance to regional human rights cooperation in
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2 the Asia-Pacific: demythologizing regional exceptionalism
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8 by learning from the Americas, Europe and Africa 107
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: BEN SAUL, JACQUELINE MOWBRAY AND IRENE BAGHOOMIANS
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at 7. Persistent engagement and insistent persuasion: the
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l role of the working group for an ASEAN Human Rights
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p Mechanism in institutionalizing human rights in the
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e region 127
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L TAN HSIEN-LI
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y 8. ASEAN: setting the agenda for the rights of migrant
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s workers? 144
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v SUSAN KNEEBONE
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[ 9. Challenges for ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms:
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b the case of Lao PDR from a gender perspective 165
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e IRENE PIETROPAOLI
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w PART III
o Transnational and national institutions 183
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10. The role of networks in the implementation of human
rights in the Asia Pacific region 185
CATHERINE RENSHAW
Contents vii
11. Human rights commissions in times of trouble and
transition: the case of the National Human Rights
Commission of Nepal 209
ANDREA DURBACH
12. Corporate human rights abuses: what role for the
national human rights institutions? 234
SURYA DEVA
7 13. Rethinking human rights in China: towards a receptor
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0 framework 249
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y MIMI ZOU AND TOM ZWART
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Acknowledgements
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y This book originated at the International Conference on Human Rights in the
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ua Asia-PacificRegion: Towards Institution Building on 27–28 November 2009 held
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b at the Faculty of Law, The University of Sydney. The Conference was jointly hosted
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F by the Australian Network for Japanese Law <http://sydney.edu.au/law/
2 anjel/>, the Sydney Centre for International Law at Sydney Law School
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8 <http://sydney.edu.au/law/scil/> and the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at
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: the University of Sydney <http://sydney.edu.au/law/caplus/>, in partnership
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0 with the Australian Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law, The University
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a of New South Wales <http://www.ahrcentre.org/>. Generous financial support
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ol was provided for the Conference by Japan Foundation Global Program for
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p Intellectual Exchange Conferences and by the Sydney Law School. We are grateful
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e to those institutions for supporting the initiative which led to this book.
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i We also thank the Sydney Centre for International Law for its support in the
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f production of this book, particularly the Centre’s Administrator, Amber Colhoun;
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y its Student Editors (Fayzan Bakhtiar, Melanie Brown, Jesse Buckingham, Martin
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i Bernhaut, Jennifer Chen, Corey Karaka, Nikila Kaushik, Greg Mikkelsen, Patrick
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e Weller and Chadwick Wong); and its Interns (Emily Christie, Emma Hunt, Nithya
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ni Ramesh and Andrew Yeoum). Ben Saul especially thanks his research assistant,
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Naomi Hart, for her meticulous work. Finally, we thank the anonymous referees
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y of this book for their insights and suggestions.
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d Hitoshi Nasu, Canberra
de Ben Saul, Sydney
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o October 2010
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Abbreviations
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y ACJ Advisory Council of Jurists of the Asia Pacific Forum of National
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ua Human Rights Institutions
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b ACMW ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on
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F the Rights of Migrant Workers
2 ACW ASEAN Committee on Women
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8 ACWC ASEAN Commission of the Promotion and Protection of the
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: Rights of Women and Children
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0 AICHR ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
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a ALMM ASEAN Labour Ministerial Meeting

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ol AMM ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
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p ANNI Asian Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and
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e Protection of Human Rights
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i APEC Asia PacificEconomic Cooperation
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f APF Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions
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y APT Association for the Prevention of Torture
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i ARF ASEAN Regional Forum
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e ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
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ni AU African Union
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CAT Convention against Torture
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y CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
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d against Women
de CERD Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
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o CPRD Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
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n CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
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o CSO Civil society organizations
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ECHR European Convention on Human Rights
ICC International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions
for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICERD International Convention on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICJ International Court of Justice