反思建立東南亞國協人權機制的崎嶇之路
作者：葉瑞生（亞洲人權與發展論壇前任執行長）
摘要：
一向被稱為「獨裁者俱樂部」的東南亞國協，於1993年至2012年間，開始接受人權觀念，並發展本身的區域性人權機制。在這篇文章中，作者試圖解釋國協為何有這樣的發展，以及這個發展是如何進行的。文中列舉幾個重要的里程碑，並指出促進這些進程的關鍵因素。另外，作者也檢視公民社會所扮演的重要角色，包括從幾個創始會員國的人民推翻專制統治，建立新的民主政府，乃至於起草國協憲章以及建立人權機制過程中的倡議。作者認為，儘管公民社會成功地運用國協中新興民主國家本身的人權機制作為與國協對話的窗口，但國協建立的人權機制終究缺乏效率以及獨立性。究其原因，實與《東南亞國協人權宣言》在多數會員國的堅持下保留「不干預原則」，從而無法符合國際人權標準有密切關係。
關鍵字
東南亞國協、區域性人權機制、東南亞國協人權宣言、亞洲價值、維也納宣言暨行動計畫、不干涉原則
Reflection on the Winding Road to ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms
Author：Swee Seng YAP (Former Executive Director, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development)
Abstract：
This article is the author’sreflectionsas towhy and how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), once dubbed a “club of dictators”, began to accept human rights and develop regional human rights mechanisms in the period 1993–2012. It highlights the major milestones in this process and thefactorswhich contributed to them. It examines the crucial role played by civil society, starting from people’s uprisings that led to the collapse of authoritarian rule and the establishment of new democratic governments in several founding member states, to the engagement with ASEAN on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter and its regional human rights mechanisms. It argues that despite the success of civil society inutilizing the newly democratized member states in ASEAN and their national human rights institutions as interlocutors in dialogue and engagement with ASEAN, the human rights mechanisms that were eventually established by ASEAN are ineffective and not independent while the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration falls short of international human rights standards. It would seem thatthe principle of “non-interference” in ASEAN still remains intact and enjoys strong support from a majority of ASEAN member states.
Keywords
ASEAN, regional human rights mechanism, ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, Asian values, Vienna Declaration and Plan of Action, the principle of non-interference