Constructing an Inadequate Human Rights Regime: Indonesia and the Deliberate Weakening of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Authority

Abstract

The establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights in 2019 provided hopes for the advancement of human rights in Southeast Asia. As a region that puts forward the notions of consensus and non-sovereignty, concluding regional human rights norms is seen as a first step in solidifying human rights protection in the region. Unfortunately, since its establishment, the commission has failed to fulfill the expectations to implement protection-based regional norms in Southeast Asia, measured by their failure to effectively respond to systemic human rights abuses in the region. This article employs the Neoliberal Institutionalist’s view of Hegemonic Stability Theory (specifically to Robert Keohane) in analyzing how regional hegemons such as Indonesia, have deliberately directed the establishment of a weak human rights regime, in the form of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, which is proven by; (1) The Commission’s deficiencies in human rights protection, and (2) Indonesia’s lack of political will in solidifying human rights regimes in Southeast Asia.