Human rights in Southeast Asia: ASEAN’s rights regime after its first decade

Abstract

This piece introduces a collection of essays that examine various aspects of the ASEAN human rights regime, as we recognize decadal anniversaries for its two key foundational institutions: the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (ACIHR), established in 2009, and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), promulgated in 2012. This introduction considers the aspiration of the regime to promote and protect human rights and the performance of the regime in practice over the decade since its establishment, and reviews the principle themes taken up by the contributors to this special issue of the Journal of Human Rights.