Revisiting international human rights treaties: comparing Asian and Western efforts to improve human rights.

Abstract

This paper presents a review of existing literature to understand the effects and effectiveness of human rights treaties in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Southeast Asian countries, in contrast to Western nations. The review argues that factors at the international/treaty level and factors at the domestic state level increase the difficulty of implementing effective international treaties on human rights. At the international level, the treaties and organizations to which states belong suffer some weakness as discussed in international relations theories, while seven factors are particularly important for promoting effectiveness of international human rights treaties at the domestic level: political capacity, economic development, national human rights institutes, regional human rights courts, regional intergovernmental organizations, strength of civil society, and political stability. Although the number of international human rights agreements signed and ratified by Asia Pacific states is increasing following the trends of Western states, less research focuses on the implementation and effects of these institutions. Asia Pacific nations face vastly different conditions than Western nations, such as more complicated security environments, larger cultural and religious differences, and less development and democratic values in some cases. Due to these differences, it is important to consider other potential variables that influence efficacy of treaty instruments for non-Western nations. What are the differences between implementation of human rights treaties in Western and Asian nations? How do they affect the efficacy of international agreements on individual human rights?