The relationship between the origins and regime design of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)

Abstract

The reasons why states come together and create regional or international human rights institutions have puzzled scholars of both international law and international relations. In many ways, it does not make obvious sense for states to create such institutions: their focus is not on interstate relations but instead on the domestic relationship between a state and its citizens, and they impose sovereignty costs without conferring obvious benefits. In response to this theoretical puzzle, a number of theoretical propositions have been suggested in the literature. The newly-established ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) offers a topical case study to test which theory can best explain the creation of interstate human rights mechanisms. Not only does this article analyse why ASEAN member states created the AICHR, but also seeks to link this ‘why’ question to our understanding the regime design of the AICHR. This article thus takes four major features of the AICHR and illustrates how our understanding of their efficacy depends upon how we understand the reasons why ASEAN created this body in the first instance. While this article concludes that the complex matrix of forces at play in ASEAN make it impossible in practice to advance a generalised theory for why states create interstate human rights institutions, ASEAN's intense interest in conforming to global cultural scripts illustrates how regional human rights institutions have become a ‘normal’ part of the regional community-building process.