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The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power

Alan Collins Orcid Logo, Edmund Bon Tai Soon

Australian Journal of International Affairs, Volume: 76, Issue: 4, Pages: 359 - 378

Swansea University Author: Alan Collins Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/10357718.2021.2016610

Abstract

The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is often regarded unfavourably, depicted at best as irrelevant in the battle to promote and protect human rights in Southeast Asia, and at worst, complicit in the abuse of human rights by its silence in the face of the region’s human rig...

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Published in: Australian Journal of International Affairs
ISSN: 1035-7718 1465-332X
Published: Informa UK Limited 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59029
first_indexed 2021-12-20T13:12:48Z
last_indexed 2025-04-25T04:52:02Z
id cronfa59029
recordtype SURis
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spelling 2025-04-24T16:01:50.9422689 v2 59029 2021-12-20 The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power 907d9f05b3b098040cce16dd9f9cad6d 0000-0003-3009-344X Alan Collins Alan Collins true false 2021-12-20 SOSS The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is often regarded unfavourably, depicted at best as irrelevant in the battle to promote and protect human rights in Southeast Asia, and at worst, complicit in the abuse of human rights by its silence in the face of the region’s human rights’ tragedies. While AICHR has many limitations, we regard it as a work-in-progress, evolving as it was always meant to. To understand this evolution, we conceive of AICHR as a participatory space in which contestation of what AICHR can, and cannot, do is being undertaken by its Representatives. This contestation includes exposing its secretive face of power by revealing: the space human rights can be discussed in; who can participate and who is excluded in this discussion; and how malleable the norms that operate within this space are to change. The latter aspect of contestation engages with the thorny “problem” of consensus. We argue that the presence of Representatives from outside of government has introduced a desire in AICHR for change; a dynamism that makes it a participatory space witnessing contestation that has the potential to enable AICHR to evolve. A space, therefore, that for all its shortcomings is worth watching. Journal Article Australian Journal of International Affairs 76 4 359 378 Informa UK Limited 1035-7718 1465-332X ASEAN, human rights, AICHR, participatory space, contestation 4 7 2022 2022-07-04 10.1080/10357718.2021.2016610 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University This work was supported by the High Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) Global Challenges Research Fund under Grant W20/16HE 2025-04-24T16:01:50.9422689 2021-12-20T13:07:03.5029978 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Alan Collins 0000-0003-3009-344X 1 Edmund Bon Tai Soon 2 59029__22085__4af71eb0b470401d91b139c3838d7a56.pdf 59029.pdf 2022-01-10T09:47:57.1577454 Output 202775 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2023-06-22T00:00:00.0000000 Released under the terms of a CC-BY-NC license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
title The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
spellingShingle The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
Alan Collins
title_short The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
title_full The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
title_fullStr The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
title_full_unstemmed The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
title_sort The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power
author_id_str_mv 907d9f05b3b098040cce16dd9f9cad6d
author_id_fullname_str_mv 907d9f05b3b098040cce16dd9f9cad6d_***_Alan Collins
author Alan Collins
author2 Alan Collins
Edmund Bon Tai Soon
format Journal article
container_title Australian Journal of International Affairs
container_volume 76
container_issue 4
container_start_page 359
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 1035-7718
1465-332X
doi_str_mv 10.1080/10357718.2021.2016610
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
document_store_str 1
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description The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is often regarded unfavourably, depicted at best as irrelevant in the battle to promote and protect human rights in Southeast Asia, and at worst, complicit in the abuse of human rights by its silence in the face of the region’s human rights’ tragedies. While AICHR has many limitations, we regard it as a work-in-progress, evolving as it was always meant to. To understand this evolution, we conceive of AICHR as a participatory space in which contestation of what AICHR can, and cannot, do is being undertaken by its Representatives. This contestation includes exposing its secretive face of power by revealing: the space human rights can be discussed in; who can participate and who is excluded in this discussion; and how malleable the norms that operate within this space are to change. The latter aspect of contestation engages with the thorny “problem” of consensus. We argue that the presence of Representatives from outside of government has introduced a desire in AICHR for change; a dynamism that makes it a participatory space witnessing contestation that has the potential to enable AICHR to evolve. A space, therefore, that for all its shortcomings is worth watching.
published_date 2022-07-04T10:57:35Z
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