NGOs as norm-constructors : the human rights activism of Asian NGOs and their role in shaping the regional human rights discourse

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the human rights activism of Asian NGOs, especially with regard to their regional operations and contribution to the human rights discourse within the Asian region. Despite being the world's most populous region, Asia is the only continent without a regional human rights mechanism, whereas Europe, the Americas, and Africa have their own human rights systems with established institutional and normative frameworks. Nevertheless, the subject of human rights has a growing appeal in the Asian context, and efforts are ongoing to establish a regional human rights instrument, which is partly due to the campaigning activities of NGOs. This thesis seeks to contribute to the analysis of the regional activism of NGOs, their involvement in norm construction and in the shaping of an Asian human rights system. Building on the general discussion of Asian human rights NGOs operating on the national level, I explore the construction, operations and impact of Asian human rights NGOs' regional activism. I employ theories of human rights regionalisation, norm construction, and transnational advocacy networking. Two case studies of regionally operating Asian human rights NGOs are used to support my argument about NGOs' constitutive role in the regionalisation of human rights in Asia. Although the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) pursue different regional advocacy strategies, they equally have effect on the regional development of human rights. Whereas the AHRC facilitates collective civil society initiatives to address regional human rights problems with the construction of normative frameworks, FORUM-ASIA seeks to influence the policies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the only Asian intergovernmental body that has so far shown commitment toward creating a human rights instrument. This thesis demonstrates that both NGOs contribute to the shaping of Asian conceptions of human rights and to the creation of a regional human rights mechanism. Such regional activism of NGOs has significance, on the one hand, for the improvement of the human rights situation at the grassroots, and on the other hand, in constructing new norms, policies and institutional frames that can become integral part of a future human rights system in Asia. It is argued that NGO activism gives rise to new norms or re-interprets existing norms that become part of a distinctive Asian human rights discourse.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	English