วารสารวิชาการนิติศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยทักษิณ

1. ASEAN charter. The purposes of ASEAN charter include to promote and protect human rights. Under article 1(7) and article 2 (I) provides that to promote and protect human rights are the main principles obliging all ASEAN member states. 16 Moreover, under article 14, it establishes ASEAN human rights body to reaffirm that human matter is one of the main concerns of ASEAN. 2. The ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). The mandate of the AICHR is to promote and protect human rights under article 1.4 and 1.6 of its TOR 17 It is obviously to see that the functions of the commission indicate to promote human rights rather the protection. The ASEAN charter itself respects national sovereignty of other member states and complies with the principle of non-interference in the internal affair of member states as well as a non- confrontation approach. 18 Therefore, it is no surprised that ASEAN has long been criticized as “a paper tiger” or sometimes “a toothless tiger” for its inability to cope with the disputes within ASEAN countries. 16 Article 4 of ASEAN Charter; “The member states of ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.” 17 Terms of Reference of ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights ; 1.4 and 1.6, available at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Philippines/Terms%20of%20Reference%20for%20the%20ASEAN% 20Inter-Governmental%20CHR.pdf. (Accessed 22 October 2014). 18 Article 2(e), (k) of ASEAN Charter. วารสารวิชาการนิติศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยทักษิณ ปีที่ 5 ฉบับที่ 7 มกราคม - ธันวาคม 2557 