KUALA LUMPUR – New Asean declarations on human rights, while not legally binding, are designed as powerful tools for legal advocacy that can be used in court, said Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) chairman Edmund Bon.
He said this during the recent Scoop Insight podcast with host Azim Idris and Scoop editor in chief Terence Fernandez.
The two new declarations, focusing on environmental rights and the right to development, were pushed forward under Malaysia’s chairmanship of Asean this year.
Bon explained that although these are considered “soft law” and not treaties, their purpose is to establish a new regional standard for human rights that can influence legal outcomes.
He stated that the declarations are intended for practical legal application within the region.
“And if you’re going to court, if you’re going to the Thai court… or you’re going to a Lao court, they should be using the declaration,” he said.
Bon noted this is not a new concept, as the existing non-binding 2012 Asean Human Rights Declaration is already influencing judicial thinking in Malaysia.
“In different courts and in Malaysia as well, we have used it. Judges have said, ‘Eh, yeah, in Asean you all have agreed to it,’” Bon shared.
According to Bon, this step-by-step approach is common in international law, where non-binding instruments serve as crucial foundations for stronger legal frameworks in the future.
“But before you come to the Paris Treaty, you will have… non-binding instruments that are also still recognised,” he explained, framing the declarations as part of a longer-term strategy.
The declarations serve a dual purpose, providing civil society groups with a “moral imperative” for advocacy while also giving lawyers a new standard to reference in legal arguments.
This approach comes as the AICHR navigates the structural constraints of Asean, including the principles of non-interference and decision-making by consensus.
These principles make it difficult to establish legally binding treaties, making such declarations a significant and practical way to advance human rights standards in the region. – August 1, 2025