Religious Freedom and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration: Prospects and Challenges

14(4) Review of Faith & International Affairs 1-15 (2016) 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004379732_002

This article offers a critical and timely analysis of the 2012 ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), particularly its treatment of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion under Article 22. It argues that while the AHRD was intended to signal a collective regional commitment to human rights, its textual omissions—most notably the failure to guarantee the manifestation of religion in practice, teaching, and worship—seriously undermine its normative strength. These deficiencies, combined with expansive limitation clauses that prioritize state sovereignty, national security, and public order, reveal the statist orientation of the Declaration. By highlighting how these provisions diverge from established international standards, the article underscores the risk that the AHRD legitimizes state discretion over fundamental freedoms rather than constraining it, raising urgent questions about ASEAN’s credibility as a regional human rights actor