Asean members should develop baseline of jurisprudence to strengthen declaration — CJ

KUALA LUMPUR: Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria has urged Asean members to develop a baseline of jurisprudence if the grouping is serious in its aim to strength the implementation of the Asean Human Rights Declaration (AHRD).

He said that development should be commonly acknowledged and accepted by Asean Member States (AMS) to ensure uniformity in the application of the AHRD.

“While the AHRD has been in existence for almost five years now, there is a dearth of commentaries or jurisprudential articles to explain how the rights stated therein, are to be interpreted or implemented,” he added.

Arifin was making his opening statement at the Asean Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR) Judicial Colloquium On The Sharing of Good Practices Regarding International Human Rights held at a hotel here yesterday.

He said in order for the AHRD to be useful to Asean peoples, it was time the relevant Asean bodies such as AICHR led the way in guiding the region.

“As the foremost human rights body established by the Charter of the United Nations, AICHR has the expertise to assist in clarifying the human rights concept stated in the AHRD, and share its views on the same,” he said, adding that this exercise by AICHR might be undertaken in mutual collaboration with AMS’ judiciaries.

Arifin also said the colloquium was designed to bring Asean judiciaries together, in collectively aligning AMS towards Asean’s goals.

He said Asean was home to approximately 625 million people and in 2015, the association’s combined nominal Gross Domestic Product had grown to more than US$ 2.8 trillion.

“In light of Asean’s rapid development as a growing regional hub for trade, there have been and continues to be many human rights challenges facing the region.”

The chief justice said the judicial arm of each AMS should therefore, be equipped with appropriate tools and mechanism to deal with such challenges in a way that was fair, just, efficient and consistent with the rule of law. — Bernama