House of Representatives Committees

| Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

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Human rights in the Asia-Pacific

April 2010

View the report as a single document - (PDF 2.1MB)

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Preliminary pages	(PDF 123KB)

Chapter 1 Introduction	(PDF 109KB)
The inquiry The Asia-Pacific region Structure of the report

Chapter 2 Human rights issues in the Asia-Pacific	(PDF 215KB)
Challenges facing the region Regional identity Human rights concepts Issues raised Thematic Country specific

Chapter 3 International human rights mechanisms and the Asia-Pacific	(PDF 262KB)
United Nations human rights system United Nations human rights treaties and special procedures Human Rights Council The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights International criminal tribunals and special courts International Court of Justice The International Criminal Court

Chapter 4 Regional and national human rights mechanisms and the Asia-Pacific	(PDF 285KB)
Regional mechanisms Africa The Americas Arab states Europe The Asia-Pacific National mechanisms Constitutional protections National Human Rights Institutions

Chapter 5 Possible human rights approaches for the Asia-Pacific	(PDF 239KB)
Is a regional mechanism needed? Committee comment Is a regional mechanism feasible? An Asia-Pacific human rights mechanism Subregional human rights mechanisms Elements of a regional mechanism Links to other policy areas Committee comment

Chapter 6 Australia’s role	(PDF 229KB)
Australia and the Asia-Pacific Bilateral human rights dialogues Committee comment Aid Committee comment Supporting the development of regional mechanisms Working on specific issues International mechanisms Committee comment Other human rights initiatives Committee comment An Asia-Pacific community? Committee comment

Chapter 7 Parliaments and human rights	(PDF 174KB)
International approaches Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, United States Subcommittee on Human Rights, European Parliament Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, Canada Inter-Parliamentary Union Parliamentarians and the Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum Other initiatives ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus Improving scrutiny of human rights in Australia Committee comment

Appendix A – List of Submissions	(PDF 45KB)

Appendix B – List of Exhibits	(PDF 67KB)

Appendix C – List of Hearings and Witnesses	(PDF 69KB)