TO HAVE CREDIBILITY ON THE GLOBAL STAGE, ASEAN MUST UPHOLD HUMAN RIGHTS
By Janine Moussa, Dwinta Kuntaladara, Zarizana Abdul Aziz
Last month when President Obama hosted the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for its first-ever summit on American soil, he remarked, “When ASEAN speaks with a clear and unified voice, it can help advance security, opportunity and human dignity.” Unfortunately, advancing human dignity not only took a backseat to ASEAN’s security and economic concerns, it was barely spoken of at all.
This missed opportunity is even more disheartening since it comes on the heels of the new, shocking assessment from UNICEF, which estimates that at least 200 million girls and women in thirty countries have undergone female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). Sixty million of these women and girls are in Indonesia — the world’s fourth most populous country and one of ASEAN’s key members. Cutting is also practiced in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, as well as parts of the Philippines and parts of Thailand for a total of six of the ten ASEAN member states.
Since the FGM/C practices in these countries are typically not as severe as the disfiguring rituals in African nations, they have not drawn as much scrutiny. Yet no matter the severity, we must understand that FGM/C is an act of gender-based violence premised on reinforcing the power imbalance between the sexes.
One of the undeniable aims of FGM/C is to control women’s sexuality, and Indonesia is a quintessential example of the conflict that plays out in nations between the religious and secular forces over women’s policy issues. As the debate over the justification of cutting based on religious or cultural traditions continues in Indonesia and other countries, it is clear that the increase in this practice corresponds to the rise of religious conservatism in Southeast Asia.
Policy changes have also reflected this conflict. In fact, Indonesian authorities tried to ban cutting 10 years ago, with the Indonesian Ministry of Health issuing a 2006 directive banning doctors and nurses from conducting female genital mutilation. However in 2010 Ministry leaders withdrew the ban and authorized “female circumcision by medical practitioners” in response to pressure from the country’s religious leaders. In 2014, under international pressure and pressure from human rights organizations this authorization was amended to read that the practice should be performed in a manner that “guarantees health and safety of girls who are circumcised.”
Nevertheless, one thing is clear: FGM/C is in direct contradiction to international human rights norms and standards to which Indonesia and its regional neighbors in ASEAN are bound.
Upholding human rights in the region is clearly stated in ASEAN’s Charter, as well as several subsequent ASEAN commissions and declarations dedicated to eliminating violence against women. Not least, all ten ASEAN member nations have signed, along with practically every other nation, the Women’s and Children’s Convention which clearly identifies FGM/C as a harmful practice that must be immediately abolished and that State parties could not “justify any delay on any grounds, including cultural and religious grounds.”
Despite these commitments, ASEAN’s system for advancing human rights has been limited from the very start by founding principles that not only give every member nation the right “to lead its national existence free from outside interference in its internal affairs,” but also the consensus-based decision-making that often leads to lowest common denominator policies. This was certainly true in 2015, when ASEAN’s delayed response in aiding Rohingya migrants fleeing Burma left thousands adrift in the Andaman Sea for months to face overcrowding, starvation and sometimes death.
In order to enhance their credibility and live up to their potential on the international stage, ASEAN must adhere to the founding principles of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and end the practice of cutting in member nations. As the body tasked with upholding human rights in the region, ASEAN has a unique and important responsibility to live up to the commitments it has made to the women of Southeast Asia. The infrastructure is in place; what is needed now is the political will to follow through on their commitments and to hold themselves up to the highest standard of international human rights. The world is still waiting to hear from that clear and unified voice.
Janine Moussa is an international human rights lawyer and Director of Policy and Outreach at the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University. Dwinta Kuntaladara is a lecturer at the Department of International Relations, University of Indonesia. Zarizana Abdul Aziz is the Director Due Diligence Project. With special thanks to Yu Ren Chung, a women’s rights activist based in Malaysia.
