Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers The Role of National Human Rights Institutions 2.4. The Arab human rights system The Arab Charter on Human Rights, 2004 is the main regional human rights instrument adopted by the League of Arab States (LAS). At October 2009, 10 of the 22 LAS Member States had ratified the Charter.153 The first Arab Charter on Human Rights was adopted in 1994. However, on the recommendation of the Arab Commission on Human Rights, the Charter was substantially revised and, following ratification by seven Member States, the 2004 version came into force in 2008. The Charter provided for the establishment of the Arab Human Rights Committee to oversee the implementation of the Charter, which was first formed in 2009. It also provided for the protection of certain collective rights, including the right to self-determination (article 2(1)), and for individual rights. In addition, the Charter also established the Committee’s supervisory functions through a system of periodic reporting by States parties. The application of several important Charter rights, however, are restricted to individuals with citizenship, including the right to work (article 34), the right to free basic health-care services and access to medical facilities without discrimination (article 39(1)) and the right to free education at the primary and basic levels (article 41(2)).154 Significantly, the Charter also recognizes the overriding application of international standards ratified by States parties: Nothing in this Charter may be construed or interpreted as impairing the rights and freedoms protected by the domestic laws of the States parties or those set force in the international and regional human rights instruments which the states parties have adopted or ratified.155 3. EMERGING REGIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR MIGRANT WORKERS IN ASIA There is currently no Asia-wide regional human rights mechanism. However, at the sub-regional level, there are evolving processes that seek to promote and protect human rights and, specifically, the rights of migrant workers. Migrant workers are high on the policy agenda of many Governments in Asia because of the significant contribution that they make to the economic and social development of countries in the region. 3.1. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has taken up the issue of migrant workers’ rights in recent years. The ten-member ASEAN156 has developed a roadmap for an ASEAN community by 2015 which seeks to create a single market characterized by the free movement of capital, goods, services and skilled labour.157 The ASEAN Charter (2007), which invested the ASEAN Community with its legal and institutional framework, declares that the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of its purposes (article 1 (7)). The Charter also provides for the creation of an ASEAN human rights body (article 14), the first regional human rights mechanism in Asia region. 153 The Arab Charter on Human Rights and the League of Arab States: An Update; Mervat Rishmawi; Human Rights Law Review; Vol 10:1 (2010); p. 172. 154 Ibid; p. 171. 155 Article 43; see the English translation of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, 2004 provided by the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library; www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/loas2005.html. 156 ASEAN member countries are Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. 157 See: Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009–2015; Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat; 2009. 60 | Chapter 5: Regional mechanisms for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers