Human rights and regionalism in Southeast Asia

I have two aims in this dissertation. The first is to record an extraordinary period of human rights institution-building in Southeast Asia. This period began in 2007, with the signing of the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Charter explicitly links the purpose of ASEAN with the strengthening of democracy and the protection of human rights and provides for the establishment of an ‘ASEAN Human Rights Body’. This body was established in 2009, as the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The Commission’s first task was to draft the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, which was completed and adopted by ASEAN Heads of State in November 2012. In the context of the political diversity of Southeast Asia, the region’s historical resistance to international human rights law, and the long shadow cast by the ‘Asian Values’ debate of the 1990s, I ask the following questions: What factors explain the establishment of these institutions? How deep is ASEAN’s new commitment to human rights and democracy? What do these institutions augur for the way rights are realised in Southeast Asia? My second aim is to explore and test my theory that regional institutions possess a particular legitimacy in the promotion and protection of human rights. The theory is driven by a simple observation. Since the end of World War II, the discourse of human rights has become, to borrow a phrase used by Charles Beitz, ‘the common moral language of global society.’ Yet the original post-World War II vision of a legalised international human rights order (with judicial oversight, mechanisms for enforcement, and sanctions for non-compliance) has faded. The global human rights system works by setting standards, which are then invoked (by domestic and international non-governmental organisations, members of civil society, political oppositions, the international community) to persuade, shame or coerce states into compliance. The problems are: change is very slow, many states (both predatory and decent) are resistant to influence, and in circumstances of exception (civil conflict, war, political crisis) when human rights are most vulnerable to abuse, the system is least effective. The failures of the global system are many and patent. On the other hand, states seem more willing to subscribe to binding norms promoted by regional organs of restricted membership. Regional systems now exist under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States, the Organisation of African Unity, the League of Arab States and most recently, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Scholars have observed that there seems to be a ‘directness of association’ between members of regional organisations, which positively influences (or has the potential to influence) causal processes such as socialisation, binding, monitoring and enforcement. My theory is that regional factors such as smaller numbers, deeper levels of integration, greater consensus around the importance of certain societal values, similar geographic characteristics and shared economic and security interests, create the conditions for legitimate governance. I test my theory using a case study of Southeast Asia and its new institutions. In the end, my conclusion is that in circumstances where regions possess low levels of democracy, then regional human rights systems do not possess a particular legitimacy. The nature of democracy, the relationship between democracy and human rights, and the deficit of democracy in Southeast Asia are at the heart of my explanation about why Southeast Asia’s nascent human rights system (currently) lacks legitimacy

Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Uncovering the Dynamics of State Commitment and Compliance

In the deep jungle that lies along the border between Thailand and Malaysia are the graves of hundreds of Burmese and Bangladeshi migrants. The graves were discovered by Thai and Malay authorities in May and July 2015, near deserted camps littered with chains and barbed wire cages. Some of the camps had been abandoned for many years, others only recently.' In the village of Tah Loh, local security guard Da-oh Saengmae recounted a hunting trip during which he sighted a set of graves in the jungle a mile across the Malaysian border: "I saw small stones and leaves and branches placed on top. I was afraid. We all just got away from the area. I knew it was the refugees - who else would be buried in the jungle?

Data Assimilation Enhancements to Air Force Weathers Land Information System

The United States Air Force (USAF) has a proud and storied tradition of enabling significant advancements in the area of characterizing and modeling land state information. 557th Weather Wing (557 WW; DoDs Executive Agent for Land Information) provides routine geospatial intelligence information to warfighters, planners, and decision makers at all echelons and services of the U.S. military, government and intelligence community. 557 WW and its predecessors have been home to the DoDs only operational regional and global land data analysis systems since January 1958. As a trusted partner since 2005, Air Force Weather (AFW) has relied on the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA/GSFC to lead the interagency scientific collaboration known as the Land Information System (LIS). LIS is an advanced software framework for high performance land surface modeling and data assimilation of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) information

Characterization of anti-HIV-1 neutralizing and binding antibodies in chronic HIV-1 subtype C infection.

Neutralizing (nAbs) and high affinity binding antibodies may be critical for an efficacious HIV-1 vaccine. We characterized virus-specific nAbs and binding antibody responses over 21 months in eight HIV-1 subtype C chronically infected individuals with heterogeneous rates of disease progression. Autologous nAb titers of study exit plasma against study entry viruses were significantly higher than contemporaneous responses at study entry (p=0.002) and exit (p=0.01). NAb breadth and potencies against subtype C viruses were significantly higher than for subtype A (p=0.03 and p=0.01) or B viruses (p=0.03; p=0.05) respectively. Gp41-IgG binding affinity was higher than gp120-IgG (p=0.0002). IgG–FcγR1 affinity was significantly higher than FcγRIIIa (p<0.005) at study entry and FcγRIIb (p<0.05) or FcγRIIIa (p<0.005) at study exit. Evolving IgG binding suggests alteration of immune function mediated by binding antibodies. Evolution of nAbs was a potential marker of HIV-1 disease progression

Networked T Cell Death following Macrophage Infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Depletion of T cells following infection by <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em> (Mtb) impairs disease resolution, and interferes with clinical test performance that relies on cell-mediated immunity. A number of mechanisms contribute to this T cell suppression, such as activation-induced death and trafficking of T cells out of the peripheral circulation and into the diseased lungs. The extent to which Mtb infection of human macrophages affects T cell viability however, is not well characterised.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>We found that lymphopenia (<1.5×10⁹ cells/l) was prevalent among culture-positive tuberculosis patients, and lymphocyte counts significantly improved post-therapy. We previously reported that Mtb-infected human macrophages resulted in death of infected and uninfected bystander macrophages. In the current study, we sought to examine the influence of infected human alveolar macrophages on T cells. We infected primary human alveolar macrophages (the primary host cell for Mtb) or PMA-differentiated THP-1 cells with Mtb H37Ra, then prepared cell-free supernatants. The supernatants of Mtb-infected macrophages caused dose-dependent, caspase-dependent, T cell apoptosis. This toxic effect of infected macrophage secreted factors did not require TNF-α or Fas. The supernatant cytotoxic signal(s) were heat-labile and greater than 50 kDa in molecular size. Although ESAT-6 was toxic to T cells, other Mtb-secreted factors tested did not influence T cell viability; nor did macrophage-free Mtb bacilli or broth from Mtb cultures. Furthermore, supernatants from <em>Mycobacterium bovis</em> Bacille de Calmette et Guerin (BCG)- infected macrophages also elicited T cell death suggesting that ESAT-6 itself, although cytotoxic, was not the principal mediator of T cell death in our system.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Mtb-Infected macrophages secrete heat-labile factors that are toxic to T cells, and may contribute to the immunosuppression seen in tuberculosis as well as interfere with microbial eradication in the granuloma.</p> </div

Bodily illusions in young children: Developmental change in visual and proprioceptive contributions to perceived hand position.

We examined the visual capture of perceived hand position in forty-five 5- to 7-year-olds and in fifteen young adults, using a mirror illusion task. In this task, participants see their left hand on both the left and right (by virtue of a mirror placed at the midline facing the left arm, and obscuring the right). The accuracy of participants’ reaching was measured when proprioceptive and visual cues to the location of the right arm were put into conflict (by placing the arms at different distances from the mirror), and also when only proprioceptive information was available (i.e., when the mirror was covered). Children in all age-groups (and adults) made reaching errors in the mirror condition in accordance with the visually-specified illusory starting position of their hand indicating a visual capture of perceived hand position. Data analysis indicated that visual capture increased substantially up until 6 years of age. These findings are interpreted with respect to the development of the visual guidance of action in early childhood

American hospital in China, 1880-1920

"November 2003"Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-306)xiii, 306 leaves : ill., planes, plates (some col.) ; 30 cm.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Asian Studies and Dept of Public Health, 200

Global or regional? Realizing women's rights in Southeast Asia

The establishment and strengthening of regional human rights institutions has been hailed as a positive and practical step towards the more effective protection of human rights. But the effectiveness of regional systems depends in large part on prior ideological and institutional commitments to democracy and human rights in states within the region. Using the example of women's rights in Southeast Asia, this article considers how the dynamics of change work in and among regions where a majority of states are not liberal democracies. This article argues that in circumstances where states are not already committed to democracy and human rights, then premature attempts to promote norms at the regional level actually undercut efforts to positively shape the behavior of states. In contrast, norms articulated at the global level, through global instruments and institutions, have comparatively greater power to procure change