June 30, 2011 - July 2, 2011
The Drafting Group was officially formed and met AICHR for the first time. AICHR briefed the drafting group on the Declaration’s content, stating that: the Declaration should consider national and regional specificities; respect the differences in political background, history, culture, religion of the ASEAN Member States; balance rights and obligations; ensure a balance between collective rights and individual rights; and that the Declaration should be viewed as a non-binding, aspirational political document.
There were debates among the AICHR Representatives during this meeting. Some argued that the ASEAN Member States have different political systems and suggested that the Declaration should focus more on ASEAN cooperation, while other Representative wanted the Declaration to constitute a bill of rights. Despite the differences, AICHR approved the outline/framework document that the Drafting Group would work on from July 2011 to December 2011.
