Legal Problems Concerning Women’s Rights in ASEAN: Study on Cases of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia

Abstract

Legal problems on women’s rights in ASEAN 10 members derive from many factors namely: weak structure of ASEAN Organization, weak legal mechanism, different legal systems amongst ASEAN members, different legal applications and interpretations, gaps of law and inefficiency in term of enforcement of law. In consequence, the problems on violations of women’s rights aggravate at the level of worrisome situation especially in the major tragic cases such as women trafficking, violence against women and girls, inequality between men and women, and discrimination against women and girls. Although, all members of ASEAN had already many laws for the protection of women’s rights and girls’ rights and became State Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the bad situation of women’s rights as mentioned above is still going on. Therefore, all members of ASEAN should create a new legal mechanism for the strengthening and the enhancing of ASEAN human rights organs including legal harmonization on women’s rights. Furthermore, all ASEAN members need to modernize their human rights law and women’s rights law in line with the CEDAW and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and improve their legal enforcement on this matter as much as possible without further delay.