The occurrence of human rights catastrophes in the region in recent years—such as the unresolved crises in countries like Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq—demonstrates that the global human rights system has not performed adequately in this region and that its norms do not closely align with the unique political, cultural, and social circumstances found here. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of the global human rights system in this region can be summarized as follows: the lack of membership of all regional countries in decision-making bodies, the minority of countries making decisions for the entire international body, the absence of a sense of urgency in these institutions’ decisions due to the political objectives of powerful states, and the failure to adopt effective, executive measures—resorting instead to political rhetoric in times of crisis.

Today, with the advancement and development of international law in various fields, especially in relation to human rights, specific international bodies are active in drafting and developing this branch of international law as well as in supervising the proper implementation of rules and regulations accepted by the international community. In addition to the international system for human rights protection—which now has a recognized place in international law—various regional mechanisms for supporting these rights have also been established in different continents. However, Asia is presently the only continent without a dedicated, functioning human rights mechanism that supervises its countries. It is true that organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), ASEAN, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are active in the region, but due to their geographic limitations and the lack of a comprehensive treaty enforcement mechanism for human rights cooperation, these organizations cannot be considered genuinely effective.

The realization of a regional human rights system in Asia will be based on achieving both normative and structural dimensions of human rights. In fact, the promotion of human rights by this new regional system firstly requires the establishment of an institution that operates independently and separately from other existing international bodies and has its own distinct framework. Secondly, considering previous efforts by regional states towards human rights convergence, there must be shared norms that this institution will defend. Given the history of Asian states' participation in various regional and international organizations, it appears that structural challenges are unlikely. However, due to Asia’s cultural, economic, and religious diversity, as well as its extensive political history, reaching agreement on normative issues will undoubtedly be somewhat difficult.

To elaborate, although it is possible to establish a regional body simply to implement global human rights standards as previously set out in the Universal Declaration and the Covenants, and thereby benefit minimally from the enforcement mechanisms such a body would provide, it is likely that differing views among various states regarding the human rights values supported by this institution and how to support them will pose challenges in the future.

Two paths have existed in international relations concerning normative convergence on human rights: the development of human rights values following the establishment of legal human rights structures, and the development of structures subsequent to the formation of human rights conventions. Evidently, utilizing existing structural capacities to develop human rights norms, as has occurred in ASEAN, would be an easier path in a mosaic region like Asia. Therefore, the structural capacity of Asian regional organizations to develop an Asian human rights system is considerable. Some believe it is currently feasible to advance toward the creation of a comprehensive regional system by establishing subregional mechanisms, similar to initiatives such as the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights and ASEAN’s Human Rights Declaration, which were products of two organizations not originally formed specifically for human rights purposes.

Another path is to develop human rights norms first, based on which the necessary structures can be formed, as seen with the European Convention on Human Rights or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Given Asia’s political, cultural, and religious heterogeneity (a mosaic society), consensus among Asian governments is unlikely. However, there are ways forward: normative convergence in Asia can initially focus on more fundamental human rights, such as civil rights, which enjoy broader agreement among governments, then progress toward economic, social, cultural, and political rights. Another solution is to divide the Asian human rights system into common norms and specific norms. In this approach, a set of shared values is considered an international commitment among Asian states, while subregions (or different Asian civilizations) or individual countries maintain their own specific international commitments according to their histories, cultures, and beliefs. In the latter case, oversight bodies have the authority to demand compliance with these specific obligations. Another approach divides commitments into mandatory and voluntary categories, with states gradually accepting certain obligations voluntarily in the transition toward a comprehensive Asian human rights system.

It appears that the region is currently in urgent need of the formation of specialized human rights rules and the creation of a coherent and organized mechanism with a human rights function. The establishment of such a mechanism could lead regional states to trust in the protection of human rights norms and produce positive effects, such as preventing extra-regional intervention in the internal affairs of Asian countries and ensuring the implementation of the organization’s resolutions.

To achieve this goal, there are two general approaches: either by strengthening existing structures so that human rights norms develop across all or parts of Asia, or by codifying shared human rights norms to institutionalize an Asian human rights system. In all cases, greater convergence might be promoted by focusing on shared values such as civil rights, making the enforcement of certain human rights voluntary, or essentially defining a subregional human rights system. In the latter approach, while a set of common human rights would exist for all Asian countries, other rights would be tailored to particular groups of states or even specific governments, and oversight would be exercised according to both the general and the specific rights of those states.