Findings highlight the ASEAN’s vision overemphasis on economic efficiency in rapid digitalization, while the promotion and protection of human rights in these documents remain limited.
By Ruth NacionalBulatlat.com
MANILA – Civil society organizations (CSOs) launched “Rights at the Core – Towards a Rights-Respecting Digital Ecosystem” on Wednesday, February 4, a regional multistakeholder briefing paper on the digital rights landscape in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Developed by AccessNow, EngageMedia, FORUM-ASIA, Oxfam, and the Wikimedia Foundation, the paper is a comprehensive mapping and analysis of over 16 relevant ASEAN frameworks and documents through the lens of digital rights and broader human rights framework. It offers recommendations on how to better navigate key issues such as digital economy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
In time for Philippines’ ASEAN Chairmanship
The launch was held in Manila, joined by Leah Barbia, officer-in-charge of the Center for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights of the Commission on Human Rights, and Liza Garcia, executive director of the Foundation for Media Alternatives, highlighting the significance of the Philippines’ role in promoting human rights in the regional bloc’s digital agenda.
As the 2026 ASEAN chair, it is the country’s turn to steer the wheel in building an ASEAN community through policy initiatives and coordination as it promotes the interests and well-being of the region.
Peace and security, prosperity corridors and people empowerment are positioned to be the focal priorities of the country’s chairship, with an emphasis on promoting responsible and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in strengthening ASEAN’s capability to respond to evolving security challenges.
The paper builds on the momentum of the two anticipated documents: the ASEAN Digital Masterplan (ADM) 2030, a framework for the region’s digital development expected to be finalized by the end of the year, and the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), which is currently under negotiation but is poised as the world’s first region-wide digital economy agreement.
Rights lag behind in the growth-oriented sector
Findings highlight the ASEAN’s vision overemphasis on economic efficiency in rapid digitalization, while the promotion and protection of human rights in these documents remain limited.
“No or minimal gender and intersectional lenses” apply to the issues the documents seek to address, according to the report. In a landscape that frames access and adoption as inclusion, the implications of digitalization on the rights of vulnerable sectors, as well as the differentiated opportunities and various structural and socioeconomic barriers, are overlooked.
The ASEAN’s people’s right to opt out of digitalization processes, for example, is found to be absent throughout the documents, disregarding their right to informed and voluntary participation in digital ecosystems.
Furthermore, the report suggests that the importance of civic engagement, freedom of expression, and regional solidarity is underemphasized in the ASEAN community vision: “ASEAN does not appear to conceptualize digital spaces and technologies as integral components of political and civic spaces”.
The lack of rights-based language, explicit user rights protections, and human rights-based strategy to address disinformation and online abuse is also highlighted.
Civil society excluded from dialogues
Cornelius Damar Hanung, East Asia–ASEAN Programme Manager of Forum-ASIA and one of the authors of the paper, underscored the need to formally include and recognize the role and contribution of civil society actors (CSA) in developing strategies for the ASEAN’s vision for the digital ecosystem.
Hanung mentioned that civil society was ‘largely absent’ during the discussions on cybersecurity due to the frameworks’ focus on economic stability, making it difficult for CSOs to penetrate the dialogue. “The matter of cybersecurity is being seen as a matter of defense, not really a matter of human rights,” he added.
The exclusion of CSAs is especially questionable considering that the report presents human rights issues such as surveillance, censorship, and online harassment as among the key challenges to digital rights.
More inclusion, less corporate interests
The paper recommends a multistakeholder approach that prioritizes people’s rights and welfare over economic efficiency and corporate interests in digitalization processes.
There should be consultations with diverse civil society actors, including the youth, women, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, rural communities, Indigenous Peoples, and historically marginalized oppressed groups.
The briefing paper also stresses the need for targeted and needs-based digital infrastructure investment to enable inclusive, meaningful digital participation as well as to address digital illiteracy and inequality.
To ensure a rights-respecting digital future in the region, it recommends that ASEAN institutions embed human rights and community-led approaches in their future documents, and they guarantee the meaningful participation of CSAs in decision-making spheres.
CSAs are then encouraged to allocate resources for digital capacity-building, and the private sector to commit to uphold international human rights standards.
Parallel to the country’s ASEAN chairship, civil society is also preparing for regional platforms for dialogue to further discuss recommendations on issues relevant to the Southeast Asian community. (AMU, RVO)
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