65 p. The much awaited regional human rights commission of the ASEAN was inaugurated amidst controversy. ASEAN governments hailed the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR) as a positive step to building a sub-regional human rights mechanism, which could help "closing the gap between rhetoric and reality" and "placed human rights at the centre of ASEAN's agenda." Meanwhile, skepticism has been voiced among human rights activists and the civil society. The AICHR has even been criticized as a "toothless" mechanism with a limited mandate of promoting rather than protecting human rights. Many have called for a more independent and stronger human rights body. Master of Science (International Relations)