Human Rights in the APEC Region

Many of the 18 countries comprising the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group came to the 1994 summit in Jakarta with impressive economic growth rates and poor human rights records. The Asia-Pacific region has generated a debate about the relationship between economic development and human rights. The simple answer is that there is no generalization about the impact of economic growth on human rights that is applicable across the region. But as the entries in this report covering a selection of APEC countries illustrate, there is certainly no evidence to suggest that economic growth by itself is any guarantor of human rights protection.