Barry Desker, Distinguished Fellow at RSIS commented on the shift in ASEAN’s perspective on human rights, since its inception in August 1967. He detailed how the bloc distanced itself from the Khmer Rouge government in Phnom Penh in 1978 and when martial law was declared by then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972. He contrasted these instances with the outcome from the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted virtually by Vietnam earlier in September, which he called “a changing perspective on human rights issues” from the bloc.