The contest to determine exactly what ‘protection’ entailed continued in two phases as they set up a human rights body (the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, AICHR) and a human rights declaration. In the most contested phase of defining what human rights protection meant in ASEAN, only a compromise that satisfied neither norm circle was possible. Neither circle could sufficiently wield their diplomatic competencies to influence the results decisively, with the failure to reach consensus looming over both circles. This was reflected in the existence of political declarations alongside the formal terms of reference and human rights declaration that sought to safeguard the compromises within each document.