SINGAPORE (AFP) - Southeast Asian ministers on Monday adopted a charter committing the region to promote human rights and democratic ideals, at the start of a summit dominated by the abuses of member state Myanmar.
"It will take us an important step forward," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said, adding that the landmark document would take "regional integration to a higher level".
The charter, which transforms the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into a rules-based legal entity like the European Union, will be signed by the bloc's 10 leaders on Tuesday.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said it would "give substance to ASEAN after 40 years of our existence" and that the ministers had agreed it should be ratified within one year.
Under the charter, which sets out principles and rules for ASEAN for the first time, there will be a human rights body in a region still enraged by Myanmar's bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in September.
However, democracy activists have rejected it as inadequate because it does not include a mechanism to suspend or eject Myanmar from the grouping despite its refusal to adopt reforms or release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We agree with the charter," Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told reporters after the formal adoption ceremony. "We will sign, sure."
But Philippines Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said enforcement was critical.
"If the charter is signed, what happens after that? Will they continue to string us along as they have done in the past 10 years?" he said Sunday. "That charter is good, but once you sign it, you must implement what is there."
A final pre-summit draft obtained by AFP drops the punitive measures which had been mulled by the task force that authored the charter, and leaves it up to ASEAN's leaders to decide what to do with errant members.
The charter however commits ASEAN members "to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms."
It also requires members to keep the region free of nuclear weapons, ease poverty, protect the environment and work toward an integrated market that allows for free flow of goods, services, investments and professionals.
ASEAN was originally formed as an anti-communist alliance at the height of the Cold War with founding members Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines.
Later joined by Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the bloc is a now a disparate collection of budding democracies, monarchies, socialist regimes and a military dictatorship.
Myanmar has grabbed the international spotlight at the Singapore talks, and Prime Minister Thein Sein faces a grilling over the military state's violent campaign to suppress dissent, which left at least 15 dead.
UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is scheduled to brief leaders of ASEAN as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea on the results of his two visits to Myanmar since the crackdown.
However, a Southeast Asian official told AFP that the junta was mounting a campaign to derail Wednesday's discussions.
"They have said that they do not want Mr Gambari to give the briefing. But what can they do? It has been set and he has accepted the invitation," the official said Sunday.
Yeo, who has said the leaders will have "critical" talks with Thein Sein at a dinner Monday, insisted the Gambari briefing would go ahead and that regional leaders were "looking forward to him coming".
Singapore has a reputation as one of the safest places in the world, but it has mounted an intense security campaign centred on the Shangri-La hotel, the main summit venue which bristled Monday with police and paramilitary Gurkhas.
Beyond the situation in Myanmar, leaders will approve a blueprint for a common market embracing the region's nearly 570 million people by 2015 -- a target which faces significant hurdles.
"It will take us an important step forward," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said, adding that the landmark document would take "regional integration to a higher level".
The charter, which transforms the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into a rules-based legal entity like the European Union, will be signed by the bloc's 10 leaders on Tuesday.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said it would "give substance to ASEAN after 40 years of our existence" and that the ministers had agreed it should be ratified within one year.
Under the charter, which sets out principles and rules for ASEAN for the first time, there will be a human rights body in a region still enraged by Myanmar's bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in September.
However, democracy activists have rejected it as inadequate because it does not include a mechanism to suspend or eject Myanmar from the grouping despite its refusal to adopt reforms or release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We agree with the charter," Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told reporters after the formal adoption ceremony. "We will sign, sure."
But Philippines Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said enforcement was critical.
"If the charter is signed, what happens after that? Will they continue to string us along as they have done in the past 10 years?" he said Sunday. "That charter is good, but once you sign it, you must implement what is there."
A final pre-summit draft obtained by AFP drops the punitive measures which had been mulled by the task force that authored the charter, and leaves it up to ASEAN's leaders to decide what to do with errant members.
The charter however commits ASEAN members "to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms."
It also requires members to keep the region free of nuclear weapons, ease poverty, protect the environment and work toward an integrated market that allows for free flow of goods, services, investments and professionals.
ASEAN was originally formed as an anti-communist alliance at the height of the Cold War with founding members Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines.
Later joined by Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the bloc is a now a disparate collection of budding democracies, monarchies, socialist regimes and a military dictatorship.
Myanmar has grabbed the international spotlight at the Singapore talks, and Prime Minister Thein Sein faces a grilling over the military state's violent campaign to suppress dissent, which left at least 15 dead.
UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is scheduled to brief leaders of ASEAN as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea on the results of his two visits to Myanmar since the crackdown.
However, a Southeast Asian official told AFP that the junta was mounting a campaign to derail Wednesday's discussions.
"They have said that they do not want Mr Gambari to give the briefing. But what can they do? It has been set and he has accepted the invitation," the official said Sunday.
Yeo, who has said the leaders will have "critical" talks with Thein Sein at a dinner Monday, insisted the Gambari briefing would go ahead and that regional leaders were "looking forward to him coming".
Singapore has a reputation as one of the safest places in the world, but it has mounted an intense security campaign centred on the Shangri-La hotel, the main summit venue which bristled Monday with police and paramilitary Gurkhas.
Beyond the situation in Myanmar, leaders will approve a blueprint for a common market embracing the region's nearly 570 million people by 2015 -- a target which faces significant hurdles.
1 comment:
Okay, so long our brother (Burmese) don't mind the charter, I am okay with it.
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