PHUKET (AP) -- Southeast Asian ministers are to approve a new regional commission on human rights but without powers to monitor or punish member nations such as military-ruled Myanmar.
The commission will first focus on promotion of human rights rather than protection, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after the opening Monday of a conference of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Critics question the worth of such a body, albeit the first set up within ASEAN. The bloc includes among its 10 members communist Vietnam and Laos as well as Myanmar, which holds more than 2,000 political prisoners including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Phuket meeting is taking place amid international outrage over the trial of Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who faces up to five years in prison on charges of violating terms of her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home.
On Sunday, Myanmar authorities detained dozens of opposition party members as they returned from ceremonies marking the death of Suu Kyi's father Gen. Aung San, the country's independence hero. They were later released.
The rights body is called for in the ASEAN Charter, promulgated seven months ago to serve as the 42-year-old bloc's constitution. The bloc has traditionally operated by consensus and shuns interference in the internal affairs of its members.
A Southeast Asian diplomat said a last-minute compromise among foreign ministers Sunday night would enable the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to get formal approval at the conference. The commission is to be officially unveiled at an ASEAN summit in October.
The diplomat, citing protocol for speaking on condition of anonymity, said the foreign ministers reached consensus on the "terms of reference" for the body after Indonesia and Thailand withdrew their objections following an agreement that their views would be reflected in a "political declaration" in October.
Indonesia and Thailand had been pushing it to "monitor and review" the human rights situation in every member country and make country visits.
The commission's framers have stressed regional education and appeals for adherence to accepted human rights standards. It will not have powers to investigate or prosecute human rights violators. There is no provision for human rights experts to sit on the body.
"It's better to make a start than to leave it hanging, with no progress at all," Abhisit said. "We recognize the concerns of people who deal with this issue and will take them on board."
Last month, more than 200 groups urged in a letter to the drafters to make the rights body an "effective mechanism." But activists acknowledged that they had a hard struggle ahead, given opposition from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
"Even Singapore and Malaysia have said our demands are difficult," said Yuyun Wahyuningrum of FORUM-ASIA, a Bangkok-based regional rights lobby.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said ASEAN ministers were "generally in support" of the rules guiding the body, adding that the rules on the mandate and functions of the body could be strengthened five years after they go into force.
"The draft terms of reference reflect a maximum consensus among ASEAN countries at this time," Kasit said of the rules. "It is important to make this human rights body credible but at the same time to take into consideration the real situation in ASEAN member countries."
Such comments have drawn fire from private groups and academics.
"Members of the body should be able to consider human rights in places such as Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia or southern Thailand, or what's the point?" said Chalida Tajaroensak, president of the Thailand-based People's Empowerment Foundation.
Myanmar's human rights record is expected to feature at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, which follows the Southeast Asian foreign ministers' meeting and includes 27 members including the United States, Russia and China.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrives Tuesday, is expected to bring up both Myanmar and North Korea's nuclear program.
The commission will first focus on promotion of human rights rather than protection, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after the opening Monday of a conference of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Critics question the worth of such a body, albeit the first set up within ASEAN. The bloc includes among its 10 members communist Vietnam and Laos as well as Myanmar, which holds more than 2,000 political prisoners including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Phuket meeting is taking place amid international outrage over the trial of Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who faces up to five years in prison on charges of violating terms of her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home.
On Sunday, Myanmar authorities detained dozens of opposition party members as they returned from ceremonies marking the death of Suu Kyi's father Gen. Aung San, the country's independence hero. They were later released.
The rights body is called for in the ASEAN Charter, promulgated seven months ago to serve as the 42-year-old bloc's constitution. The bloc has traditionally operated by consensus and shuns interference in the internal affairs of its members.
A Southeast Asian diplomat said a last-minute compromise among foreign ministers Sunday night would enable the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to get formal approval at the conference. The commission is to be officially unveiled at an ASEAN summit in October.
The diplomat, citing protocol for speaking on condition of anonymity, said the foreign ministers reached consensus on the "terms of reference" for the body after Indonesia and Thailand withdrew their objections following an agreement that their views would be reflected in a "political declaration" in October.
Indonesia and Thailand had been pushing it to "monitor and review" the human rights situation in every member country and make country visits.
The commission's framers have stressed regional education and appeals for adherence to accepted human rights standards. It will not have powers to investigate or prosecute human rights violators. There is no provision for human rights experts to sit on the body.
"It's better to make a start than to leave it hanging, with no progress at all," Abhisit said. "We recognize the concerns of people who deal with this issue and will take them on board."
Last month, more than 200 groups urged in a letter to the drafters to make the rights body an "effective mechanism." But activists acknowledged that they had a hard struggle ahead, given opposition from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
"Even Singapore and Malaysia have said our demands are difficult," said Yuyun Wahyuningrum of FORUM-ASIA, a Bangkok-based regional rights lobby.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said ASEAN ministers were "generally in support" of the rules guiding the body, adding that the rules on the mandate and functions of the body could be strengthened five years after they go into force.
"The draft terms of reference reflect a maximum consensus among ASEAN countries at this time," Kasit said of the rules. "It is important to make this human rights body credible but at the same time to take into consideration the real situation in ASEAN member countries."
Such comments have drawn fire from private groups and academics.
"Members of the body should be able to consider human rights in places such as Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia or southern Thailand, or what's the point?" said Chalida Tajaroensak, president of the Thailand-based People's Empowerment Foundation.
Myanmar's human rights record is expected to feature at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, which follows the Southeast Asian foreign ministers' meeting and includes 27 members including the United States, Russia and China.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrives Tuesday, is expected to bring up both Myanmar and North Korea's nuclear program.
1 comment:
hey, let the spokesperson talk as there is disclaimer when other speaks! i think it is good that the USA is helped to train spokesperson in cambodia. god bless cambodia.
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