Asean leaders to launch ‘historic’ human rights body

HUA HIN (AFP)– Southeast Asian leaders are to officially launch a “historic” human rights body on Friday, despite criticisms that it will be too soft on members such as military-ruled Myanmar.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) opened an annual regional summit in the elite Thai resort town of Hua Hin, with security forces locking down the area to prevent anti-government protests.

The UN has urged leaders to make “credible” the long-awaited Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which is meant to answer claims that the bloc has fallen short on rights during its 42-year history.

A draft of the declaration to be issued at the launch of the commission, seen by Agence France-Presse, described it as a “historic milestone.”

Formally opening the summit, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the signing of the agreement would mark the realization of a 15-year dream.

“The principles enshrined in the Asean charter, including the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms should be translated into concrete actions,” he told the gathered heads of state.

“This important body… will generate momentum on efforts to promote and protect human rights in the region.”

But the commission, which will cover a region of nearly 600 million people, has been criticized for having no power to punish member nations and for focusing on the promotion of rights rather than protection.

“It is a start, but far short of a mechanism that speaks to the credibility of the countries in the region supporting human rights in any substantive form,” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Singapore Management University.

Myanmar is likely to come under the international spotlight for its continued detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but Welsh said human rights issues extended across the region, and encompassed the treatment of ethnic minorities in Thailand.

“Given that Asean moves slowly, I do not expect… change to occur rapidly,” she added.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said late Thursday that Myanmar had endorsed the human rights body and would be appointing a representative to it, but ducked questions about pressing Myanmar to free Suu Kyi.

The US recently embarked on a major policy shift to re-engage the junta after decades of hostility and is planning a rare mission to the country next week.

But at breakfast in his Hua Hin hotel Friday morning, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win brushed off questions about the visit, saying he did not know the schedule for the trip.

The bloc was embroiled in a fresh row over rights after five of the 10 representatives due to meet ASEAN leaders for a so-called civil society interface were rejected, a leading rights group said.

Debbie Stothard of the Asean People’s Forum said the last-minute barring of the rights activists – from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Singapore – was an “outrageous development”.

“It is a rejection of civil society and of the democratic process by which they were selected. This really does not bode well,” she said.

The Southeast Asian leaders were arriving amid rigid security measures in Hua Hin, where 18,000 security personnel were deployed in the town under harsh laws invoked by the government, backed up by dozens of armored vehicles.

The meeting was originally to be held in the popular tourist destination of Pattaya in April but was called off after anti-government protesters stormed the venue and forced foreign leaders to flee.

This weekend’s summit involving Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam will be followed by talks with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

The leaders are also expected to grapple with climate change, disaster management and ways to deepen economic ties and sustain the region’s rebound from the recent global downturn.