ATUC

Bloc raises concerns at WTO review THE PHILIPPINES and its ASEAN peers have taken issue with United States policies that reportedly restrict trade.

In their first joint meeting on American soil, the leaders of the United States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) took fresh steps to cement their growing engagement and pledged to cooperate more closely in key areas such as education and trade.

VnnNews – President Barak Obama and President Nguyen Minh Triet co-chaired the second ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting in New York on September 24, which was attended by ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan and leaders of ASEAN member states.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an international human rights organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday called on the newly-established ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to seriously address housing rights violations in the region.

PHNOM PENH: Tens of thousands of Cambodian garment workers began a week-long strike on Monday—the latest mass walkout by employees in Asia who are demanding a bigger share of the region’s economic success. About 60,000 workers seeking higher wages joined the action at more than 40 factories, out of a total of about 470 across…

22 July 2010 – The Philippines reiterated its commitment to strengthen mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all at the ongoing 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Ha Noi, Vietnam. One of the priorities of President Benigno S. Aquino III is providng greater…

MANILA, Philippines–The cost of doing business in Asean is expected to lower and trade-related transactions to become simpler as the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga), one of the region’s landmark economic agreements, entered into force Monday, May 17, the Asean Secretariat said.

ASEAN members have reported completing nearly two-thirds of work to lay down an integrated economic community by 2015 and have tagged streamlining trade processes and opening up the service sector as among the remaining tasks.

HANOI, Vietnam—Street vendor Ta Thi Huong has never heard of the “Asean Community” which Southeast Asian leaders spent two days last week trying to refine.

Flaws in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)’s economic integration plans are being exposed as some members struggle to adapt to a massive free-trade deal with China, and the US and EU opt to pursue pacts with individual states.

BUTUAN CITY , Philippines  – Claiming that trade policies affect peace and development, New Zea-land Ambassador Andrew Matheson urged ASEAN member-countries, particularly the Philippines, to “give a closer look at the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA).”

When ASEAN first embarked on formal engagement with the European Union 33 years ago, the relationship was typically between developed and developing economies – a carryover from colonial times. The EU represented some of the most advanced countries in the world, while ASEAN comprised struggling developing countries. ASEAN exports were predominantly raw materials, basic manufactured…

ON JAN. 1, 2010, the China-Asean Free Trade Area (Cafta) went into effect. Touted as the world’s biggest Free Trade Area, CAFTA is billed as having 1.7 million consumers, with a combined gross domestic product of $ 2 trillion and total trade of $ 1.3 trillion.

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HUA HIN, THAILAND—ASIAN leaders barely mentioned Burma’s (Myanmar’s) democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at a weekend summit, making a mockery of the region’s grand claims for its new rights body, analysts said.

HUA HIN — Asian leaders barely mentioned Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at a weekend summit, making a mockery of the region’s grand claims for its new rights body, analysts said.

HUA HIN, Thailand–Southeast Asian leaders were strongly criticized on Friday after launching a widely derided human rights body and barring activists from a key meeting at a regional summit.

HUA HIN, Thailand: Southeast Asian leaders launched a widely criticized new human rights body on Friday at a regional summit where they will also grapple with plans for economic and political integration.

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.

BANGKOK — Southeast Asian nations are set to unveil a landmark human rights watchdog this week, but critics charge it will be a toothless body that includes in its membership one of the world’s worst human rights offenders—military-ruled Burma (Myanmar).

WASHINGTON – Asia may be leading the world’s recovery from recession but its growth prospects are still clouded by the fragile global economic situation, the Asian Development Bank’s top economist said Wednesday.

PETALING JAYA – INDONESIA’S demand that its maids be paid a minimum RM800 (S$326) monthly salary has hit a raw nerve among Malaysians.

India and the 10-country South East Asian bloc Asean have signed a free trade agreement after more than six years of talks.

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) expressed disappointment yesterday over the ASEAN rights body’s “lack of clear protection mandate.”

BANGKOK—As the target date for launching the ASEAN human rights body (AHRB) nears, civil society groups have warned depriving it of watchdog powers would erode the credibility of the regional organization.

GENEVA–International labor experts on Saturday called on the Myanmar government to amend a provision in the country’s new constitution that could be interpreted as justifying forced labor.

The European Union joined other international organizations that have recognized the legal personality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is trying to build a regional economic community.

Brussels, (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC strongly condemns the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only incarcerated Nobel Prize winner,  which went into its third day today. The only purpose of this mockery of a trial seems to be to make sure she plays no part whatsoever in the upcoming “elections” of 2010.

MANILA, Philippines—Government on Sunday expressed outrage over what it called trumped-up charges Myanmar’s military junta has filed against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

MANILA, Philippines—Foreign Secretary David Miliband of the United Kingdom has commended the Philippines for pushing for a credible and effective body that would champion fundamental human rights in the ASEAN region, the British Embassy in Manila said in a statement Thursday.