Asean human rights body lacks power to punish (3:36 p.m.)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/network/asean-human-rights-body-lacks-power-punish-336-pm

CHA-AM, Thailand -- Southeast Asian officials on Friday praised the creation of a regional human rights body as a historic first step toward confronting abuses, but the body will lack the power to investigate or punish violators like military-ruled Myanmar.

A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press says the rights body, which the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations hopes to form later this year, would "promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms" in the region but will abide by the bloc's bedrock policy of not interfering in members internal affairs.

The document, which outlines the proposed powers of the future rights body, falls short of key demands voiced by international human rights groups, which say the body will have limited effectiveness unless it can impose sanctions or expel countries that violate the rights of their own citizens.

The document was presented behind closed-doors to ASEAN foreign ministers gathered at a coastal resort in Thailand ahead of an annual leaders’ summit this weekend. It is a first draft for the body's proposed powers, with a final draft expected in July before the body is created.

Delegates say the summit will focus on how the region can best cope with the global economic crisis, and the bloc planned to sign a free trade pact with Australia and New Zealand over the weekend.

Although the issues of democratic reform in Myanmar and human rights abuses will be discussed on the sidelines of the conference, ASEAN traditionally shies away from criticism of its members.

"We'll discuss every issue that affects ASEAN but we will not interfere in their internal politics," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters in Bangkok when asked if leaders will push Myanmar for change.

"Political reform in each country is their own business but we can pass on the message to them from the outside world."

Thailand, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and is hosting the summit, bills the meeting as a turning point for the bloc.
It is the first time leaders will meet since the group signed a landmark charter in December.

The document made ASEAN a legal entity and moves it a step closer to its goal of establishing a single market by 2015 and becoming a European Union-like community - despite being a disparate Cold War-era bloc with fledgling democracies, authoritarian states, a military dictatorship and a monarchy.

Rosario Manalo, a Philippine diplomat on the panel drafting the human rights body's outline, said the plans mark efforts of the region to move toward democracy.

"It is a historic first for Southeast Asia," he said.

Officials said the powers of the human rights body could evolve over time.

"Investigative powers should not be ruled out. We'll take it step by step," said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand's chairman of the drafting committee. "We have to go as far as we can but at the same time we have to be realistic."

ASEAN's 10 members - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – range from very poor to moderately rich.

The bloc has long been criticized as a talk shop that forges agreements by consensus and steers away from confrontation.

According to the confidential document, the human rights body would follow the principles of "noninterference in the internal affairs of ASEAN member states" and any of the group's decisions "shall be based on consultation and consensus," giving Myanmar and other violators veto power to block decisions.

International human rights groups have urged ASEAN leaders to press military-ruled Myanmar to end its rights abuses.

London-based Amnesty International said this week that ASEAN "must be empowered to effectively address human rights in Myanmar."

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a letter to ASEAN, urged the summit to address "the dire human rights situation in Burma" and improve treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

The United States, in a report Wednesday, blasted Myanmar's junta for having "brutally suppressed dissent" through extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture, and cited the country's more than 2,100 political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (AP)