July 31, Deutsche Presse-Agentur

ASEAN sees tough times in setting up human rights body Girlie Linao, dpa

Adds comments from head of task force drafting charter Manila South-East

Asian nations face tough negotiations on the timeframe, scope and other

details of a regional human rights body they agreed to form under a proposed charter, Malaysia’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

Foreign ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

agreed Monday to form the agency despite initial objections by Myanmar,

which has been highly criticized for its dismal human rights record.

But the 10-member regional bloc has not reached consensus on when the body

would be formed, what scope of work it would have and other details on the

setting up of the mechanism.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he does not expect

discussions for the setting up of the commission to be easy, but stressed

that ASEAN has already taken an important first step.

“From the start, we thought it’s going to be a very thorny issue, a

difficult issue,” he told a press conference in Manila where annual ASEAN

ministerial meetings are being held. “But ASEAN has to move to the new

world. It cannot stay at the old line and keep on putting barriers and

obstacles and excuses.

“This is the first step,” he added. “The next step is getting it formed.

Let us cross the bridge when we come to it. I’m not saying that it is

easy.”

Albar said that despite initial objections by Myanmar, the foreign

ministers agreed that ASEAN had to include an enabling provision in its

proposed charter for the creation of a human rights body to boost its

credibility.

“At the end of the day, we must be seen not to be allergic or not

supportive of human rights,” he said. “If for any reason, the human rights

provision is not in the charter, then people will think ASEAN is not

pro-human rights and that is nonsense.”

“We are for human rights, we are for civil liberties, we want to see

democracy, we want to see rule of law, we want to see good governance,” he

added.

Albar noted that while everyone in ASEAN supports the protection of human

rights, “there are some fears” that the issue is “being used as a

political instrument. We need to allay those fears about how it should

be.”

The enabling provision of the human rights body has been the most

controversial issue in the proposed charter of the ASEAN, which groups

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Rosario Manalo, head of the high-level task force drafting the charter,

said she expects the work on the document to be done as early as September

to give the foreign ministers time to review the draft for submission to

the ASEAN leaders.

“The charter will strengthen ASEAN by making it more effective and

responsive,” she told reporters. “It will strengthen, streamline and

coordinate ASEAN’s institutions and decision-making process. It will

render ASEAN a rules-based organization, it will make ASEAN a

people-centred organization.

“It creates a culture of honouring obligations by the member states and

being held responsible for their commitments,” she added.

Manalo, however, noted that the charter will not contain provisions on

sanctions against members who might fail to comply with key commitments or

dictate a decision-making process on contentious issues.

“The general principle adopted in the charter is that issues that cannot

be resolved on levels lower than the heads of states have to be brought to

the heads of states,” she said. “Heads of states are free to decide the

form, and manner in which they will decide.”

She added that since ASEAN was working towards building a regional

community, it would be inconsistent for ASEAN to impose sanctions such as

expulsion or suspension as earlier proposed, even against Myanmar.

“You may run out of patience with Myanmar, but the ASEAN state members

will not run out of patience,” she said. “That’s the meaning of

consultations and consensus. We will work together and see how we can help

Myanmar.”

Democracy activists welcomed ASEAN’s decision to form a human rights body,

but urged the group to start monitoring violations in Myanmar even before

the body is constituted.

“While the ASEAN charter has yet to be passed, and the human rights body

constituted, we challenge ASEAN member governments to start setting up

monitoring mechanisms and push for Myanmar junta’s transparency and

openness to monitoring,” the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines said.

“We also urge ASEAN to put Burma as the first agenda in the human rights

body,” it added.

Albar said the target for the completion of the draft of the charter was

in November at the 13th leaders’ summit in Singapore.

“Our target is the November meeting as the date when the leaders will

approve the charter,” he said. “There is a lot of hope and expectation

that we should be able to complete it. The rest of it is just a question

of formulation and semantics.”

ASEAN foreign ministers have also endorsed a former colleague, Thailand’s

Surin Pitsuwan, as the new secretary general of the association.

Surin’s appointment will be formally announced by leaders in Singapore in

November, an ASEAN statement said.

According to the statement, Surin has pledged to focus on resolving

problems of economic disparities among ASEAN member states and setting up

an East Asia Community that will also include Japan, South Korea and

China.

July 30, Associated Press – Jim Gomez

Southeast Asian foreign ministers agreed Monday to set up a regional human

rights commission, overcoming fierce resistance from military-ruled Burma.

A charter being drafted for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian

Nations will include a provision mandating creation of the human rights

body, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.

A diplomat involved in negotiations o­n the issue said lower-level

officials finished a draft of the charter o­n Sunday with a reference that

Burma did not accept the commission, leaving it to foreign ministers to

resolve the issue at their annual meeting Monday.

“We have agreed that there will be a human rights body,” Singapore Foreign

Minister George Yeo said after the ministers met for four hours to discuss

the draft. “There was a consensus.”

Yeo said details will be settled later but that the foreign ministers

hoped to have everything worked out by the time that Asean leaders hold

their annual summit in November, when they plan to approve the charter.

“I’m very optimistic,” Yeo said.

Asked about Burma’s resistance and reaction to the agreement, he said: “I

think Myanmar [Burma] takes a positive attitude toward all these

developments.”

When Burma joined Asean a decade ago—over the objections of Western

countries critical of its human rights record—the country appeared to be

taking the first steps toward democracy, making it a good candidate for

membership as its neighbors sought a unified bloc that could hold its own

economically and politically against groups like the EU.

Since then, Burma has turned into Asean’s black sheep, ignoring

international outcry over the continued house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize

laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and producing little tangible progress in

implementing a so-called roadmap to democracy that it says will lead to

free elections.

Details of the agreement among Asean foreign ministers were not

immediately available. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam had suggested earlier

that they were not ready for the immediate establishment of such a body,

and Asean members might be allowed to join the commission at a later date.

Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam—Asean’s most recent members—all have

authoritarian or single-party governments.

The Philippines had pressed strongly for an Asean rights body, with Romulo

saying it would give the bloc “more credibility in the international

community.”

“I would say most of the Asean countries were in favor of this from the

very beginning. We had to agree on this, we had to get a consensus. Now we

have the consensus,” he said.

The debate over the charter reflects how Asean’s diverse membership,

including fledgling democracies, communist countries and a military

dictatorship, has hobbled decision-making.

At their annual meeting, the foreign ministers were also expected to

tackle terrorism, better enforcement of a regional anti-nuclear treaty,

disaster management and ways to help poorer members catch up with

wealthier ones to foster faster economic integration.

Asean, formed 40 years ago, decided to draft a charter to become a more

rules-based organization with better bargaining power in international

negotiations. It hopes the charter can be adopted at an Asean summit in

November.

July 26, Asia Times – Clive Parker

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Myanmar’s accession to the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a controversial act of

engagement that at the time ran counter to the investment sanctions the

United States had leveled against the country’s military regime.

A decade later, ASEAN’s hope that diplomatic inclusion would nudge

Myanmar’s military leaders toward more democracy has

gone unrealized, and the tortuous process of negotiating with the hardline

regime has badly undermined the grouping’s regional clout and global

credibility.

Arguably, ASEAN’s Myanmar dilemma has now reached a crucial diplomatic

juncture. Myanmar’s membership in the 10-nation grouping has frequently

raised European Union hackles, and Brussels has refused to conduct

free-trade negotiations at a regional level with ASEAN because it would

entail de facto dealing with Myanmar.

Meanwhile, US President George W Bush recently canceled a meeting with

ASEAN leaders in Singapore during a scheduled Asia trip. Soon after, US

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that she too would skip the

ASEAN Regional Forum, a strategic talk shop hosted by the grouping each

year, scheduled for next month in Manila.

The Bush administration has been a strong critic of Myanmar’s regime, with

Rice publicly referring to the country as an “outpost of tyranny”.

In 1997, many ASEAN members were cautiously optimistic the grouping could

leverage its various government-to-government contacts with the reclusive

regime to promote positive political change.

Former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan, who is now tipped to be

ASEAN’s next secretary general, in June 1998 advanced the notion that

ASEAN should abandon its tenet of non-interference and adopt a policy of

“constructive intervention” in dealing with Myanmar, which was later

tweaked and became the blueprint for ASEAN’s diplomacy toward the junta.

At the same time, there were geostrategic concerns that backing US

sanctions would open the way for China to gain significant influence over

a neighboring country. Although ASEAN was first formed as a five-member

grouping in 1967 to guard against communist expansionism, particularly

from Vietnam, the political reality since the end of the Vietnam War has

been to enhance collectively member states’ negotiating leverage and

strategic deterrence with regard to China.

Critics – namely the US and anti-junta campaign groups in exile – have

argued that the military government, which annulled the results of 1990

democratic elections it resoundingly lost, does not deserve the privilege

or political legitimacy of ASEAN membership. However, ASEAN’s outreach

toward Myanmar was overshadowed at the time by the deteriorating political

situation in Cambodia.

In July 1997, ASEAN took a moral stand and deferred Cambodia’s joining

after a bloody coup orchestrated by Prime Minster Hun Sen, which entailed

the murder of several opposition politicians and a new wave of refugees

into Thailand. ASEAN at the time declined to admit Cambodia until “free,

fair and credible” elections were held. US rights group Human Rights Watch

said at the time that ASEAN’s role in Cambodia “has certainly been highly

useful and constructive, and we hope that ASEAN will also become more

active on [Myanmar]“.

Trade reliance

ASEAN’s moral sway over Myanmar has been negligible. Economically,

however, ASEAN’s pro-engagement policy has paved the way for more trade

and investment. Myanmar’s trade with ASEAN has risen dramatically since

1997, giving the military regime a desperately needed economic lifeline in

the face of US-led trade and investment sanctions. Myanmar’s trade with

ASEAN, measured as a percentage of the country’s total trade, increased

from 44% in 2000 to 51.6% in 2005, official statistics show.

Of ASEAN’s current 10 members – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,

the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar – only Laos

has failed to diversify its trade mix outside of the region less than

Myanmar. While much is made of China’s economic influence over Myanmar,

its total bilateral trade of US$1.2 billion in 2005 amounted to only half

the amount ASEAN conducted with the country.

As Myanmar’s economy has become more reliant on ASEAN goods and markets,

some political analysts suggest the grouping has more political leverage

over the regime than it has exercised. That economic integration is

expected to increase, as all ASEAN members have committed to reduce

tariffs to below 5% by the end of 2010, as part of the new ASEAN Free

Trade Area agreement.

Beijing’s willingness to overlook Myanmar’s poor rights record, which

certain ASEAN members have occasionally criticized, is speeding the two

authoritarian countries’ economic integration. When ASEAN members

expressed their frustration at the slow pace of change in Myanmar, “the

regime had essentially dumped it in favor of China”, said Debbie Stothard

of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.

One big indication that Myanmar is moving to hedge its ASEAN exposure: a

new $1 billion gas pipeline linking Sittway, Myanmar, to Kunming in

southwestern China, set for groundbreaking at the end of this year.

Analysts note that the pipeline deal was sealed shortly after Beijing

vetoed a US-led United Nations Security Council resolution against

Myanmar’s rights record in January.

ASEAN, on the other hand, sat on the fence during the resolution’s vote -

Indonesia, the only member of the bloc currently a member of the Security

Council, symbolically abstained. Yet in 2006 ASEAN applied

uncharacteristic diplomatic pressure on Myanmar to demonstrate progress on

its so-called “roadmap toward democracy”. In March, Indonesian President

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Yangon to follow up and was closely

followed by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar that month.

In his capacity as an ASEAN representative, Albar was charged with

inspecting Myanmar’s “democratization process”, but his trip ended in

frustration when he was barred from meeting with members of the opposition

National League for Democracy, which won the annulled 1990 polls.

Albar flew out of Myanmar a day earlier than scheduled and, by some

accounts, ASEAN’s already strained relationship with Myanmar hit a new

nadir. Past and current United Nations overtures, including the new round

of outreach by the new UN secretary general’s special representative on

Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, meanwhile to date have wholly failed to produce

any democratic progress.

Charter hopes

Now, ASEAN is finally upping the diplomatic ante in a move that will

seemingly make or break its relations with Myanmar. In a significant

departure from the grouping’s erstwhile tenet of non-interference, by next

year ASEAN is expected to adopt a framework that will legally bind its

members to a charter that enshrines democratic values, good governance,

and respect for human rights and freedoms.

Roshan Jason, spokesman for the ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus on

Myanmar, a group of regional parliamentary members aimed at pushing for

political change in that country, said the new charter represents “one

more opportunity to tackle Myanmar, once and for all”. ASEAN “must show

the political will to do so”, he told Asia Times Online.

Speaking to reporters in Singapore on Tuesday, ASEAN secretary general Ong

Keng Yong said the group charter was aimed at Myanmar, but he

significantly ruled out the possibility of punitive measures for

non-compliance. That would appear to give the junta yet another escape

route – although non-compliance would no doubt open the regime to harsh

criticism among ASEAN members.

Already it seems the junta is in denial about the new charter’s actual

commitments. In a May editorial run in the government mouthpiece New Light

of Myanmar, Myat Thu, a member of the Myanmar delegation involved in

charter discussions in Manila, was quoted saying, “The meeting chairman

explained … the charter would not feature human rights and the

discussions would not focus on matters on termination of charter member

countries.”

The next meeting on the ASEAN charter is set for next week in Manila, and

a draft is expected to be submitted for approval to the ASEAN summit in

Singapore this November.

In 1997, ASEAN assured the West that it could cajole the junta on to a

more democratic path. Ten years later, through the new charter initiative,

the grouping appears to be finally following through on that pledge. How

much longer Myanmar decides to remain in the regional club, however, is an

open question.

Clive Parker is a Chiang Mai-based freelance journalist.

Kuala Lumpur July 21

ASEAN “ABUSED” THE NOTION OF NON-INTERFERENCE
It doesn’t mean silence, says AIPMC

A new report released in conjunction with the Burma and Democracies in Transition conference in Kuala Lumpur today calls for Asean countries to take a more proactive stance against Burma’s military regime.

The report, prepared by the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), said the regional association should stop hiding behind the rhetoric of non-interference because what happens in Burma today affect everybody in the region.

“If all countries are open and cooperative with each other, all will prosper. If one country falters, the rest of the region will be held back,” it said.

AIPMC chairperson Datuk Zaid Ibrahim added that non-interference did not mean “wilfully blinding oneself to threats to regional security, nor should it be an obstacle to proactive engagement with one’s partners”, particularly on issues that have regional consequences.

Backed-up by Asean’s founding principles and declarations, including the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the AIPMC said in its report that if the purpose of Asean was to help its members realize their full potential, gagging them was an obvious risk.

“This purpose will be frustrated if any country can suppress uncomfortable discussions by invoking a vaguely defined non-interference principle… the non-interference principle becomes more of a protective screen for regimes that are acting in improper ways than a meaning rule of international law. If all countries are to prosper, they must be able to frankly discuss tough issues and engage each other over their differences,” it said.

As such, non-interference does not mean silence, said AIPMC. It permits a wide array of actions and inducements to ensure that no Asean member pursues a course of action that is detrimental to the interests of the group.

“Asean was formed to protect mutual political, economic and security interests, not to create an excuse for one country to threaten the prosperity and security of the rest of the region,” it added.

For media enquiries please contact:
Roshan Jason (+60123750974)
Debbie Stothard (+60176647851)

LEGISLATORS’ CALL FOR UNSC ACTION ON BURMA “DIFFICULT TO IGNORE” SAYS MALAYSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Syed Hamid Albar: AIPMC has a significant bearing on ASEAN’s decision-making process

Kuala Lumpur, July 21: Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Albar today assured regional legislators that ASEAN will take cognisance of their support for the inclusion of Myanmar on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

“I am aware that the AIPMC has publicly supported this (UNSC) move and of course it would be very difficult for ASEAN governments to ignore the views of our democratically-elected legislators.
“Let me assure you that the views of the AIPMC have significant bearing in the decision making process of ASEAN with regard to the issue on Myanmar,” Syed Hamid said in his keynote address to the Burma and Democracies in Transition conference here that was delivered by his Political Secretary, Abdullah Mohd Salleh.

Syed Hamid said many ASEAN governments have grown impatient with the slow rate of progress towards democratic change in Myanmar and the military junta’s “indifferent attitude” towards the regional grouping.

ASEAN had now reached a stage where it was impossible to defend Myanmar when the junta was “not making an attempt to cooperate or help itself,” he said.

Syed Hamid added that although ASEAN would continue to positively engage the junta, it was well aware of the growing international demands to pressure Myanmar such as the move led by the United States and European Union to put the country on the agenda of the UNSC.

Since September last year, the AIPMC’s campaign for a binding Security Council resolution to spur reforms in Myanmar has resulted in some changes in ASEAN’s approach. In November, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo agreed to support the UNSC effort.

Myanmar is likely to be among the most urgent issues that will be discussed at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur next week.

Syed Hamid emphasized that there was a real concern among ASEAN members that Myanmar was putting into question the grouping’s credibility and image: “There is also that general feeling… that the maximum benefit to be gained by ASEAN through its cooperation with some of its dialogue partners is being held hostage by Myanmar.

Syed Hamid also appealed for help from ASEAN neighbours such as China and India to play key roles in pushing Myanmar towards democratic reforms. “As both countries are close friends of Myanmar, they are in good position to influence Myanmar, politically and economically,” he added.

“ASEAN is firmly of the belief that reforms and national reconciliation in Myanmar will benefit all members. Achievement of reforms in Myanmar will render it a more effective economic partner that will help the authorities and people of Myanmar fulfil the full potential of the country”, emphasised the Foreign Minister.

The conference ends tomorrow.

Ends.

The full text of the speech by the Foreign Minister of Malaysia will be available on the AIPMC website (www.aseanmp.org) as of 1900 July 21, 2006

For media enquiries please contact: Roshan Jason (+60123750974) or Debbie Stothard (+60176647851)

Democratic Voice of Burma

Tue 17 Jul 2007

Opposition groups across Burma repeated calls for an inclusive constitution drafting process today as delegates arrived at the secure Nyaunghnapin compound for the final session of the widely condemned National Convention.

Leaders from the National League for Democracy told DVB today that they hoped secretary one of the State Peace and Development Council and acting premier lieutenant general Thein Sein would stand by comments made in the official media on potential changes to the new constitution.

“We regarded what lieutenant general Then Sein said as a positive step and welcomed it. But there was no improvement after that,” NLD information officer U Thein Nyunt said.

“In 2004 [National Conventions] our delegates were sent personal invitations to their houses but we refused it by explaining our policy we will only accept invitations sent to our party but not the ones sent to individuals,” he said.

They also said that they had not been invited to the convention, despite being one of the major opposition parties in Burma. But the state-run media has heralded the tomorrow’s launch of the final National Convention session for the past few days, with yesterday’s New Light of Myanmar claiming the process reflected “the wishes of the entire nation.”

“This is national political development required by the historical trend of [Burma]; no one can hinder or oppose the process. If an individual or a party tries to do so, the person or the party will be documented as a culprit in the history of the nation,” yesterday’s New Light of Myanmar said.

National Convention delegates from Karen Mon, Shan, Kachin states and Mandalay, Ayeyarwaddy and Bago divisions started arriving at a special government compound in Nyaunghnapin, outside Rangoon, yesterday before it is reconvened tomorrow.

But many of the ethnic political and armed groups not involved in the National Convention said today that national reconciliation could only be achieved if all groups were invited to take part in an inclusive process.

A source from the New Mon State Party said that while Thein Sein had promised changes to the current draft of Burma’s new constitution, his actions had not supported his claims of flexibility.

“Because of this, we will only attend the convention as spectators to monitor the improvements made to the convention and see what they discuss there. We have made this move to show that we are standing for efforts towards national reconciliation,” an NMSP official said on condition of anonymity.