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FOREIGN
ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) members on Wednesday said that although the
proposed Asean Charter creates a human-rights body that
will handle cases of atrocities committed against
nationals of its members, the principle of
nonintervention on the affairs of member-countries would
still prevail.
The
Asean foreign ministers met with the members of the
high-level panel (HLP) on the Asean Human Rights Body
last month in Singapore as they lined up instructions
for the terms of reference now being drafted by the HLP
members for the human-rights body.
The
regional bloc has long been criticized for its policy of
noninterference and constructive engagement that has
allowed long years of human-rights abuses in Burma. As a
rule, all decisions of the group must be adopted with
unanimity.
The
Asean Charter originally contained a provision on
sanctions and expulsions of abusive states but it has
been removed or watered down following opposition from
the military junta of Burma.
In a
document, the foreign ministers told the HLP members
that the monitoring tasks of the Asean Human Rights Body
“need not be construed in a negative way.”
“Otherwise, it will be perceived as intrusive and amount
to an infringement on the principle of nonintervention
in the domestic affairs of Asean members,” the document
stressed.
The
foreign ministers noted that the monitoring function of
the human-rights body should include the following
tasks:
§
Dissemination of information on human rights;
§
Dialogue
at a higher level among Asean member-states;
§
Examination of Asean human-rights norms;
§
Carrying
out technical assistance from third states or
organizations that have the capacities to provide
assistance;
§
Provide
advisory services to Asean member- states or
organizations based in the region who may need the same;
§
Conduct
comparative studies on human-rights processes and
mechanisms in other regional organizations such as the
European Union, African Union, Organization of American
States and human-rights committees in the United Nations
system.
The
rights body, according to the Asean senior leaders,
should build on the commonalities of the
member-countries that are all signatories and have
ratified international human-rights conventions. These
include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women.
Also,
the foreign ministers noted that all member countries
have agreed to uphold the promotion and protection of
human rights in the Asean charter.
The
foreign ministers likewise said the terms of reference
for the Asean Human Rights body should be completed
before the 42nd Asean Ministerial Meeting in July next
year in Bangkok. |
