Asean human rights document closer to adoption

The Asean draft Human Rights Declaration is scheduled to be adopted at the 21st Asean Summit to be held in Cambodia in November, according to a Cambodian senior official.

He said Asean foreign ministers have urged the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) representatives to have the final draft ready by October.

Human rights groups have consistently called for the draft document to be made public, but Asean has kept the process and contents shrouded in secrecy.

“This landmark document will reflect Asean's aspirations and commitments to the promotion and protection of human rights,” said a press release.

The declaration is part of the Asean unification process in order to build the grouping along the lines of the EU, along with a unified financial and development system under the theme “One Community, One Destiny.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear at Asean meetings now underway in Phnom Penh.

The meetings include the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Post Ministerial Conferences, the 19th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the 2nd East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting (EAS FMM) that will be held in Phnom Penh from July 9-13.

The Asean group is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

On Sunday, an article in The Bangkok Post noted that at the first formal input meeting on the human rights document with civil groups in Malaysia on June 22, the draft document was not revealed to the nongovernment organizations from each member country.

Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Thailand's representative, said despite the draft not being shared, the consultation was meaningful and participatory.

Sriprapha said human rights activists continued to push for the declaration to be made public ahead of its adoption in November.

Shiwei Ye, a Bangkok-based representative of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said the AICHR promised that the declaration would not fall below international standards. But he remained critical of its contents.

(2012-07-10/mizzima)