EU to press ASEAN over human rights in Myanmar<\/p>\n
HANOI (Agencies): British Foreign Office Minister John Battle
\nsaid on Thursday ASEAN's position of non-interference in
\nMyanmar's affairs was unsustainable and warned Yangon's generals
\nthey were accountable for rights violations.<\/p>\n
Battle told journalists during a visit to Vietnam that human
\nrights in military-ruled Myanmar would top the agenda of a
\nmeeting of ministers from the European Union and the Association
\nof South East Asian Nations in Laos next week.<\/p>\n
Battle, who will represent Britain at the Dec. 11-12 meeting,
\nsaid he would be looking for understanding among the 10 ASEAN
\nmembers that Myanmar had become a regional problem they could no
\nlonger brush off as Yangon's \"internal affair\".<\/p>\n
He said his aim would be \"to see if we can dismantle a
\ntraditional response that is unsustainable.\"<\/p>\n
Battle said Myanmar's \"appalling\" conditions were a regional
\nproblem due to large numbers of refugees fleeing repression and
\nthe threat of the spread of HIV\/AIDS from the country.<\/p>\n
\"There is a growing awareness that the ASEAN countries have of
\nthe problem and they are starting to speak out,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said both the European Union and ASEAN were looking for a
\nnew approach and said the intention in Vientiane would not be \"to
\nsimply turn up and blame Burma (Myanmar) and say we think you are
\na form of moral evil\".<\/p>\n
He pointed to the example of Vietnam, saying there were
\nsimilar prospects of economic aid and investment for Myanmar in
\nthe event of positive change.<\/p>\n
\"What we need to see is an opening of Burma...so we're trying
\nto find ways to actually prize the situation open by using the
\npolitical power that's in the region -- they are a member of
\nASEAN.\"<\/p>\n
He warned Myanmar's generals they could have to answer for
\ntheir actions.<\/p>\n
\"There's no way this kind of action in any society can be
\nunaccountable at the end of the day. The question is how many
\npeople have to suffer and die before accountability bites in.<\/p>\n
\"I think we can do something together to point out that we are
\nall politically, socially and economically accountable.\"<\/p>\n
Thailand said on Wednesday the Vientiane meeting, the first of
\nits kind in three years, would be attended by 14 foreign
\nministers, but only four of them from Europe.<\/p>\n
Britain, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Greece and Ireland will be
\nrepresented by deputy foreign ministers and France and the
\nNetherlands by other unidentified ministers.<\/p>\n
Political analysts have previously speculated that the meeting
\ncould be scrapped due to profound disagreements over the presence
\nof Myanmar, which was admitted to ASEAN in 1997.<\/p>\n
The European Union considers Myanmar a rogue state and objects
\nto its treatment of its pro-democracy opposition, led by detained
\n1991 Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
ASEAN has traditionally held to a policy of non-interference in
\nwhat it calls the internal affairs of members, although some
\nmembers, notably Thailand, have criticized this stance.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the international press watchdog Reporters sans
\nFrontieres (RSF) condemned on Thursday the lack of press freedom
\nin three ASEAN nations as the bloc prepared to join EU ministers
\nfor a landmark meeting.<\/p>\n
In Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos \"there is no press freedom and
\ndissident journalists face heavy jail sentences ... the state
\ncontrols the press with an iron fist,\" it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The media rights groups expressed its \"indignation\" at
\nMyanmar's presence at the ASEAN-EU meeting in the Laotian capital
\nVientiane Dec. 11-12.<\/p>\n
The two blocs are meeting at a ministerial level there for the
\nfirst time since relations cooled in the wake of Myanmar's
\nadmission in 1997.<\/p>\n
The Paris-based group said at least 12 journalists were being
\nheld in jail in Myanmar under \"appalling conditions\" and the
\nmilitary junta had stepped up censorship since placing opposition
\nleader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than two months
\nago.<\/p>\n
RSF also criticized three other ASEAN members, Brunei,
\nSingapore and Malaysia, for \"restrictive press laws (which) do
\nnot allow pluralistic expression in the news\".<\/p>\n
In Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, press
\nfreedom was \"relatively good\", it said.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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