ASEAN mechanism on human rights hits snag

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

A session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) to discuss the establishment of a regional mechanism on human rights hit a snag as several member countries appeared to be reluctant about moving forward with the idea.

Proposals from the regional grouping of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the establishment of an ASEAN commission on human rights and another on an Eminent Persons Group to monitor rights implementations received little response from member countries at the session.

"Only four countries -- Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines -- agreed to conduct further discussions on the two issues," the foreign ministry's director of human rights humanitarian and socio-cultural affairs, I Gusti Wesaka Pudja, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The four countries are the only ones among the 10 ASEAN members that have national human rights commissions.

He said the discussion would be held in October with Thailand hosting.

"Ideally, we should have an institution that ensures the protection of all ASEAN citizens with a sufficient mandate from each government to do so," Pudja said.

As the outgoing ASEAN president, Indonesia highlighted the importance of taking further steps on promoting human rights in the region, referring to the 1993 Vienna Convention underlining the importance of all United Nations member countries to have a national human rights commission.

The issue was raised at a recent human rights workshop held by ASEAN NGOs in Jakarta, when the establishment of a regional human rights commission was also proposed.

"This is not a new proposal, and all member countries have shared the commitment for more than 10 years. We simply want to take the commitment to the next level," Pudja remarked.

He said some countries had used their lack of a national rights commission and the policy of non-interference in domestic affairs as reasons to delay the talks.

"The authority and responsibility of a proposed regional commission are always a subject of discussion, and of course we respect the sovereignty of each member country," he stressed.

ASEAN members have so far agreed to sign a declaration on the elimination of violence against women in the region.

"This is a good beginning to secure a political commitment from all member countries on human rights. We had hoped that ASEAN could actually move further on the issue," Pudja said.

A Singaporean diplomat told the Post that the absence of a national commission on human rights did justify a country's reconsidering the proposal for an ASEAN commission.

"Not just that, there has been no official proposal from the forum to establish such commission. So how can we be against an idea that has not even been proposed yet," he said.