ASEAN rights body on track for 2009

ASEAN rights body on track for 2009

INDONESIA: Southeast Asian countries are slowly moving toward
establishing a regional human rights body that could be
operational by 2009, a senior official said on Monday.

Marzuki Darusman, a former Indonesian attorney general, said
progress had been made in convening a seven-member panel of
representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) to draw up recommendations for a future human rights
mechanism.

The panel is scheduled to hold its first meeting in Bangkok in
August, said Taufik, who is co-chairing the preparatory group for
the regional rights body.

Human rights has long been a thorny issue in the 10-member
ASEAN, which consists of fledgling democracies, communist
countries, authoritarian capitalist states, a military
dictatorship and an absolutist monarchy.

Human rights groups complain a long-standing agreement not to
meddle in each other's internal affairs has contributed to
keeping much of Southeast Asia in the grips of undemocratic
regimes.

They also accuse regional governments of using the war against
terrorism as an excuse to step up political repression.

"ASEAN has been left behind in the respect (of human rights),"
Darusman said. "Europe, Africa and Latin America are all ahead of
us and there is a lot of catching up to do." -- AP