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