European Union insists aid be linked to human rights
European Union insists aid be linked to human rights
JAKARTA (JP): The European Union will insist on making human
rights a condition of its financial assistance to any members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a senior
French official said yesterday.
French Minister for European Affairs Alain Lamassoure said
however that he is optimistic that the union and ASEAN will be
able to come to a compromise on the issue when it is raised at
their next ministerial meeting in September in Karlsruhe,
Germany.
"I am optimistic that we will reach an agreement," he told a
press conference held at the residence of French Ambassador
Dominique Girard in Jakarta.
Lamassoure, who arrived here on Thursday for a two-day
official visit, has already met with Vice President Try Sutrisno,
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo
Soedarman, Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat and
leaders of the National Commission on Human Rights.
He flew in from Bangkok after attending talks with ASEAN
ministers in his capacity as a representative of the European
Union. The issue of human rights and its link with aid was hotly
debated between the two regional groups in Bangkok.
Lamassoure said the EU included such clauses in all its
agreements with its partner countries, and therefore both EU and
the partner country must be committed to and abide by the
principles of human rights, democracy and rules of law.
He emphasized that it is a general clause, having no specific
provision, as each country is entitled to "adapt its own form of
democracy."
"The clause is applied between the EU, countries of Africa and
has been accepted by countries of Latin America," he said.
He said he is confident that ASEAN countries, too, could
easily include human rights clauses in their agreements with the
EU, since ASEAN, he said, "has not refused in principle."
He added that the only difficulty which might arise is the
problem of "specific wordings" which would be adopted.
"But I trust that we will be able to reach a wording that will
be acceptable to both sides," he said, stressing that the clauses
will be applicable to all, including EU itself.
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ASEAN, including Indonesia, has resisted attempts by Western
countries to link human rights and democracy with foreign aid,
saying that such conditionalities amounted to an attempt to
interfere in domestic affairs and therefore are a violation of
their sovereignty.
Indonesia in 1992 rejected any new aid from the Netherlands
while accusing The Hague of meddling too much in RI's internal
affairs.
Lamassoure, who had talks with leaders of the National
Commission on Human Rights, said he hopes the commission will
succeed in their work.
"It is important for the Indonesians themselves to give an
assessment and make a judgment on the situation in their
country," he pointed out.
He said he also discussed the issue of East Timor with the
commission's leaders, as he considers it an international
problem, which is also a subject of discussion at the United
Nations. "We both agreed that the discussions that are held under
the auspices of the UN Secretary General must succeed."
He added that a solution to the East Timor dispute will also
enable the EU, as well as France, to achieve a new cooperation
agreement with Indonesia, which has a greater and deeper
political content.(pwn)