Human rights issues dog Bangkok summit

Human rights issues dog Bangkok summit

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat and Riyadi

BANGKOK (JP): Asian and European leaders are arriving here
today for their milestone summit with one question looming over
the proceedings: should controversial and potentially divisive
issues like human rights be discussed?

For the past week, Asian officials have been warning their
European counterparts to keep "controversial" and "irrelevant"
topics off the agenda to ensure a successful summit.

Yet, European leaders under pressure from their constituents
and their boisterous media not to let pass this opportunity to
remind their Asian counterparts of their human rights concerns.

Vocal non-government organizations from both continents have
been holding a conference of their own ahead of the official
summit since Tuesday, adding to the pressure.

None of these were foreseen when the idea of the summit was
conceived. Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong broached the
idea during a visit to France in 1994, believing that the
economies of the two regions should forge a closer partnership.

European officials preparing for the summit have been cautious
in their approach, and have dropped any direct reference to human
rights in the draft of the statement to be read at the summit.

The European Commission said in Brussel on Tuesday that while
it would not raise contentious human rights issues to avoid
angering Asian leaders, some European leaders might still depart
from this official stand.

"What I shall be doing is stressing what we have in common.
What I want to avoid is creating an atmosphere of confrontation,"
Commission President Jacques Santer said. "We don't want to be
there like ex-colonial powers," he told a news conference.

The 100 or so NGOs in their second day of meeting yesterday
issued statements drawing the attention of the leaders to various
issues on the environment protection, labor and human rights.

They urged the leaders to consider ratifying and implementing
the United Nations convention on the rights of migrant workers,
and implementing standard rules for the treatment of intercepted
trafficked persons.

A joint statement was also released concerning the recent wave
of East Timorese asylum seekers in Jakarta.

The statement said that governments who asked Lisbon to accept
East Timorese asylum seekers from their embassies should publicly
state they are doing so because Portugal is the recognized
administrating authority in East Timor.

In an apparent attempt to appease his critics, Thai Prime
Minister Banharn Silpa-archa was reported by the Thai press as
saying that human rights issues are not totally out of the
question, and that the matter could be decided tonight when the
leaders gather at an informal dinner.

An Indonesian official told The Jakarta Post yesterday that
the Indonesian delegation has been told to be "wary" of the EU's
troika leadership, comprising of former chair Spain, presiding
chairman Italy and incoming chairman Ireland.

The official, who asked for anonymity, pointed out that
relations between Jakarta and Dublin have not been at its best
recently due to the East Timor issue.

He also noted that a 1992 European Union ruling on foreign
policy calls for the suspension of cooperation with states which
persistently violate human rights.

The official said that Asian leaders hope to use the summit to
clear up some misperceptions about Asia among Europeans.

Among these misperceptions is the belief that unemployment in
Europe is caused by Asian industries which use cheap labor.

There is also a prevailing sense among Europeans that free
trade could only take place between regions of similar
development levels.

Asia is also concerned with market access in what could be a
"fortress Europe" and concern with the repeated European efforts
to link trade with social clauses, he said.

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