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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