Human rights meet may damage ties

Tue, 19 Jul 1994, 00:00 WIB | Source: AFP

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand yesterday defended its decision to
block foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from
attending a regional human rights conference during the annual
ASEAN meeting this week.

"I think (the meeting) would damage the relationship between
Thailand and Indonesia," Prasong Soonsiri told reporters,
"especially since Indonesia is an ASEAN country and we have a lot
of projects..., trade and investment."

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual
ministerial conference is to start here on Friday.

A July 19-25 seminar, also in the Thai capital, was to focus
primarily on Myanmar and East Timor, organizers from the
Southeast Asian Human Rights Network (SEANET) told AFP.

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