Regional mechanism for rights issue planned

Regional mechanism for rights issue planned

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights officials from Indonesia, the
Philippines and Thailand will explore the possibility of
establishing a regional mechanism to deal with rights issues.

Marzuki Darusman, the deputy chairman of Indonesia's National
Commission on Human Rights, said yesterday the rights activists
will discuss the plan with officials of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) today.

Speaking on the sidelines of the on-going 29th ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting, Marzuki said the meeting will also identify
the agencies in each ASEAN member country with whom the human
rights commissions can cooperate.

"We also hope to see how far the idea of establishing this
regional human rights mechanism can be carried out. This way, we
can accommodate the issues that have become public concern," he
said.

Marzuki said that in its early development, the mechanism is
likely to be in the form of a consultation forum on human rights
under the ASEAN secretariat.

At ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore in 1994, Marzuki
said, the governments of ASEAN made mention of the establishment
of a regional human rights mechanism.

"But after three years, nothing has happened, except for one
or two governments moving on their own," he said.

Marzuki said now is "the right moment" to go ahead with the
plan at the government level, as the issue has already been
discussed "from time to time" on the non-governmental side.

"Now relations between government and non-governmental
agencies in all ASEAN countries are good, so it is a good time to
start a new process where everyone will feel comfortable to talk
about human rights openly," he said.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said he
would meet with the representatives of the human rights
commission, but acknowledged that the meeting was not part of the
ministerial agenda.

He said the officials who will meet with the commission will
be from Indonesia, the current ministerial meeting chairman,
Brunei Darussalam, the ongoing chairman and Malaysia, the up-
coming chairman.

"We will meet them ... and listen to their suggestions,"
Alatas said.

Marzuki said yesterday the meeting will not discuss specific
cases facing each ASEAN member country, as there are currently
issues faced by all members alike, such as on migrant workers,
women's rights and child rights.

He acknowledged that the establishment of such a mechanism was
still a long process.

"What's important is that ASEAN will consider talking about
the commitment again. Even that can already be considered a
positive development," he said.

Marzuki said the process should remain a "comfortable" one,
possibly consisting of several confidence building measures which
will enable the governments of all ASEAN member countries to "sit
together and talk about (human rights) in a natural way".

Marzuki said Malaysia and Singapore are among the countries
which do not have a human rights commission yet, while Thailand
may have one next year. (pwn)