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)