Rights activists urge ASEAN to pressure Myanmar govt
Rights activists urge ASEAN to pressure Myanmar govt
BANGKOK (Reuter): Asian human rights activists urged southeast Asian nations yesterday to follow the United States and Europe and put more pressure on Myanmar's military rulers over human rights abuses.
"We think the situation in Burma (Myanmar) is getting worse," Somchai Homlaor, secretary general of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, told Reuters.
The seven-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "should work harder to put pressure on SLORC," he said, referring to Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council.
The European Union imposed strict limits on Monday on contacts with SLORC officials.
The action, similar to recent moves by Washington, bars visas to SLORC members and their families and to some senior military members as part of a build-up of pressure on Myanmar's ruling junta. The 15-member EU also suspended all high-level EU visits to Myanmar.
Somchai was speaking before the start of a two-day "Alternative ASEAN" meeting involving more than 80 activists, academics and exiled Myanmar's people from 50 organizations around Asia.
The aim of the meeting was to discuss how ASEAN -- which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam -- could better influence Myanmar.
ASEAN has a policy of "constructive engagement" aimed at keeping Myanmar from becoming isolated in order to try and reform it from within. Yangon has observer status to ASEAN and has applied to join the group at its next formal meeting in July.
Western nations oppose Myanmar's entry into ASEAN because of the military regime's human rights record and its failure to enter into dialog with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Organizers of the Alternative ASEAN meeting welcomed the pressure on Myanmar's military government by the EU and United States but said further steps needed to be taken by Asian countries.
"It is the first step, but it is not enough. The international community should put harder pressure on SLORC, like economic sanctions," said Gothom Arya, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University and host of the meeting.
"ASEAN should do the same," he said. "We are in a much more important position, at least geographically. We are from the same culture ... As neighbors to Burma we should do more."
A Myanmar official said on Monday that the EU move would have little impact because SLORC officials did not travel much to the West.
The junta's latest crackdown on the democracy movement -- when it detained 573 activists to prevent an NLD meeting from taking place in late September -- and detention last week of Kyi Maung, deputy chairman of the NLD, sparked world condemnation.
The SLORC has said all the activists have since been freed. Kyi Maung, 75, was released on Monday after being held in a government guesthouse for a week for questioning over his alleged role in a rare student protest.
The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but never assumed power after the SLORC, which organized the poll, refused to recognize the results.
ASEAN's constructive engagement strategy came into question earlier this month when Philippine President Fidel Ramos said leaders of the group might review the policy. His comments followed the fresh crackdown on the NLD.