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Terms of reference falls short, mechanisms needed: NGOs
Jakarta Post - October 17, 2009
Jakarta – Non-government organizations (NGOs) of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have demanded the upcoming summit include human-rights mechanisms in its agenda.
According to the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism website (aseanhrmech.org), the regional mechanism would ensure ASEAN member states adhere to international human rights standards; provide a common platform for member states to raise human rights concerns; and provide a means for them to address violations collectively.
The ASEAN's current Human Rights' Terms of Reference did not embrace human rights protection, Sri Wiyanti Eddyono from the Indonesian National Commission on Women's Protection told The Jakarta Post at a workshop on Friday.
Separately, Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the 15th ASEAN summit, to be held from Oct. 23 to 25 in Thailand, was expected to discuss the establishment of the first ASEAN Human Rights Body.
While the government would step up its efforts in monitoring human rights cases, the summit may not include human rights mechanisms in its agenda, he said.
Sri said it would be hard for many governments in Southeast Asia to address human rights complaints, since each country had its own political and economic interests. However, she maintained that Indonesia was heading for an improved human rights mechanism.
During the Workshop on Regional State Adoption and Non-State Promotion of Sharia Law in Southeast Asia: Impacts on Women's Rights, Sri said "the Terms of Reference have only featured human rights promotion and prevention mechanisms, but not protection".
The two-day workshop is being attended by more than 20 representatives from five ASEAN countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Sri said the strategies and recommendations emerging from the workshop would be submitted to the government a few days before the ASEAN summit.
All 10 ASEAN member states – including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – are expected to attend the summit. The ASEAN bloc was established on Aug. 8, 1967, in Bangkok.
Braema Mathiaparanam, the chairwoman of the Singapore Working Group for the ASEAN Human Rights Body, told the Post that the formation of the first ASEAN Human Rights Body was a good step.
"Singapore's human rights track record is good because of the country's economic stability. However, we are still expecting improved conditions for migrant workers in Singapore," she said.
"The establishment of a human rights body will be a real achievement for ASEAN. It has taken 16 years to form such a body." Authoritarian regimes in some ASEAN countries had hampered such efforts in the past two decades."
Yasmin Busran-Lao, the chairwoman of Nisa Ul-Haq Fi Bangsamoro (a Philippines-based NGO), also responded positively to the establishment of the human rights body.
The Philippines was expecting to change its Code of Muslim Personal Laws (CMPL) to disallow polygamy for Muslim men in the Philippines, Yasmin said. In 2008, Muslims constituted around 10 percent of the Philippines' population of 90.46 million, according to the National Statistics Office.
Hamidah Marican, the executive director of Sisters in Islam (a Malaysian-based NGO), said the founding of such a human rights body would pave the way for discussions between the government, Islamic clerics and civil society. (nia)
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