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Philippine diplomat: ASEAN rights court unlikely soon
Associated Press - September 11, 2008
Manila – Rights activists must not press a bloc of Southeast Asian nations to quickly create a human rights court or drop its non-intervention policy because such pressure is doomed to fail, a Philippine diplomat said Wednesday.
Rosario Manalo reminded dozens of human rights activists, who had gathered in Manila to offer their recommendations for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations human rights body, that the 10-member bloc decides which policies to implement by consensus, meaning just one nation can scuttle a proposal.
"If you ask right now for a court, forget it," said Manalo, who represents the Philippines in an Asean panel setting up the rights body. "Let's have it in the horizon, although it won't have any chance for the moment."
Asean, founded in 1967, has promised to establish a regional human rights commission under a new charter its heads of state signed in Singapore last year. The grouping formed a high-level task force to negotiate its rights body's future makeup, role and powers, which will be presented for approval to a summit of Asean leaders in Thailand in December.
At the forum Wednesday, some 60 organizations petitioned for Asean to set up a human rights court. One activist called for the easing of the regional grouping's bedrock policy of not intervening in other member nations' domestic affairs to provide flexibility in the investigation of alleged human rights violations.
Some Asean members have and will continue to oppose any attempt to remove that nonintervention policy, which even United Nation members adhere to, Manalo said. "You're asking for the moon, you won't get it," Manalo said.
"The fundamentals are not negotiable." Asean is open to reforms but should be cajoled slowly considering its members' diverse political characters, she said.
The activists want the human rights body to be able to investigate the scene of alleged violations with unrestricted access to victims and witnesses and no reprisals for those who testify to the Asean rights body.
Manalo said the Philippines already backs those principles and urged the activists to approach other Asean member governments separately with their recommendations.
Myanmar, which has been condemned by the West and fellow Asean members for its dismal human rights record, has opposed any attempt to empower the human rights body to intrude into alleged violations, arguing they should be handled internally.
A Myanmar diplomat, Thaung Tun, has said his country wants any regional human rights body to serve just as a consultative mechanism and not one that would engage in too much scrutiny and "shame and blame" any Asean member state.
Asean is a Cold War-era bloc of fledgling democracies, authoritarian states, a military dictatorship and a monarchy. It has long been hamstrung by that diversity, along with decision-by-consensus and noninterference policies.
But the bloc takes pride in banding together such diverse countries, creating a platform to resolve conflicts. Its long-overdue charter is aimed at formally turning the 40-year-old organization – often derided as a powerless talk shop – into a rules-based entity.
Asean's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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