ASEAN rights body risks losing power

Tony Hotland and Kornelius Purba ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Singapore   |  Tue, 07/22/2008 10:15 AM  |  World

Concerns the proposed ASEAN human rights body might not have a powerful mandate appear to be well-founded, with the ASEAN foreign ministers stressing the establishment of the body should consider each member's comfort level, legal readiness and democratic status.

Meeting here for the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, the ministers provided guidelines for the High Level Panel on the Human Rights Body. The panel, comprised of representatives from all member states, will draft the terms of reference for the planned rights body.

The terms will address the mandate, membership and functions of the body, as well as its relationship with other relevant human rights bodies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The panel is scheduled to complete its work by July next year, with the first draft to be submitted at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.

Only four ASEAN members have a human rights commission -- Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.

"The underlining message from the ministers was the panel has to be realistic by looking at the comfort level of the ASEAN members and at what stage of democracy they are in. If something is not doable, the foreign ministers will reject it," said Wiwiek Setyawati, the director of human rights affairs at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and the country's representative on the panel.

The body is one of the most complex outcomes of the ASEAN Charter because the bloc includes military-ruled Myanmar and countries where freedom of expression is restricted, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

"The ASEAN way has always been through consensus. Whatever mandates the body has will depend on the consensus between the members," Wiwiek said.

Activists have called on ASEAN elites to create a human rights body of international standards that has the power to investigate and prosecute, but there is little chance it will have that power from the beginning.

"That's why amendments will be possible. This is an evolving process. It has taken us 15 years since the idea was first floated in 1993 and now we have a charter that requires a rights body. We are making progress, gradually," Wiwiek said.

Although some ASEAN members prefer that the planned body operate only at a consultative level, Wiwiek said Indonesia wanted it to at least have monitoring, dissemination and education, standard setting and advisory services functions.

"Monitoring means there's a reporting mechanism for rights protection in all members states. This does not mean naming, shaming or pointing fingers at any member, as some may be concerned about. It's more to see if members can contribute to the progress of the others," she said.

Legislator Marzuki Darusman, a member of the ASEAN Working Group on Human Rights Mechanism, said it would be natural to see the body start off as a "rather weak" body because of "ASEAN'S character that works step by step and does a lot of confidence-building measures".

"But in the end, the body should have three functions -- monitoring, research and investigation and receiving cases from ASEAN citizens after they're dealt with at the national level. Such a body will need time to evolve before it becomes efficient," he said.

The foreign ministers also stressed the body would be an intergovernmental one, meaning it might include government-appointed officials.

"I think that shouldn't be a problem. Many government bodies are independent. A body gets credibility and achieves independence after it can prove its competency," Marzuki said.

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