ASEAN rights body sets out priority areas
The ASEAN secretariat and newly-appointed members of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights are currently in the process of developing the rules of procedure for the new body and determining its strategic priorities.

An initial draft of the commission’s regulations will be ready for its first official meeting in Jakarta next month, while a five-year working plan will be completed by July.

Thailand’s nominee to AICHR, Commissioner Sriprapha Petcharamesree last week met with representatives of Thai civil society groups and advised them that the AICHR’s priorities for the coming year include:
* raising awareness of AICHR
* starting the process of drafting an ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights, and
* undertaking two studies, one on corporate social responsibility and one on migration.

Ms Sriprapha has told the Bangkok Post that public meetings – held in Bangkok and four other regions – would be organised to outline what the regional human rights body will do and to gather information for the AICHR as it further determines its strategic priorities.

The regional rights body was launched at an ASEAN regional summit in Hua Hin last October.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva opened the summit by defending the rights body against criticism that it was powerless to rein in members that breached its rules, such as army-ruled Burma and communist Vietnam and Laos.

Mr Abhisit said the creation of the commission was a significant milestone in the evolution of ASEAN.

However, the human rights body has been widely criticised for focusing on promotion, rather than protection, of human rights. The UN has urged leaders to make the commission credible.

ASEAN says it will review the body’s powers in five years.

Human rights issues step into the regional spotlight
* Published: 22/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News

Five open seminars focusing on human rights issues will be held to gather information for the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

Rules and procedures for the region’s new human rights body _ which critics say already focuses too much on promotion, rather than protection, of people’s rights _ are being drafted by the ASEAN Secretariat.

Commissioner Sriprapha Petcharamesree last week met representatives of civil society groups at the Foreign Ministry.

Ms Sriprapha said she was organising the five roadshows in Bangkok and four other regions to tell the public what the regional human rights body will do.

An initial draft of the regulations would be ready for the commission’s first official meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, next month. A five-year working plan would be completed by July.

The commission (known as AICHR) has several priorities for this year, she said. They include raising awareness of AICHR, starting the process of drafting an ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights, and undertaking two studies, on corporate social responsibility and migration.

The human rights body was launched at an ASEAN regional summit in Hua Hin last October.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva opened the summit by defending the rights body against criticism that it was powerless to rein in members that breached its rules, such as army-ruled Burma and communist Vietnam and Laos.

Mr Abhisit said the creation of the commission was a significant milestone in the evolution of ASEAN, launched while Thailand was ASEAN’s chair.

However, the human rights body has been widely criticised for focusing on promotion, rather than protection, of human rights. The UN has urged leaders to make the commission credible. ASEAN says it will review the body’s powers in five years.

About the author
Writer: Achara Ashayagachat
Position: Reporter

The Terms of Reference of the ACWC were released in November 2009. The TOR of the ACWC requires each ASEAN member state to appoint two representatives to the ACWC, one on women’s rights and the other on children’s rights.

MCYS asked the groups present at the briefing to consult with their stakeholders on, and/or to nominate, suitable candidates for nomination to these positions, based on certain criteria that were shared at the briefing. The deadline for submission of nominations to MCYS is 9 February 2010.

MARUAH would be happy to share further details on this process with any interested parties, and/or to provide any required assistance in submitting their nominations. Please send an email to maruahsg@gmail.com if you wish to learn more about this.

In the interests of transparency, MARUAH hereby discloses that it is currently also considering whether to nominate candidate(s) to the ACWC. MARUAH will work with any interested parties who contact it, to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to preserve confidentiality and to prevent any conflict of interests.

Human Rights, Singaporean Style
by Garry Rodan

Posted December 4, 2009

While there has been a lull in the debate over “Asian values” since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, the concept never disappeared. The development of a regional human-rights commission constitutes a fresh battleground where competing views are playing out. As in the past, the main interlocutors on the side of cultural relativism are Singaporean leaders and officials, but this time, opposing voices within Southeast Asia have grown louder and more self-confident.

Forming the Asian Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has taken more than a decade of wrangling. Launched by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in October, the commission is the result of a protracted and contentious process of compromise. Now the fledgling organization faces an uphill struggle to show it can make political and bureaucratic elites accountable on human rights.

This Meeting was also conducted to raise awareness about processes related to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

Thirty Muslim participants, female and male, from five ASEAN countries with significant Muslim populations attended the Meeting and participated fully. These participants are from civil society organisations, religious institutions and academic institutions. There were four observers from development agencies and international NGOs.

Please click on the link below to view the recommendations in full.
Recommendations

29th Nov 2009
Thongbai Thongpao

Human rights activists gathered early last week in Bangkok to celebrate the nomination of Sriprapa Phetmeesri, director of Mahidol University’s Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development, as chair and representative of Thailand in the newly established Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

On the same occasion, a seminar was held on the topic ”AICHR and public expectations”.

Also attending the meeting were representatives of minority groups along the Thai-Burmese border who have been suppressed by the Burmese junta. Potential victims of the proposed dam construction on the Salween River, which forms a part of the border between Thailand and Burma, also submitted a complaint to the Thai representative.

The participants agreed that overall the roster of AICHR commissioners was a disappointment. What the public had been looking forward to was for Asean to fully endorse and promote human rights in the same way that other regional bodies, such as the European Union, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Organisation of African Unity, have done.

They expect the 10-nation bloc to have a convention on human rights, of a similar format to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and what has been successfully outlined in the OAS Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, all of which have already been ratified.

As well, people in Asean countries had hoped an Asean human rights court, similar to what the Europeans have, would be formed.

But the things Asean peoples expected are nowhere to be seen, much less touched. Observers of the progress of human rights at the latest Asean Summit were left disappointed. The outcome in this area so far has been the establishment of a strangely named body, which cannot even accurately be called a human rights commission. To avoid disappointing human rights advocates, the words ”on human rights” were simply added to the name of the organisation.

No wonder people are disgruntled. Many of the participants in the meeting last week expressed their disappointment, with some stopping just short of saying outright that Asean was deceiving the world. Others expressed gloomy views on the success of the bloc in dealing with human rights issues, as human rights is a term almost unheard of in several of the 10 member-nations, where even freedom of the press is sadly limited.

It is noteworthy that almost all of the AICHR commissioners were appointed by their respective governments. In other words, they represent the governments, not the people. If a government doesn’t mention human rights, why should its commissioners? Thailand and Indonesia are among the nations whose appointees are not government representatives.

Apart from the controversial composition of the AICHR, its scope of duties and responsibilities was not clearly spelled out. There is also no stipulation that they have the mandate to ”protect” human rights, only to ”promote” them. More importantly, the commission is not to intervene in the internal affairs of member states. These restrictions in acting on even the most blatant of human rights violations present tremendous obstacles to the AICHR.

In any case, I express my confidence in Dr Sriprapa and hope that her experience, knowledge and determination will enable her to perform this crucial task even with all the obstacles.

At the meeting I related that I have experienced more than my fair share of disappointment when it comes to the protection of human rights in the region. More than 30 years ago, I joined hands with my counterparts in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in urging Asean to set up a human rights protection body and a human rights court, only to be met with a cool response time and time again.

Many of those who stood with me on this issue have now passed away. Disappointing as it may be in many respects, the establishment of the AICHR has given those of us who remain a glimmer of hope, no matter how vague.

I also share the view of some experts who think that we can still promote and protect fundamental human rights even in the absence of a convention. This can be done through education, as people in many Asean member countries do not understand the importance of human rights.

In my view, to promote is to protect and to progress. If we propagate this knowledge among our fellow citizens, they will realise what they have lost when someone violates them. They will demand their rights because they will know that they exist. To spread this message therefore is to protect, and the commission is better than nothing.

When the villagers who would be affected by the proposed Salween dam presented their complaints to Dr Sriprapa, she said that since there were no regulations stopping the AICHR from accepting such complaints, she took it to mean that the commission could look into them.

This is exactly the path the commission is supposed to take. I wish her success in leading Thailand’s contingent in the AICHR, and she has all my support.

The TOR can be downloaded at the link below.
http://www.aseansec.org/documents/TOR-ACWC.pdf

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed on 3 December 2009. We at MARUAH (Singapore Working Group for ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism) are keen to build on the efforts by many actors who have been advocating on behalf of children with disabilities. In that context we would like to to invite you to attend a Focus Group discussion on Compulsory Education for Children with Disabilities in Singapore.

Day/ Date: Sat 28 Nov Time: 1.30 – 3.30pm
Venue: Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO),
96 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187967 (near Singapore Art Museum)
[This happens right before MARUAH's Open House]

Under Singapore’s current Compulsory Education Act (2003), ‘any  child who is unable to attend any national primary school due to any physical or intellectual disability’ is excluded from education act…

At this stage, we hope to garner support for children with physical disabilities to be included in Singapore’s Compulsory Education Act. This is also in line with the Convention on the Rights of Children, which Singapore is a signatory party. We also hope to gather comments and feedback on special education in Singapore.

If you are in one of the above categories and are able to make it for this Focus Group discussion, please send an email to Lisa Li (lisalee80@gmail.com ) with your Name, Handphone number, and which category you are in (please provide details).

Your feedback and discussion would be really helpful to further our understanding of this issue, so that we can best represent your views.

Looking forward to a fruitful and meaningful discussion on 28 November

Thanks!

Regards,
The MARUAH team

Date: 28th Nov 09, Saturday
Time: 4-6pm
Venue: Training Room 2, SCWO Building (Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations)
96 Waterloo Street
Click here for map (gothere.sg)

Please RSVP to maruahsg@gmail.com. Thanks and we hope to see you there.

As MARUAH looks to the year ahead, there is much work to be done. Human rights violations continue to occur unchecked locally and in our region. As a group we appeal for more hands and hearts on this. There are many issues of paramount urgency and this is where we want to engage everyone to see what other issues that could be explored.

This session is open to everyone – whether you’re a curious onlooker or you want to help out more in MARUAH’s activities. There is no obligation to continue on. More importantly, this session is for you to assess the opportunities for synergies between yourself and MARUAH.

By D Arul Rajoo

HUA HIN, Oct 23 (Bernama) — The governments of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore have rejected members of civil groups from their respective countries at the 15th Asean Summit here.

Debby Stothard, of the Alternative Asean Network, said they were informed by the Thai Foreign Ministry at 11pm yesterday that the leaders would not meet the five people nominated by the civil groups.

“Some governments like Singapore have even replaced the nominees with their own representatives,” she said as the summit kicked off at the Dusit Thani Hotel in the seaside resort here Friday.

She said the remaining five representatives from Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam were told to come to the meeting at 7am Friday, five hours before the scheduled Informal Meeting between the Leaders and the civil society groups.

Stothard said the civil groups were disappointed that the representatives were not allowed to speak at the 30-minute meeting, and instead only an academician from the Chulalongkorn University would be allowed to talk.

“We are still trying to get more people to talk at the meeting,” she said.

The rejected civil society representatives are Khin Ohmar (Myanmar), Sister Crescencia L. Lucero (Philippines), Sinapan Samydorai (Singapore), Manichanh Philaphanh (Laos) and Nay Vanda (Cambodia).

Malaysia is represented by Moon Hui Tah, campaign coordinator of Suaran, a Malaysian human rights organisation.

The dialogue between the 10 Asean Leaders and civil society groups was introduced during the 14th Asean Summit held here last February.

The first meeting itself was embroiled in controversy after leaders of Myanmar and Cambodia refused to meet the representatives from their respective countries.

Among the highlights of the 15th Summit is the launch of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (Aichr).

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner, Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has been appointed Malaysia’s representative to the body.