MARUAH Singapore

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the democratically-held elections in 1990, has been under house arrest for almost two decades. On 18th May 2009, she was charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest and stood trial. She has borne her trials with dignity. Yet they continue unabated. The world has honoured her with a Nobel Peace Prize and lobbied tirelessly for her freedom but there is a growing helplessness towards the situation as the Myanmar junta continues to keep her in detention without trial.

We find the situation untenable. It will be a grave injustice if we all were to stand by and let this courageous citizen spend all her days as a prisoner. She is due for release at the end of May.

Many among us know that it will not happen. We need to show ASEAN solidarity at the civil society level and act together to ask for her freedom.

Let us then come together throughout ASEAN on the same day at the same time to demand for her freedom. Can we show solidarity by wearing some yellow in our clothing, hold a candlelight vigil and let off 19 yellow-coloured balloons (one for each year she has been under arrest) with her portrait, into the skies?

Come.
Have your silence heard.

This event is jointly organised by MARUAH(SWGAHRM) with other regional NGOs.

Attached is an advisory for all parties interested in joining us for the event.

From 25 April to 1 May 2009

COMMUNICATIONS from 22 to 28 April 2009

• 14 communications (10 Urgent Appeals and 4 Allegation Letters) sent to 12 countries
• 11 joint communications
• Of 14 individual cases, 4 concerned women

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Please see below for a press release from the Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo on the ASEAN Human Rights Body.

ASEAN People Deserves Full Human Rights—Romulo

April 8, 2009 by DFA-PISU

PR-169-09, 08 April 2009—Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo called on the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to hasten the creation of an effective and credible ASEAN human rights body to fully protect and promote individual and collective freedoms in the region.
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WORKING GROUP FOR AN ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISM

A SUBMISSION ON THE OCCASION OF THE DIALOGUE WITH THE HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON AN ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20 March 2009

1. The Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (Working Group) reiterates its request for the draft of the terms of reference (TOR) of an ASEAN human rights body to be made public in order to facilitate a more meaningful dialogue among the relevant stakeholders of a rules-based ASEAN. This is also in line with the purpose of ASEAN to promote a people-oriented ASEAN in which all sectors of society are encouraged to “participate in, and benefit from, the process of ASEAN integration and community-building.” Surely, a more open dialogue and discussion of the draft of the TOR will also contribute “to strengthening democracy, enhancing good governance and the rule of law, and to promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, with due regard to the rights and responsibilities of the Member States of ASEAN.”
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See below for the written reply by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo to Mr Siew Kum Hong’s parliamentary question on Singapore’s position on the ASEAN Human Rights Body.

ORDER PAPER NO 73 OF 2009
QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
(for the Sitting on 23 March 2009)

ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY
(Singapore’s Position)

*25. Mr Siew Kum Hong:
To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) what is Singapore’s position on the draft terms of reference for the proposed ASEAN Human Rights Body; and (b) what is the progress of the work of the High Level Panel.

Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo:
I thank Mr Siew Kum Hong for his interest in the ASEAN human rights body. This is an important subject. Let me emphasise that Singapore is firmly committed to the establishment of an ASEAN human rights body.
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You may apply to join here.

The Singapore Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (MARUAH) is pleased to invite you to a public consultation on the draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for the proposed ASEAN Human Rights Body (AHRB).

This dialogue aims to highlight the latest developments, and to elicit comments from you, so that they can be considered for the second consultation with the High Level Panel meeting with civil society groups to be held at Kuala Lumpur in 20 March 2009.

We have a rare opportunity to influence this process, so please do come and tell us what you think of the proposed AHRB and the TOR process.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Date: 11 March 2009
Time: 4pm
Venue:
Asia-Europe Foundation (www.asef.org)
31 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Singapore 119595

Programme
4:00 – 4:05 Welcome
4:05 – 4:20 “The Road to an AHRB” by Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, former ASEAN Secretary-General
4:20 – 4:35 “Human Rights in ASEAN” by Ambassador Rodolfo C. Severino, Head, ASEAN Studies Centre, Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS)
4:35 – 5:00 “The AHRB’s Terms of Reference” by Ms Braema Mathi, Singapore Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (MARUAH)
5:00 – 6:30 Open Discussion, moderated by Dr Cherian George

**To register, please email maruahsg@gmail.com with your name and contact details**

The Power of a Declaration
Making human rights real.
Amartya Sen, The New Republic Published: Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Nineteen forty-eight may have begun as an unsettling year, with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January, but it ended on a positive note, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December. There was a reasoned vision of lasting importance underlying the declaration; it was momentous in its time, and it remains important today. Invoking human rights has become a major way of challenging inequities and oppression in the contemporary world, and in this development the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the fledgling United Nations sixty years ago, swayed not least by the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, has played an indisputably significant and astonishingly constructive role.
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MARUAH has, together with over 90 organisations, endorsed a statement on the treatment of Rohingya and Bangladeshi ‘Boat People’. Read the rest of this entry »

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released information on the status of the ASEAN Human Rights Body via a press release. Read the rest of this entry »