Asean foreign ministers will today endorse the terms of reference for the Asean Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights, a body widely criticised for lacking teeth. The High-Level Panel on the Asean Human-Rights Body yesterday presented its final draft on setting up the commission to the ministers for consideration.
The ministers will adopt the terms of reference and report to the 15th Asean Summit in October. The leader of the summit would issue "the political declaration on human rights" to officially establish the commission, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.
'The political declaration would reflect some of the major elements of human rights questions," the ministers told a press conference.
The terms of reference could be reviewed five years after the commission starts operation to strengthen the mandate and function of the body in promoting and protecting human rights, he said.
"It is important to make this human-rights commission credible but at the same time take into account the real situation in Asean member countries," Kasit said. "So the terms of reference to set up the commission is the beginning of an evolving process."
Each of the 10 Asean member nations would appoint one representative to sit on the commission for a three-year term, he said.
The 10 representatives will be impartial and not need to come from the public sector, he added.
For Thailand, the government would set up a committee to pick candidates in a process that would be open for all to apply, he said.
The human-rights commission was criticised for overemphasising rights promotion rather than protection.
Human-rights advocacy groups submitted an open letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as the chair of Asean, urging him to put more elements into the commission.
The letter, signed by Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, and Rafendi Djamin, convenor of the Sapa Task Force on Asean and Human Rights, wanted the commission to conduct country visits, look into complaints and perform periodic reviews on the human- rights situation.
Sihasak Phuangketkeow, chairman of the High-Level Panel, said his board has included some of the civic groups' inputs in the terms of reference.
The terms of reference might not directly mention the reporting of the situation, but it says the commission has the mandate and function to obtain information from member states on the promotion and protection of human rights, he said.
Public awareness of human rights among the people of Asean, as promoted by the commission, in some sense would help them protect their rights, he said.
Kasit said that besides human rights, the Asean ministerial meeting and the Asean Regional Forum would discuss and condemn terrorism following the bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before departing India for Thailand, asked for global cooperation to fight terrorism.
Clinton will meet Abhisit tomorrow before heading to Phuket for the Asean meeting.
Security in Phuket will be very tight during the summit. There was no report of terrorist movements on the resort island, but the security measures were mostly aimed at preventing protests by groups sympathetic to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
More than 10,000 troops were present in the city. The military set up many checkpoints around summit venues and screened all vehicles travelling on the island.
Source: The Nation
The ministers will adopt the terms of reference and report to the 15th Asean Summit in October. The leader of the summit would issue "the political declaration on human rights" to officially establish the commission, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.
'The political declaration would reflect some of the major elements of human rights questions," the ministers told a press conference.
The terms of reference could be reviewed five years after the commission starts operation to strengthen the mandate and function of the body in promoting and protecting human rights, he said.
"It is important to make this human-rights commission credible but at the same time take into account the real situation in Asean member countries," Kasit said. "So the terms of reference to set up the commission is the beginning of an evolving process."
Each of the 10 Asean member nations would appoint one representative to sit on the commission for a three-year term, he said.
The 10 representatives will be impartial and not need to come from the public sector, he added.
For Thailand, the government would set up a committee to pick candidates in a process that would be open for all to apply, he said.
The human-rights commission was criticised for overemphasising rights promotion rather than protection.
Human-rights advocacy groups submitted an open letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as the chair of Asean, urging him to put more elements into the commission.
The letter, signed by Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, and Rafendi Djamin, convenor of the Sapa Task Force on Asean and Human Rights, wanted the commission to conduct country visits, look into complaints and perform periodic reviews on the human- rights situation.
Sihasak Phuangketkeow, chairman of the High-Level Panel, said his board has included some of the civic groups' inputs in the terms of reference.
The terms of reference might not directly mention the reporting of the situation, but it says the commission has the mandate and function to obtain information from member states on the promotion and protection of human rights, he said.
Public awareness of human rights among the people of Asean, as promoted by the commission, in some sense would help them protect their rights, he said.
Kasit said that besides human rights, the Asean ministerial meeting and the Asean Regional Forum would discuss and condemn terrorism following the bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before departing India for Thailand, asked for global cooperation to fight terrorism.
Clinton will meet Abhisit tomorrow before heading to Phuket for the Asean meeting.
Security in Phuket will be very tight during the summit. There was no report of terrorist movements on the resort island, but the security measures were mostly aimed at preventing protests by groups sympathetic to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
More than 10,000 troops were present in the city. The military set up many checkpoints around summit venues and screened all vehicles travelling on the island.
Source: The Nation
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