Leaders at ASEAN summit sign human rights declaration

PHNOM PENH: Southeast Asian leaders endorsed a controversial human rights pact on Sunday during an annual summit in which they also focused on bruising territorial rows and deadly unrest in Myanmar.

The leaders also plan to launch talks on a planned free trade zone that covers ASEAN and six other countries including China, Japan, and Australia.

Heads of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hailed their declaration on human rights as a landmark agreement that would help protect the region's 600 million people.

"It's a legacy for our children," Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters after the signing ceremony.

Speaking to the Singapore media in Phnom Penh, Singapore's representative on the ASEAN Human Rights Commission and Ambassador-at-large, Professor Chan Heng Chee, said such a document was not a possibility for the grouping five years ago.

The ASEAN document also references the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Prof Chan said: "There are ten countries in ASEAN and each of us are committed to promote and protect human rights, according to that particular charter. And human rights is a work in progress for every country. Every country can always better its human rights and with that document, the countries of ASEAN are committed to this and each of us will try to implement that as much as possible.

"The peer group pressure will in fact, have a very enormous impact in the case of ASEAN and we have seen how ASEAN as a community tries to move towards a sense of the regional good and the regional values and norms, while trying to preserve the non-intervention principles. We have seen crises and we have tried to work with that and speak up as the situation occurs."

Professor Chan observed that ASEAN countries change, and one example is Myanmar. The reforms there were not anticipated.

She said each member state strives to deliver good governance and public goods and services.

Professor Chan also had a message for those who would always consider that not enough has been addressed in the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. She said: "We try to do the best we can and yes, there will be the bodies and civil society groups that will keep saying this is not enough and they will say it. But we are doing our best and all human rights are implemented according to the societal context.

"The United Nations has this charter and universal declaration, and 193 countries have signed on to it. But we know in the implementation of the declaration, many countries fall short and indeed some have downright flouted it. ASEAN has come up with a realistic document that ten countries have signed on to. It respects the societal context, and as we evolve and there are societal changes as we move on. This document should be seen as a work in progress and not an end-state."

Critics also said the declaration allowed too many loopholes for ASEAN, which groups together a diverse range of political systems.

The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, which has in all 40 clauses, covers areas such as civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, developmental processes and enhancing peace.

In his opening speech, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen declared that achieving the vision of an ASEAN community built on political-security, economic and socio-cultural cooperation -- should remain the group's top priority.

On his part, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told leaders at a plenary session that he supports the proposal to set the deadline of 31st December 2015 to realise the vision.

He cautioned that ASEAN's credibility would be affected if the grouping falls short of the deadline.

On the day the pact was signed, leaders were to discuss the communal violence in ASEAN member Myanmar, where clashes in Rakhine state between ethnic Rakhines and Rohingyas have left 180 people dead since June.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan told AFP on Sunday that the violence was disturbing and risked destabilising the region.

He said ASEAN leaders would discuss the bloodshed and potentially include a statement referring to it in their end-of-summit communique.

The ASEAN event will be expanded into a two-day East Asia Summit starting Monday that includes the leaders of the United States, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Russia.

US President Barack Obama is due to arrive in Phnom Penh on Monday after making a historic visit to Myanmar.

Obama decided to make the trip to Myanmar, the first by a sitting US president, to reward and further encourage political developments by the new government there.

However the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which on Saturday described the Rohingya minority as victims of "genocide", has urged Obama to pressure Myanmar's government to stop the bloodshed.

Obama's aides have signalled that the president will speak out on human rights while on his Asia trip.

They highlighted his intent to express "grave concerns" to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen over his government's rights record and the need for political reform.

Another point of contention during the three days of top-level diplomacy in Phnom Penh was likely to be the territorial rows over the South China Sea.

China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the sea, including waters near the coasts of its Asian neighbours.

ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, also have sometimes overlapping claims to the sea.

The rival claims have for decades made the waterways, home to some of the world's most important shipping lanes and believed to sit atop vast natural resources, a potential military flashpoint.

Tensions escalated this year amid complaints by the Philippines and Vietnam that China was becoming increasingly aggressive in staking its claim to the sea.

After discussions among ASEAN members this year on how to deal with the issue, Surin said the bloc was ready to present a united front to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the East Asia Summit.

Prime Minister Lee said that ASEAN should not take sides on the merits of the various claims but must take a position which is neutral, forward-looking, and in accordance with international law.

He said that ASEAN should counsel all parties to continue to abide by the Declaration of Conduct, exercise maximum restraint, refrain from provocative actions and work towards holding talks on a Code of Conduct.

On Saturday Surin floated an ASEAN proposal for a hotline with China aimed at easing maritime tensions.

In the launch of talks on the proposed free trade zone known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Mr Lee called for the discussions to be open and inclusive so that future ASEAN FTA partners can take part when they are ready.

The partnership would effectively cover nearly half the world's population and a third of the world's gross domestic product.

Dipetik dari - Channel NewsAsia