ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss charter

SINGAPORE, July 20 Kyodo - ASEAN foreign ministers are expected to discuss the creation of the grouping's human rights body at their annual meeting here Monday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' landmark charter, signed at the ASEAN summit in Singapore last year, calls for the setting up of the human rights body to promote human rights among member states.

In Monday's meeting, the ministers will discuss for the first time with legal experts the establishment of the body, a mechanism for dispute settlement, and other legal issues.

The foreign ministers will also release a statement on the implementation of the ASEAN charter, including its ratification, and appointment of ASEAN permanent representatives and a deputy secretary general.

ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said the appointments are a way to strengthen the mandate of the ASEAN secretariat.

''From now on, each member state will streamline their works, their activities relevant to ASEAN through the offices of the permanent representatives in Jakarta,'' he said.

''Not all decisions will be made through the committee of permanent representatives in Jakarta. But I would assume that many of the decisions could be passed through to the offices of the permanent of representatives after internal consultation,'' he said.

According to the initial draft of the joint communique of the 41st ASEAN ministerial meeting, the foreign ministers express hope to see the first draft of the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN human rights body by the High-Level Panel on the establishment of the ASEAN human rights body in December.

The joint communique also reiterates the commitment of member countries to ratify the charter by the ASEAN summit in Bangkok in December.

So far, seven of the grouping's 10 members have ratified the charter, while the remaining three -- Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand -- have not.

Virasakdi Futrakul, permanent secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry, said the three countries still need the approval from their parliaments and he expected the process will be completed before the summit in Bangkok.

''The senior officials from the three countries, including me, explained the reasons to the other participants and I think the ratification will be done before the ASEAN summit in Bangkok,'' he said.

Among those three countries, the position of the Philippines is still unclear. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said earlier that Manila will not ratify the charter if the Myanmar junta does not release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

However, Virasakdi was optimistic on this matter, saying the Philippines will ratify within the year after approval by Congress.

The ASEAN charter, which will turn ASEAN into a rules-based organization, was adopted by member states in November in Singapore last year. The landmark charter pledges the commitment of ASEAN to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of people in the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.